Farrier Convention Update: Competition Alive with New Faces

Farrier competition at Peterborough, England's Shire Horse Show painted by Michael Murfin graces the cover of out 2008 AFA Survival Guide. Everyone thinks it's a photo, but it's a painting!

My energy is fading after standing up for six hours in our booth at the trade show, but the American Farrier's Association today made some history that I thought I would share.

A big part of this convention is the forging and shoeing competition, which this year is being held at a remote location in the big arena at the Kentucky Horse Park, while the convention lectures and trade show are in downtown Lexington.

But you can almost hear the hammers across the miles.

Some joyous faces stopped at my booth tonight to say hello. Today was the preliminary forging (horseshoe making, no horses), which count towards a farrier's qualification (or disqualification) from the "live" shoeing finals tomorrow.

The happy faces belonged to supporters of the Japanese team. For the first time, two Japanese farriers made it to the finals. Also in the finals: two women (congratulations, Raleigh and Sarah!), one American and one Scottish. There is at least one British male in there too. There were lots of new names and faces on the list, which is encouraging.

Competition chairman Myron McLane also told me tonight that the contest went very well and he is looking forward to tomorrow. Sadly, one of the USA's top competitors, former World Champion Austin Edens of Texas, had to scratch today because of a back injury, but said he hopes to compete in just the draft horse class tomorrow.

The convention is an international event even moreso than usual this year. I saw a European plastic shoe company's booth located next to an Amish booth and wondered, as always, about the way that this event brings people from diverse backgrounds under one roof.

A special highlight last night comes to mind. How many conventions have a "jam session" night? So many musicians showed up to play that they didn't even all fit on the ballroom stage. And many of them were superb musicians. There's no group quite like farriers!

From the AFA Convention: Dr Scott Morrison on Hoof Capsule Injury/Distortion

Dr Scott Morrison of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, KY was the AFA convention's first speaker.

Predictors of a low turnout at this year's AFA Convention could not have been more wrong, if attendance at the convention's first lecture this morning is an indicator of how many people are here.

Kentucky is coated in snow/ice and I know some people were not able to get here, but many hundreds braved the elements!

I attended the kickoff lecture this morning, wedged into a crowded lecture hall. I was privileged to sit next to Blaine Chapman of Lubbock, Texas, son of the late-great heart bar expert farrier, Burney Chapman. Blaine's running commentary at a low whisper was approving as Dr Morrison sprinted through a 90-minute narrated slide show of interesting cases from the Podiatry Clinic at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital here in Lexington,Kentucky.

Cases that drew the most comments and questions were the ones where he showed correction of negative palmar angles with roller motion shoes and his preference for the use of hoof casts on hoof wall avulsion and heel bulb injuries.

Much of the wall/bulb injury lecture really was based on the encourage of new growth, what Dr Morrison calls the foot's ability to "epithelialize" (generate new epithelial tissue, as in skin; epithelial simply means cells that form the outer lining of an organ or body structure. Endothelium is the inner lining.).

He recommended using tissue-friendly antiseptics, rather than iodine "...and not kerosene" he added with a chuckle.

Inventing another verb, Morrison said he "domes" the foot surface of his foot casts. Under the casting padding on the wall is povidene creme or a similar antiseptic, covered with gauze, with carpet felt under the sole. He also "domed" a wet leather pad before shoeing, inserted hoof packing from a gun, so the pad bubbled outward, forming a domed ground surface.

While some criticize the use of casts, Morrison saw no problem with leaving them on, and was confident in the healthy growth that he would find what it was removed. He said that if the coronary band is not under pressure from weightbearing, the growth will be more rapid.

A big hit was his slide of a racehorse with an interference injury: the front shoe was imbeddedin the coronet of the hind foot. Also food for thought: he showed a severely neglected miniature horse with grossly overgrown hooves.After a cleanup trim, the horse required extension shoes to stand because the collateral ligaments of the coffin joint (and probably the fetlock joint as well), had been so stretched by the deformity.

At the end of the lecture, a line formed to ask questions.

Survival of the Best Informed: Convention Insider's Guide Published

Once again this year, Hoofcare and Lameness Journal has collaborated with Vettec to produce an official insider's tip sheet for the American Farrier's Association convention, which begins in Lexington, Kentucky on Thursday. Here you see the front cover, which is graced by a Michael Murfin painting of a farrier competition. Competitions for the AFA this year will be held in the arena at the Kentucky Horse Park outside Lexington.

Anyone headed to the convention? If so, I can email you a pdf version of the Survival Guide so you can read our suggestions.

A few facts about the convention:

600 farriers from all over the world have pre-registered...

A big crowd is expected on Saturday, March 1 for a half-day program on racehorse shoeing and toe grab research...

