Horseshoes + Racing Injuries + Video = Eclipse Award for the Louisville Courier Journal

The friendly smile of Churchill Downs horseshoer Sonny Broaddus brightened the Louisville Courier-Journal's otherwise sobering media-rich mini-site on injuries in Thoroughbred racing. The video-enhanced feature hit the web in mid-August and this week was announced as the winner of the prestigious Eclipse Award for multimedia.

Roll out the red carpet, here come the horseshoers.

When the Eclipse Awards for journalism and media coverage were announced this week, the Louisvillle Courier-Journal was in luck. Lots of luck, as it turned out: the winning feature section "Tragedy at the Track" on racing injuries was heavily laced with text, photography and especially video of horseshoes and the people who nail and glue them on the Thoroughbreds in Kentucky.

Graphic from the newspaper articles shows the effects of a toe grab when a racehorse stands on a hard surface, such as a concrete wash rack slab, or a paved road.

Written and compiled by Jenny Rees, Andrew Wolfson, and Gregory A. Hall, the series looks at racing injuries as a combination of the medical, mechanical and surface strains put on Thoroughbreds. It's an exciting combination of short and longer clips, including a short feature of Churchill Downs horseshoer Steve Norman and his entourage of helpers and apprentices on a hot August day.

Two special videos make a real impact on the newspaper's web site with the original stories. These are farrier Mitch Taylor's high-speed clips of horses running over different surfaces, wearing different shoes, with a simple measuring interface to show the difference in slippage and "snowplow effect" of changes in the foot's equipment and surface. I believe the high speed videos were shot by Scott Lampert and interpreted with his OnTrack analysis system.

Click here for high speed (slo-mo) video of a horse running on different surfaces, fetlock action in Polytrack, laminitis, Barbaro and other video clips associated with this series.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

Turfway Park Brings Back Toe Grabs on Hind Shoes After Eight Horses Break Down in December

You know those hind shoes you just threw away? Most of the shoes in this pile are old draft horse shoes with holes where removable calks could be applied for icy streets.

Just when you think you have things figured out...

Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky runs Thoroughbreds over a Polytrack (artificial) surface that has been in place since 2005. After a new policy went into place in September that banned all but the flattest horseshoes on front and hind feet, the track was a model for reform and safety. Then the calendar turned to December: Turfway reported breakdowns that caused the death of eight horses, most of whom injured the left front leg.

Are the breakdowns related to the shoe changes? It's impossible to tell but one theory is that a slipping hind foot puts more stress on the opposite front. This is still a brainteaser, though, since the foot slips less in Polytrack than on dirt, such as you'd find at Churchill Downs.

Whether as a result of the breakdown or in deference to trainers wishes, Turfway has announced a policy change on shoes. While flat shoes are still required on front feet, toe grabs no higher than 1/4" are allowed on racing and training horses as of the first of January.

Here's the new rule:

Shoe Policy for Turfway Park

Effective January 1, 2009, the following shoe policy will govern racing and training at Turfway Park

Prohibited – Front and Hind
The following devices are prohibited both front and hind for racing and training at Turfway Park: turn-downs, bends, jar calks, stickers and any other traction device worn on the shoes of Thoroughbred horses.

Acceptable – Front
The following front shoes are acceptable for racing and training at Turfway Park: Queen's Plate, Queen's Plate XT, King's Plate, King's Plate XT, Fast Break, Speed Toe, and Outer Rim.

Acceptable – Hind
Hind shoes with a toe grab not exceeding one-quarter inch (1/4") shall be permitted for racing and training at Turfway Park.

Could the same shoe modification believed to cause injury and strain to the front legs actually be of benefit to the hind legs? Time for more research...and keep those new shoe designs coming.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

Best of 2008: World Champion Farrier Clock Is in a Class of Its Own

Please double-click on the image to enlarge it and see details of the shoes. The image is extra-large for this reason. For those unfamiliar with elite farrier pursuits: these shoes were made from cold bars of steel, heated in coal or gas forges, and crafted using only hand tools such as hammers, rasps, pritchels and fullering blades. No power tools were used...although I can't vouch for the making of the clock! Photo courtesy of Carl Bettison.

World Champion's shoes and year of championship:
Left top to bottom: Fullered hunter shoe by Richard Ellis (1997)
Heart bar shoe by Jim Blurton (2005)
Hind heeled cob shoe with toe calk by Paul Robinson (2008)
Center: front fullered Clydesdale shoe with toe clip by David Wilson (1985)
Right top to bottom: French hind shoe by Grant Moon (1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994)
Front fullered wide-web straight bar shoe by Darren Bazin (2000, 2002, 2004)
Hind calk-and-wedge roadster shoe by Billy Crothers (1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2006)
(Note: shoes identified by Fran Jurga, corrections are welcome!)

Looking back on 2008, there are some stories for the blog that have been in the pipeline for a while, dangling for details. This one definitely falls into the category of "Best of..." on several levels. I was challenged by labeling the shoes in the photo, but today I feel brave and am taking a stab at it.

