Golden Horseshoes: German Farrier Shoes the Olympic Champions

Dieter Krohnert, Official Farrier of the German Equestrian Teams

Since 1990, the German equestrian teams have not left home without him. And since 1990, they have won all the Olympic team gold medals in dressage.

Dieter is an enigmatic globe-trotter. If he sat down next to you on an airplane, you might think he was a spy. Or a race car driver. Or a hundred other things...but probably not a farrier. He is clever, inventive and thinks on his feet. Dieter pushes the envelope by narrowing his eyes and nodding, ever so slowly....and coming back from the anvil five minutes later with an answer to your problem cradled in his big hands.

Dieter brought my attention to spider-plate shoes and thumbprint heels and Luwex pads. A seminar for farriers he gave at Rochester Equine Clinic five (or so) years ago was exceptional.

Dieter's English is very good, although he is one of those people who tells you a lot if you pay as close attention to what he doesn't say. He is proud of his country and its horses and of his work.

Dieter has his own farrier clinic near Hamburg, Germany and also works with a vet clinic, so his lameness cases are as interesting as his sport horse tricks.

If they gave gold medals for farriery, Dieter's neck would be very tired from holding them all up.

Congratulations, Dieter, on Germany's three gold medals in these Olympics. One to go!

Objective "Lameness Locator" System Will Be Marketed by UMissouri Veterinarian

Dr. Loni Taylor runs alongside a test horse. Three sensors are placed on the horse's head, the right front foot and the dorsum of the pelvis. The sensors measure the head acceleration, the pelvic acceleration and the right front leg angular velocity. By reading these measurements veterinarians will be able to determine whether or not a horse is lame before it shows any signs. Photo by Brooke Fletcher. (Story provided by University of Missouri)

In the equine veterinary industry, lameness in horses has been assessed subjectively for centuries, said Paul Schiltz, a veterinarian for Equine Medical Services in Columbia. Each vet has his or her own opinion about what's wrong with a horse - and they often disagree.

But Kevin Keegan, professor of veterinary medicine and surgery at MU, has a solution to this problem with the technology he has created that is going commercial in the next couple of weeks to months.

In the late 1990s, Keegan began working on the Lameness Locator with a simple goal: to develop an objective way of detecting lameness.

"Each practitioner says something different when observing, so we need a way to teach our students exactly what to look at," said Keegan, also director of the E. Paige Laurie Endowed Program in Equine Lameness at MU.

Through a lameness evaluation performed by multiple vets, he found, for example, that in looking at a horse's front legs, these vets agreed only 25 percent of the time.

Keegan then began observing horses on treadmills and putting markers on their bodies to record movements and transmit them to a computer. He attended MU engineering meetings and developed rules and equations to analyze the movements, pairing up with MU engineer professor P. Frank Pai, who has worked with airplane vibration evaluations.

The Lameness Locator is a spinoff of Pai's work with airplanes. The locator analyzes vibration damage to see where the horse's movement is off, Keegan said.

But the invention wasn't practical for other industry professionals. It was then that Keegan began collaborating with Yoshiharu Yonezawa, an electronics engineering professor from Japan, Keegan said.

Keegan and Yonezawa worked intensely on decreasing the size of the sensors and the number of other instruments and wires they put on the horses to record the movements, he said.

One of the first steps was to use fewer sensors. Their previous work showed they needed only four markers to determine the lameness: on the top of the head, the right front leg, the top of the pelvis and the right hind leg. A year ago, they stopped using the locator on the right hind leg because it was transmitting the same information received from the right front leg, Keegan said.

The equipment, now wireless, measures the acceleration of the head and pelvis and the angular velocity of the front leg. If they're sound, the data looks like a symmetrical sine wave, and if they're not, Keegan and Yonezawa measure the shape of the signal. A lame horse has a disruption in the shape, Keegan said. A frequency analysis, which pinpoints the location of the lameness, is performed.

With the Lameness Locator ready to go for a wider market, Keegan needed funding. He started a business called Equinosis and got a license. His company raised money from Angel Investors in Columbia, and production will begin in the coming months with 100 units this year for vets across the country, Keegan said. A price has not yet been set.

"I've been impressed," said Schiltz. "It's a new approach to a very old problem. Depending on the price, I don't know any lameness clinic that wouldn't want one."

Schiltz said it will benefit vets when they're observing subtle lameness that isn't visible by simply looking at the horses. He said that because lameness is a specialty in equine vets, another big advantage is that vets who don't look at lameness every day could have a way to evaluate the horses without relying solely on their experience. It would also be a great teaching tool, Schiltz said.