Allie Hayes of Horse Science has revived the "anatomy lab" concept and has a crew of distinguished crew leaders including Dr. Ric Redden and AFA President Dave Ferguson. The lab this year will be on Thursday and Friday mornings and have a "wet" component with dissection groups supervised by Paul O'Sullivan of Kentucky Horseshoeing School. Water Varcoe will have a complete horse skeleton on display in the lab.

Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital has two speakers: Dr. Scott Morrison, who will speak on injuries and distortion of the hoof capsule, and farrier Chuck Jones, who will speak on therapeutic shoeing of sport horses, primarily show hunters.

The trade show has 98 companies listed as exhibitors. The big booths seem to be Delta Horseshoe Company and Farrier Product Distribution, each of whom has a city block of booths! Vettec will have a big presence too; they will be teaching everyone about their new Sole Guard product for barefoot horses. (See previous post on Sole Guard from February 1.)

Booths I will visit: Harry Patton Horseshoeing Supplies (Ada Gates has designed a new hoof measuring tool that I want to check out); Life Data Labs, to check out their expanded line of supplements; Vibram (as in the soles of your work boots; they are now making horse hoof pads); Footings Unlimited because I really do need to learn more about footing; AirShod because I want to see how the pump-me-up shoe inserts are going; Gibbins UK because Carl Bettison is bring over a treasure trove of old farrier books from England and they are for sale!

I want to check in with Thoro-Bred and Victory to see if either has plans for a shoe specifically designed for synthetic tracks, and with TracMe Shoes to see how their improvements are going with the high-tech new aluminum shoes.

The best things at trade shows are the ones that you don't know about until you get there. I'm sure there will be the usual flood of new products from all corners of the globe and I am prepared to be amazed at the world's largest hoof products trade show!

Good Morning!

Friends at Work: Cheryl Henderson in Jacksonville, Oregon

If you looked into a crystal ball and could see the future of hoofcare for horses, you would probably see Cheryl Henderson smiling back at you. Cheryl started out as a hoof trimmer convert, but the bigger mission of sharing expertise with others, and studying the hoof more deeply inspired her to launch "www.ABC Hoofcare" and position herself as a clinic host and a friendly ambassador to veterinary researchers and anyone who might have something to share or learn.

The Southern Oregon Mail Tribune heard about Cheryl and her work with lame horses and sent a reporter out to get the story. I bet that reporter had no idea what a fun time she would have on this interview. And I bet she left with a head full of hoofish aspirations.

Be sure to visit Cheryl's website, http://www.abchoofcare.com/

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!

California Update: Foot injuries up, shin troubles down since synthetic tracks installed

A six-hour meeting yesterday reviewed the status of synthetic racing surfaces at Thoroughbred tracks in California.

The California Horse Racing Board organized the meeting, which was attended by about 150 people, according to the Daily Racing Form.

I have reviewed three quite different reports on the meeting and extracted a few key quotes that relate to the concerns of Hoofcare and Lameness readers. Here are some key quotes, but I hope you will read the reports in their entirety:

Veterinarians Sue Stover of the University of California at Davis and Northern California track vet Diane Isbell reported that injury rates on synthetic surfaces often dropped when horses ran without toe grabs behind. Dr. Isbell said that some trainers have had success training their horses without shoes and urged the CHRB to allow horses to race barefoot. (from Blood-Horse report)

Jeff Blea, a private vet in Southern California, provided evidence that the number of shin X-rays conducted by his five-person practice had dropped since synthetic tracks were installed, but that injuries related to the pelvis and feet had increased. (DRF report)

Rick Arthur, D.V.M., the CHRB’s equine medical director, presented statistics showing that fatalities have decreased by 60% in racing over synthetic surfaces in California, compared to the previous dirt tracks. (TT report)

Trainer Bob Baffert: "I think these surfaces disrespect the ability of a horse and they disrespect the contest of horse racing, where the best horse is supposed to win.” (BH)

Trainer Ron Ellis: "I can unequivocally say that horses stay a lot sounder." (DRF)

Trainer John Shirreffs: “It’s like being in quicksand.” The Blood-Horse also attributed Shirreffs as saying that he sees more hind-end injuries, hoof bruises, and gravel (hoof abscesses). (BH)

Dr. Greg Ferraro of the University of California-Davis called for a five-year study on synthetic racetracks to gain information on how the tracks change over the short and long term. "You want consistency day to day," Ferraro said. "These synthetic surfaces are engineered surfaces and are the beginning of a new science to construct racetracks. This isn't the end, it's the beginning." (DRF report)

Read the Racing Form's report on the meeting, posted on the CBS Sports site so subscription is not required.

Read the Blood-Horse 's report.

Read the Thoroughbred Times report.