Santa Anita Cancels Friday Racing While Artificial Track Rehab Continues

Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, announced today that live racing will be canceled Friday due to a one-day delay in the last phase of its main track renovation. Racing is set to resume on Saturday. This is the track's second closure for track revamping in the 2008 race meet; some racing days were also lost because of torrential rain that aggravated the situation.

According to Ian Pearse, founder of Australian based Pro-Ride, whose synthetic polymer and binder is being blended into the troubled Cushion Track synthetic surface, the initial timeline of starting last Sunday and completing on Thursday was jeopardized because the track was still wet from Sunday’s rain, which forced cancellation of live racing on Sunday.

“We expected to make substantial progress starting late Sunday,” said Pearse. “We began amending the track, but the uneven drainage left it very wet in places and drier in others. The binder and polymer application is the most crucial piece of the renovation puzzle, and it cannot be done properly unless the surface is consistent, which delayed the initial application of the polymer until Monday.”

Santa Anita President Ron Charles said, “We know and deeply regret that the lost days have inconvenienced many horsemen and fans. At this point, as painful as it is to everyone to miss another day, an extra 24 hours is absolutely necessary to make sure that we allow Pro-Ride the time to complete this massive project according to their exact specifications.

"Our track crews have been working from 7:00 a.m. until after midnight every day, and will continue to do so until we get this finished. We will definitely race on Saturday. Ian agrees, and is very confident that the process is going well now. The portions of track that have been completed so far are as good as we expected. We have become increasingly encouraged that this new surface is going to be what we had hoped -— a good, consistent and kind surface that we all believe will drain properly for the rest of the meet.”

After rain caused drainage problems in the new Cushion Track, Santa Anita contracted with Pro-Ride to remix the Cushion Track with Pro-Ride's liquid polymetric binder fibers, which are not waxed. Pearse was interviewed by the Blood-Horse earlier this week.

You Asked For It: Here's the 2008 Budweiser Clydesdale Super Bowl Commercial

Thanks to YouTube for making video blogging possible! My guess is that we will see a lot of foals (of all breeds) named Hank this year...

American Farrier's Association Board Election Results

The American Farrier's Association (AFA) announced the results of its new governance board election tonight via email from election committee chair Don Gustafson.

The AFA board was formerly made up of representatives of some 60-odd "chapter" organizations around the United States and Canada. The reformed government consists of an executive committee and three representatives from five regions.

And the winners who will test the new form of governance, according to Gustafson, are :

Region 1 (135 ballots cast)

3 Year Term – Bill Searle, CJF, #819, OR (103 votes)

2 Year Term – Jason Harmeson, CJF, #1371, CA (88 votes)

1 Year Term – Pat Gallahan, CJF, #2986, AZ (82 votes)

Thanks also to Kenny Lyon, CJF.

Region 2 (164 ballots cast)

3 Year Term – Dusty Franklin, CJF, #4361, OK (102 votes)

2 Year Term – Alan Larson, CJF, #2785, TX (92 votes)

1 Year Term – Dennis Manning, CJF, #270, UT (74 votes)

Thanks also to Michael Chance, CJF, and Walt Taylor, CF.

Region 3 (173 ballots cast)

3 Year Term – Roy Bloom, CJF, #1102, WI (129 votes)

2 Year Term – Dave Farley, CF, #1516, OH (88 votes)

1 Year Term – Garnett Oetjens, CJF, #2038, MI (48 votes)

Thanks also to Rick Burten, CJF, David Kleinendorst, CF, Dion O’Brien, CJF,
William J. (Toby) Tobler, CF and Chris Zizian.

Region 4 (181 ballots cast)

3 Year Term – Dan Bradley, #522, MS (106 votes)

2 Year Term – Jerry Langdon, CJF, #1879, NC (103 votes)

1 Year Term – Steve Davis, CF, #3980, TN (97 votes)

Thanks also to Ron Kramedjian, CF and Mike (Dr. Michael) Miller, CJF.

Region 5 (147 ballots cast)

3 Year Term – Bruce Daniels, CJF, #460, NJ (125 votes)

2 Year Term – Steve Kraus, CJF, #360, NY (103 votes)

1 Year Term – Jack Millman, CJF, #1489, MA (85 votes)

Thanks also to Mike Givney, CF and Sean McClure.

Thanks to the AFA for providing these results. A more detailed report is available at http://www.americanfarriers.org/

Vettec Launches Sole-Guard for Barefoot Horses at Cincinnati Conference

Start to finish application of the new Sole-Guard material.

Sole support and hoof protection ramped off in a new direction today at the International Hoof Care Summit in Cincinnati, Ohio. Hoof repair specialist manufacturer Vettec Inc. added to its family of hoof repair and sole support products with an adhesive sole support product that is designed to alleviate foot soreness in newly-barefoot horses,or in other sore situations where shoes can't be used, and will stay in place for up to three weeks, according to Vettec vice-president/general manager Frank Rovelli.

"Sole-Guard™ is the first product of its kind to offer fast and effective protection and support for the unshod foot," Rovelli told Hoofcare and Lameness today at our booth in the trade show. "(The hoofcare professsional) simply fills the bottom of the foot with Sole-Guard, creating a protective coating that bonds to the foot for three weeks (in most weather/environmental conditions)."