The story begins with our friend Carl Bettison. Carl is a farrier and supply company executive for Stromsholm in England; he is also the new owner of Gibbins, the farrier apron and work clothing manufacturer.

But Carl's life this year is defined by being an executive of a different sort. He is the master of the Worshipful Company of Farriers, which is a livery company of London. What started 600 years ago as a craft guild to protect the practice of farriery in the city of London has evolved into a high-powered members-only "club" of influential professionals from all walks of life. The twist is that the club is still charged with the protecting the best interests of farriery and in fact, is the benefactor and advocate for the farrier educational system throughout Great Britain.

Since I have been involved in farriery, there have been four "masters" of the company who were farriers: Howard Cooper, Mac Head, Simon Curtis and now, Carl Bettison. It is an incredible honor and also an incredible duty to hold this office. I can also remember that Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth, was the master one year. Normally, however, the master is a "normal" non-farrier member of the company. That would usually be a successful businessperson in London executive circles.

Some farriers are members of the company and participate in the events and programs, but all farriers are technically products of the WCF through the examination process that qualifies farriers in the UK. When a young farrier successfully completes college and the rigorous three-year apprenticeship, s/he earns the title of DipWCF, for the "Diploma of the WCF".

Among Carl's innovative activities since taking office was the commissioning of a centerpiece for a fundraising auction, the shoe-plaque/clock you see in the photo with this article. It's quite spectacular but even more so when you realize the sources of the shoes:

"I asked all the Calgary (Stampede) World Champions from UK plus Ireland to make a shoe each. Then Richard Ellis, helped by his father, made this clock. It was sold at a Worshipful Company of Farriers Auction last Friday for £5000 (approximately US$8000). The winning bid was placed by Grant Moon on behalf of Sarac Hotels Limited," Carl writes.

The clock wasn't the only interesting item in the auction. Carl mentioned that other items included a signed photo of European champion eventer Zara Phillips (grand-daughter of the Queen, daughter of Princess Anne) and her top horse Toytown, including a horseshoe from Toytown, authenticated and signed by her faithful farrier, our friend Bernie Tidmarsh from Wiltshire. (Toytown was injured just before the Olympics and Zara missed Hong Kong.)

Also on the list included the lucrative promise of a day's fly fishing in Scotland with Ayrshire farrier Jim Ferrie, and a day's golf at Woburn for three people with Billy Crothers.

This was no backyard auction. Carl reported, "We were lucky to have Hugh Edmeads, the chairman of Christie's (art auction house) in South Kensington (London) as our auctioneer. The total raised was £8240."

Thanks to Carl for this news, and thanks to the individual champions for pulling together for this project. If it looks like the British Isles dominates the world championship, it is quite true, although several Americans have won, as well. It is interesting to note that until David Wilson won in 1985, the champions were British born and trained: Bob Marshall, now of Canada, and Dave Duckett, now of the USA.

Another bit of interesting trivia here is that of the seven British Isles champions, four of them are originally from the tiny nation of Wales.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

Another Silent Anvil: Reggie Kester has died

Horseshoeing school owner Reggie Kester of Ardmore, Oklahoma has died. Reggie owned Oklahoma State Horseshoeing School and has taught thousands of people to trim and shoe horses. His school has always been one of the most popular farrier schools in the United States and Reggie was a leader of independent farrier educators. He called a meeting in 2005 that lead to the establishment of the American Farrier Educators Council; he was elected the first president.

Reggie had cancer and had been hospitalized since Thanksgiving with complications of pneumonia.

I thoroughly enjoyed knowing Reggie Kester and enjoyed working with him in the old days of the informal "farrier educators" group meetings facilitated by GE Tools' Beth Garner. That group grew into the Registry of Professional Farrier Educators (RPFE), which I believe no longer exists. Reggie called a crisis meeting of private horseshoeing school owners in Oklahoma City in 2005 in reaction to a perceived threat or intervention on the ability of private schools to continue to run their businesses, which lead to the formation of the AFEC.

Reggie was a "can do" man who I think of as having one foot in the past and one in the future, while looking the present right in the eye. He started his school in 1975, just before the beginning of the boom in private horseshoeing schools, and his school was very well known. He believed in what he was doing, he believed in being involved in the bigger farrier industry, and he and his family are friendly, genuine ambassadors for farriery. They have launched the careers and advanced the skills of so many people, but they have also enriched many more lives with their enthusiasism and warmth, including mine.

If you would like to write to Marcella, Regan or Kathy, the address is
Oklahoma State Horseshoeing School
4802 Dogwood Rd
Ardmore, OK 73401.


Update: A funeral is planned for Friday, January 2nd, handled by the Craddock Funeral Home in Ardmore, where a complete obituary has been posted about Reggie. You can order flowers from the Yellow Rose Florist in Ardmore: 580 226 5116.

