Hoof Lectures at This Week’s North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando

Saturday, January 19 will be “hoof day” at The North American Veterinary Conference at the Gaylord Palms Resort Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. A full day’s program alternates between Scott Morrison DVM (above, left) of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, KY and Michael Wildenstein FWCF (Hons) (above, right) , Adjunct Professor at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.

Morrison’s topics are: Hoof Balance and Function, Difficult Foot Cases, Practical Approach to Heel Pain, Rehabilitation of the Foundered Foot, and Sterile Maggot Debridement.

Wildenstein’s topics are: Trimming and Evaluation of the Hoof, Advanced Therapeutic Horseshoes, Fungal Infections of the Foot, and Clinical Case Discussions.

Visit http://www.tnavc.org for registration information.

(Photo of Michael Wildenstein by Lexy Roberts)

Lo! And Behold! Re-energized American Farrier’s Association Offers News, Launches Convention Web Site

It’s not easy being a journalist in the hoof business. What should be the #1 source of information, the office of the national farriers’ association, is usually busy trying to keep its internal affairs out of the news. When the American Farrier’s Association (AFA) offers news on a hand-forged platter, it's a red letter day.

The remarkable news is that the AFA is being pro-active in announcing that the latest of the AFA's executive directors, Jon Bonci, has made his exit. Vice President Dick Fanguy explains that Bonci has returned to a job in the media business in his native New York. Dick stressed that the resignation was bad timing with the AFA’s convention coming up in February, but that the move was not based on politics or interpersonal relations.

Bonci took over following the exit of acting director Michael Nolan a year ago. Nolan, in turn, was brought in to manage a fractured association following the resignation of Bryan Quinsey only a few weeks after a hard-fought election in the wake of a damaging scandal over a top-secret task force with an agenda to push for licensing of farriers in the United States.

The good news is that former employee Rachael Highton has returned to the AFA and will serve as office manager in the Lexington national headquarters. Rachael has worked on administration of previous conventions for the AFA.

In February, the AFA re-invents itself with a smaller region-based national board, replacing a congress of large and small local association representatives, and a new slate of officers. Andrew Elsbree of New York is the incoming president.

The AFA has also launched a standalone website promoting the upcoming convention, to be held the last week of February at the Kentucky Horse Park and Rupp Arena in downtown Lexington.

News from the site is that the roster of sponsoring companies for the AFA’s big competition has evolved, with Vector horse nails taking over sponsorship of the “live” shoeing class and Delta taking over the specialty forging class. (Will they still have the big "Capewell Cup" trophy, I wonder?) Also, the AFA voted to offer free convention registrations to Australian farriers impacted by the equine influenza outbreak there.

Overall, farriers and industry types from all corners are optimistic about a return to Lexington, Kentucky for a national convention. See you there!

Friends at Work: George Crighton in England

Farrier, originally uploaded by Peter Meade.

Here's another of Peter Meade's lovely images of early morning farrier work in England. This is the companion image to yesterday's, which showed the horse's steamy breath; here's George's to add to the atmosphere. Thanks so much to Peter for sharing these images, which include some beautifully lit close-ups of George's hands and tools.

British News: Worshipful Company of Farriers Hosts Veterinary Students for Seminar

(received via press release from the Worshipful Company of Farriers)

The Worshipful Company of Farriers is to hold an important one-day Symposium on Saturday 1st March at The Forge, National Agricultural Centre, Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, England. This is aimed at Veterinary Students, and focuses on Farriery: the art and its use in the treatment of lameness.

Please note that farriers - particularly farriery apprentices - are welcome to attend and attendance will be added to their 2008 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) record.

Three experts, and well known speakers, Roger Clark FWCF, Simon Curtis FWCF HonAssoc RCVS and Ben Ryder-Davies BSc BVM&S MRCVS will cover topics ranging from the essentials of foot trimming and of shoe-making and the use of farriery in treatment of lameness in horses.

Program:10.40am: Introduction to the Farriery profession.
11.00am: The essentials of foot trimming. (Simon Curtis)
12.00pm: The essentials of shoe-making. (Roger Clark)
1.00pm: Lunch
2.00pm: The use of farriery in the treatment of lameness in horses. (Roger Clark, Simon Curtis and Ben Ryder-Davies)
4.00pm: Close

The event lasts from 10.40 am to 4pm and aims to give a close insight into this key area. There will be plenty of time for discussion with the speakers, and those interested in attending should sent their name, and details, along with a cheque for £30 (which includes lunch) and payable to The Worshipful Company of Farriers, to: Smith Ryder-Davies & Partners, 18 Grundisburgh Road, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 4HG England. Tel: 01394 380083.

"Horse" of the Year is a Pony! Teddy Wins 2007 Farnam® / Platform® USEF Horse of the Year

Karen O’Connor’s popular pony “Theodore O’Connor” was selected from among horses representing all USEF breeds and disciplines as the nation's most exceptional horse for 2007.

Owned by The Theodore O’Connor Syndicate, LLC, the pony is one of the most successful horses in the history of U. S. Eventing. "If size truly does matter, Teddy has proven he is a giant and a huge champion in the hearts of all his fans," said Karen O'Connor, Theodore O'Connor's rider. "It is truly a privilege to be a part of his life."

At 12 years of age, Theodore O’Connor was the first pony in history to compete at the Pan American games. Known as “Teddy”, the 14.1-hand Thoroughbred/Arabian/Shetland cross led the U.S. Eventing team to a Gold medal and brought home an Individual Gold, as well. When the medals were presented, Theodore O‚Connor certainly wowed the crowd as he galloped around the arena, inches shorter than his Gold-medal teammates.

The chestnut gelding captured the heart of the eventing world last spring at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, where he placed third in the four-star eventing competition. Teddy's farrier is Hoofcare and Lameness Journal's contributing editor Paul Goodness. Paul, who founded the successful group practice Forging Ahead, is also farrier at Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Leesburg, Virginia, has been farrier to the Team O'Connor horses for many, many years.

Other 2007 accomplishments for Theodore O‚Connor include: Reserve Champion of the USEF National CCI**** Championship, the first pony ever to compete at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day-Event, Winner of The Fork CIC*** and United States Eventing Association Horse of the Year.

USEF Members, media and the USEF Board of Directors voted to select Theodore O'Connor for the prestigious honor , which was presented at the Horse of the Year gala at the Louisville (Kentucky) Marriott Downtown Hotel last night.

Other finalists for the award were: Aequus+//, an Arabian owned by Hazelbank Investments; Esteban, a Friesian owned by Deb Goldmann; Free Willy, a Hackney owned by Blevins Farms; and Sapphire, a Jumper owned by McLain Ward and Blue Chip Bloodstock.

Farnam's line of Platform® horse feeds and equine health supplements sponsors the Horse of the Year program.

(Information from a supplied press release was used in this post. Thanks to Carrie Foote at Farnam for the photo of Teddy and Karen at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day-Event in April 2007.)

Good Morning!

Morning, originally uploaded by Peter Meade

This photo is a good post card to the world of what life is like around here in January. But photos of horses with steamy breath and furry coats just hint at all that goes into taking care of horses when the ground is frozen (or knee deep in snow) and fencelines are mere suggestions on the landscape. This image is by Peter Meade, a polo photographer in the UK who embarked on a farrier photo adventure recently. I will post some more of his images. They are very nice!