Tom DiSalvo, co-owner of the thoroughbred racehorse American Thunder, didn't know about the Lameness Locator before bringing his horse to the MU Equine Clinic from Illinois, and he is impressed.

"I think the system is great," said DiSalvo. "It helps Dr. Keegan focus on the problem and save time in diagnosing."

It will also help vets locate multiple problems that might have been overshadowed by an obvious lameness in another area, Schiltz said. All of the lameness will be shown at the same time, he said.

"It would be useful for any vet practice that deals with lameness, but the limiting factor will be the cost of the equipment," Schiltz said. "I think it's such an applicable program that I would be able to justify buying it even if it's not cheap."

Shoeing for the USA": Todd Meister

(photo courtesy of Chespeake Dressage)

Todd Meister is one of those special guys. He calls himself a farrier, but as he told me once, "I'm a farrier who keeps his veterinary license up to date". Lest you think he is a vet who talks hooves and then leaves a prescription, think again: Todd is a certified as a journeymay farrier by the American Farrier's Association. He specializes in event horses and I've watched him work with team vet Brendan Furlong at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event.

For the past ten years or so, Todd has been partnering with Steve Teichman and Vance Glenn in running one of the USA's most successful group farrier practices, Chester County Farrier Associates in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.

He is a 1995 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's College of Veterinary Medicine. His wife Missy is a veterinarian as well, but she doesn't shoe horses.

"My Shoes Are There!" Meet England's Nigel Turner

Life goes on at home for Nigel Turner but his shoes are going for the gold on the hooves of Tim Stockdale's "Ruby".

Farrier Nigel Turner is the regular farrier for British show jumper Tim Stockdale and his stunning gray mare, Fresh Direct Corlato (stable name: Ruby). Watch for them as the show jumping gets underway. Actually, you can't miss them; the cameras will love this horse. And as she sails over those jumps, she'll be flashing the shoes that Nigel prepared for her

Nigel, who lives near Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, England, has been shoeing for Stockdale for about five years. Tim and Ruby have been together for seven years, although she has been out of the limelight and the headlines for a while. The mare suffered a terrible fall while showing in Portugal two years ago but has made a dramatic comeback.

In the newspaper interview, Stockdale said, "At the end of the day having a good team is an integral part of this and with the feet of the horse you can't take any chances," he said. "You have got to have people that are the best at what they do."
Read a local newspaper article about Nigel here.

Press Release: Mustad announces six scholarship recipients

(received via press release from Alex Cook at Lilja Inc., posted as received)

FOREST LAKE, Minn. – (August 13, 2008) – Mustad Hoofcare Center announced today the six recipients of its scholarship essay contest for farrier students. Recipients were given a $750 scholarship to help offset the costs of their farrier education.

Participants wrote original essays on “Benefits of Keeping Horses Shod. ” Essays were judged in three categories:
1) overall best presentation;
2) most suitable for educating horse owners on hoofcare and protection; and
3) best description of the importance of shoeing, or “For the Better of the Horse.”

The recipients of the 2008 Mustad Scholarships are:
Alyssa Clermont Nakusp, British Columbia
Adam Zepf Cold Spring, Ky.
Jacob Wade Quaker City, Ohio;
David Marshall Tompkinsville, Ky.
Gordon Norris Morrison, Colo.
Charlotte Ruse Cloverdale, British Columbia

“Education is a cornerstone value in our mission as a company. Mustad is proud to be supporting the next generation of skilled farriers,” said Carlos Xifra, president of Mustad Hoofcare Center. “We believe that a strong farrier education is critical to ensure the best possible care – for the better of the horse.”

Funds for the scholarships were raised at the 2008 AFA Convention in Lexington, Ky. Mustad, together with Anvil Brand Shoe Co., hosted Farrier Appreciation Night for 400 farrier and industry guests. Mustad matched the funds raised that evening through raffle ticket sales to AFA members; GE Forge & Tool also donated $1,000 to the scholarship pool, bringing the evening’s total to $4,500.

About the scholarship winners

Alyssa Clermont currently attends the Advanced Farrier Program at Olds College in Olds, Alberta, and works as a farrier apprentice in Saskatoon. She trains horses for barrel racing and speed events, and also enjoys photography. Clermont chose the farrier profession because she is interested in equine health “and I believe you have to start from the ground up to have a healthy horse,” she said.

