Horses and Humans Rock On: MBT Shoes

You are looking at the profile of the must-have human shoe around the Boston area these days.
Does it remind you of anything?
These MBT "physiological" shoes from Switzerland are a high-tech hoofwear dream: no less than five layers of sole activate unused muscles and simulate the blissful barefoot state. They don't use the horseshoe terms "rocker toe" and "air wedge heel" in human shoe-speak but the tech behind these shoes is intriguing and oddly familiar.
Has anyone out there tried them yet?

Duct Tape Laminitis Treatment for Ex-Racehorse Wins Prize

Dan Gardner, a retired farrier from Gladstone, Virginia, took home the $5,000 grand prize and a year’s supply of duct tape in this year's "How Duct Tape Saved the Day" competition sponsored by Henkel Corporation's Duck® brand duct tape.

While Dan's use of duct tape may be commonplace to most Hoof Blog readers, it was a novel use for the judges at Henkel.

Here's Dan's story:

"In 2003, I was volunteer working at a local equine rescue center. One day a winning Thoroughbred horse, named Early Start arrived at the facility. He had broken down on the track and for some time had been left unattended. He subsequently foundered which means the wall of his hoof and the internal tissue and bone had separated causing serious lameness.

"The choices were obvious. The humane thing to do would have been to destroy the horse, but the rescue facility wanted to try and save him. As a retired farrier, I took on the task. Beginning that day, I used a disposal infant diaper with antibiotic salve to protect and cushion the foot and wrapped the dressing with duct tape. Duct tape is the only suitable wrap that can withstand the wear until the next daily treatment.

"It took over 2 years and hundreds of rolls of duct tape to bring Early Start to a complete recovery. Today, he 10 and he is my youngest daughter's foxhunter and event horse. Simply, duct tape saved everyday for Early Start making my family and this horse winners for life."

(Remember: he's telling about using the tape; obviously trimming was done and other care was given to aid the horse's recovery; duct tape and diapers alone can't do it!)

Second prize went to a woman from a search-and-rescue posse in the Arizona desert who duct-taped her horse's shoe back on while searching for a lost child.

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.