"Sole-Guard sets firm to protect the unshod foot, but retains flexibility to move naturally with the foot, providing comfort and support," he continued. "Sole-Guard provides complete protection and support in one easy application."

He did mention that an application "gun" is needed and that is should be applied by professionals experienced with its use.

Photos of the new product will be added to this post. He also mentioned that the price point will be about $30 per tube and that should do four feet. This seems like a great application for barefoot broodmares and newly-shoeless-but-ouchy horses.

Friends at Work: Jeremy Davis in Tennessee

Here's a new friend at work, Jeremy Davis from Tennessee, who was recently featured in an article in the Knoxville News. Click on the blue type to read a nice storyy about a hard-working farrier; Tennessee was hit by a cold snap this week so Jeremy probably has even more stories to tell!

Note: “Friends At Work” is a regular feature of the Hoof Blog. When newspapers and web sites alert us to features on our hard-working readers and friends, I sometimes can figure out how to link to the story and share the photo with blog readers. Preference is given to people who aren’t normally in the news…and the more exotic the locale, the better! Scroll down the blog to read more "Friends at Work" posts from all over the world. You could be next!

AFA Negotiates with FEI Games for Farrier Services at 2010 Kentucky Mega-Event

The World Equestrian Games—formally known as the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™--is coming to the Kentucky Horse Park and if you think 2010 is a long way off, you’re just not thinking “big” enough.

The American Farrier’s Association has been thinking big, though, and the news is that members of the AFA’s Executive Committee have met with Kate Jackson, Competition Director for the Games. At stake: cooperation between the Games and the AFA, who have agreed, in principle, to provide standby farrier services throughout the Games.

“I am pleased to inform you that I am presently in negotiations with the WEG on behalf of the AFA to determine an official level of recognition by the WEG of the AFA for services rendered by AFA Farriers to the WEG in 2010,” said AFA President-Elect Andrew Elsbree, who will take office on March 1st. “We are currently negotiating sponsorship levels with Kate Jackson,” he continued.

“AFA Farriers are the most qualified and best educated hoof care professionals to serve the multiple disciplines competing at this global equestrian event,” Elsbree said on Saturday. “We will be available before and during the Games to help competitors anyway we can!”

At Elsbree’s side in presenting the AFA’s offer to WEG was the AFA’s vice president, Dick Fanguy, who will, according to the AFA’s ascendancy scheme, probably be AFA president during the Games in 2010.

The AFA would probably have announced the agreement at their convention next month, but news of the relationship was leaked in an article in a Lexington newspaper on January 18 by members of the FEI Games Foundation. The statement in the newspaper—that AFA members would shoe horses for free for WEG competitors—was incorrect, so a correction appeared in a later paper, which drew more attention to the AFA’s relationship to WEG.

Wording of the title and how the AFA can make use of sponsorship is governed by official FEI Games policies and will be decided during further discussions between the AFA and Jackson, according to Elsbree.

“She’s had positive experiences with AFA certified farriers before,” Elsbree said, “And was delighted to think that we could manage the logistics for them.”

Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital stepped forward as a sponsor in return for being named the “Official Equine Hospital and Veterinary Partner” of the Games. Rolex watches are the “Official Timepiece” of the Games.

As Competition Director, Jackson will organize all logistical arrangements for the importation, quarantine, stabling, veterinary and training facilities for more than 900 horses from more than 60 nations as well as oversee and coordinate the production of the competitions.

By way of comparison, only 300 horses traveled to Los Angeles in 1984.

The AFA’s national headquarters is located in the cluster of offices on the grounds of the Kentucky Horse Park, where the Games will be held. The Park also features a small horseshoeing shop where visitors can watch a farrier work. Elsbree said he recently met with Horse Park Director John Nicholson about ways to improve the AFA’s visibility at the Horse Park.

At the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, farrier Ada Gates coordinated horseshoeing services, utilizing members of the Western States Farriers Association and local farriers. For that event, horses were stabled at the Santa Anita racetrack, where a farrier shop was made available to visiting farriers who were on site to serve clients or as official “team” farriers. Santa Anita provided a standby farrier all day for two weeks before the Games and during the Games. Those farriers made their trucks available to the visiting farriers. On competition days, standby farriers were on hand at competition sites and at the stables. Ada’s detailed article in the November/December 1984 American Farriers Journal is a chronicle of those weeks.

Pat Harmon, the late Bill Crowder and other farriers from Georgia worked together to provide farrier services during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

About the Games: The Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games will be held September 25-October 10, 2010, at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky. The event, which is held every four years, will decide the world champions of the eight equestrian disciplines recognized by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI). The Games have never before been held outside of Europe; nor have all eight disciplines ever previously been held together at a single site. It is anticipated that more than 600,000 spectators will attend the 16-day competition.

Congratulations to the AFA for establishing a relationship with WEG. Watch for an official announcement of the agreement soon.

All HoofBlog text and images © Hoofcare Publishing 2008 unless otherwise noted.

To learn more about new research, products, and treatments for the horse's hooves and legs as reported to veterinarians and farriers in the award-winning "Hoofcare & Lameness Journal", go to http://www.hoofcare.com

Direct “subscribe now” link to Hoofcare & Lameness Journal: http://www.hoofcare.com/subscribe.html

Contact Hoofcare Publishing anytime:
tel 978 281 3222 fax 978 283 8775 email bloginquiry@hoofcare.com