Adam Zepf is currently a farrier apprentice in Cincinnati, Ohio. Zepf grew up around horses and frequently found himself by the farrier’s side. After researching a career as a farrier, “the prospect of the forging and shoe building really caught my eye and interested me more,” he said.

Jacob Wade recently graduated from Kentucky Horseshoeing School. Wade has always been interested in equine hoofcare. While working for a company that trains reining horses, he was introduced to a farrier who got him interested in a career as a farrier. “My future plans are to become a Certified Journeyman Farrier and to own my own productive shoeing business,” said Wade.

David Marshall has loved horses since he was a child, but only recently had the privilege of owning one. Being a horse owner has given Marshall a new perspective on the importance of farriers and their vital role in the equine industry. David is a veteran of the Iraq War, an avid outdoorsman, NASCAR fan, golfer and a horseshoe player.

Gordon Norris currently attends Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo. He was involved in high school and college rodeos. Norris had always been interested in hoofcare and learned more about being a farrier after befriending the farrier who tended to his family’s horses. “I realized right away this was an ancient craft, a brotherhood that has bonded man and beast for centuries,” he said. Norris enjoys camping and trail riding with his young family, and is an avid outdoorsman.

Charlotte Ruse is a recent graduate of the Farrier Program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Cloverdale, British Columbia. After working at a stable, she learned about all aspects of equine care – from stable maintenance to grooming to training – and fell in love with caring for horses. Ruse was particularly interested in learning more about how the farriers worked. “I want to use my knowledge to help other horse owners and anyone in this industry to give horses the best possible care,” she said. She enjoys riding her own horses and participating in dressage and English horse events.

(end press release)

Blogger's note: You'll find lots of information about Mustad and the company's products at www.mustadinc.com.

Hoofcare@Saratoga: Double Session with Big Brown's Ian McKinlay on August 12

New Jersey comes to Saratoga: Conny Svensson, left, is a Swedish horseshoer specializing in Standardbreds at the Meadowlands; among his famous charges has been the leading money earner Moni Maker. Ian McKinlay, right, is a Canadian-born hoof repair specialist based in New Jersey whose recent clients have included leading Thoroughbreds Big Brown and Ginger Punch. Track surface researcher Mick Peterson PhD of the University of Maine completes this Tuesday's roster. (Photo kindly loaned by George Geist, IUJH)

All roads lead to Saratoga Springs, New York on August 12th; join us for a special double session with three great speakers!

The afternoon session will be from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Hall of Fame Theater at the National Museum of Racing on Union Avenue, just 1/2 mile or so off I-87 at exit 14, and opposite the main entrance to the racetrack.

The evening session will be from 7 to 9 p.m. (or so) at the Parting Glass Pub on Lake Avenue in downtown Saratoga Springs, just off Broadway.

In the afternoon session, meet quarter crack repair specialist Ian McKinlay who will go over the development of glue-able horseshoes, hoof injuries and the work he did on horses like Big Brown to use adhesives to help horses with quarter cracks and wall separations. Ian will speak, show slides and videos, and be available for questions.

Two of Ian's Big Brown shoes, a.k.a. "Yasha" shoes, are on display in the National Racing Museum. One is a front shoe worn by Big Brown in the Kentucky Derby; the second is a new Yasha shoe so you can see how much the plastic compressed with use. In the next case are Secretariat's front shoes from the Belmont Staks in 1973.

Dr. Mick Peterson, a specialist in racetrack surfaces, will discuss how the hoof hits the track and what the "impact" of different surfaces may be on hoof structures. Dr Peterson is conducting research for the Jockey Club's Grayson Foundation.

Standardbred shoer Conny Svensson will also join us, and talk about his work at the Meadowlands and how he overcomes problems with different surfaces. Because of a work-related emergency, he may arrive too late for the Museum session.

Admission is free; you can order meals and drinks in the meeting room at the Parting Glass.

Call the info line at 978 857 5900 if you have questions. Please don't call the museum.

You will also have a chance to view the RIDE ON exhibit at the museum, which salutes the valiant efforts of horsecare professionals to help injured horses.

NOTE: There is a concert in Saratoga on Tuesday night, so traffic may be tough. Take back roads. Do NOT take exit 13 to come into town. You can get to the Parting Glass from Exit 15 as well as 14.

See you there! This is a wonderful opportunity to meet three top professionals in three different aspects of the hoof.

On Tuesday, August 19, another double session is planned, with Allie Hayes of HorseScience and Michael Wildenstein of Cornell vet school.