Postural Sway Research for Lameness Examination May Be Relevant in the Future

by Fran Jurga and Sarah Miles | 29 December 2008 | Fran Jurga's Hoof BlogSarah Miles reports on some of the latest research being conducted at the McPhail Center for Equine Peformance at Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine:

While attending Equinology's gait analysis class at the McPhail Center in October, our group was privileged to attend a presentation by McPhail researcher Dr. Sandra Nauwelaerts, a Belgian biologist.

Nauwelaerts gathers up foals soon after they are born and puts them on the force plate to see how they stabilize themselves and then continues to measure this throughout their development. The resulting pattern of data is called the “stabilogram.”

She has just begun to collect her data, so her project still falls strictly into the category of hypothesis, but the potential for impact on the world of equine performance seems profound.

The stabilograms, thus far, show that foals show greater instability, or rocking, cranially to caudally as opposed to laterally, while adult horses — though clearly designed for forward motion— show more lateral sway.

While Nauwelaerts does not offer a hypothesis for this (yet!), she did make the connection between these findings and observing the stability of both lame and neuropathic horses. Thus far, stabilograms from horses with diagnosed neuropathy show a higher instability and more cranial/caudal deviation, than the stabilograms of normal horses.

Further, when blindfolds are placed on both sound and neuropathic horses, thus far, those with neuropathy show greater deviation than the sound horses. Additionally, lame horses could potentially show greater instability around the limb that they avoiding loading.

The data is still being collected, marker by marker and horse by horse at The McPhail Center, so it is premature to get excited. But for a moment there, in the glow of the gait analysis runway's infrared lights, it was possible to imagine a world where lame horses do not have to be injected with nerve blocks and run in circles, but just asked to stand quietly on a force plate to identify the compromised limb, or where horses with neuropathy can be easily and confidently identified before lengthy and expensive diagnostics are employed.

These ideas are, again, only hypotheses and have yet to be borne out by the extensive data collection and analysis that will be necessary for the research to be published.

Equinology’s next course in Biomechanics and Gait Analysis (EQ300MSU) with Dr. Hilary Clayton at The McPhail Center is Oct. 12-15 2009. An understanding of basic anatomic and veterinary vocabulary is a prerequisite for this class. Visit www.equinology.com for more information.

Hoofcare Publishing would like to thank Sarah for her work as stand-in journalist during the 2008 McPhail Equinology course.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask.

Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page).

To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found.

Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

Best of 2008: A Class Act at the McPhail Center's Equinology Gait Seminar

by Fran Jurga | 29 December 2008 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

I had a wild plan and approached Dr. Hilary Clayton of Michigan State University's McPhail Center for Equine Performance with my proposal: a camp for professional at her research center, where we could learn about high-tech gait analysis and help her with a research project.

With her usual British chipper nonchalance, she replied. "Ok, come in October then. It's already in the works." The Equinology group had a course planned at the McPhail Center and it was to be open to equine professionals in search of a deeper exposure to the high-tech side of equine biomechanics.

As it turned out, I wasn't able to be there, but Sarah Miles provided a wonderful report, from which these comments are taken:

The McPhail Center, located at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Michigan State University in East Lansing, is one of the few university labs designed expressly for studying equine biomechanics. It is a fantastic facility — our classroom looked into the covered riding arena where research staff and students collect data with the horses.

When Dr. Clayton dramatically lifted the curtains on the riding arena the first day, a collective gasp of awe went up from the group. She told us that the building's vaulted ceiling design actually is borrowed from church architecture, so we really were having a religious experience, of sorts! But perhaps that explains the sense of “entering the inner sanctum” that one gets from learning from this world-renowned equine biomechanics expert and her staff and students in the lab designed just for their research.

Of course, what is really interesting about the arena is primarily along one side, where eight infrared video cameras collect data from horses lit like Christmas trees (Dr. Clayton’s words), as their anatomical markers move through the cameras’ shimmering red field of vision. It is one thing to hear Dr. Clayton describe the process of research and data collection, and another to experience it for yourself.

Horses' joints are marked with photosensitive styrofoam balls that will light up under infrared camera exposure. (McPhail Center photo courtesy of Dr Hilary Clayton)

The end result of the gait analysis is a stick-horse animation showing the horse in motion on the computer screen. A further sophistication of this system creates a 3D rendering. (McPhail Center photo courtesy of Dr Hilary Clayton)

Dr. Narelle Stubbs, the equine physiotherapist who co-wrote Activate Your Horse’s Core with Dr. Clayton and lab manager LeeAnn Kaiser helped us to tape all the markers on the horse in the right spots. LeeAnn showed us how they calibrate the cameras, create a template, collect the data, connect the dots, and generate three-dimensional computer animation of the horse in motion. The data is also logged into spreadsheets and analyzed for the results of any given project. Dr. Clayton explained that this technology is very similar to how they created “Golem” in Lord of the Rings.

A lecture by Dr. Clayton on the function of the stifle offered her untested hypothesis (stemming from the fact that the torque on the stifle joint is in the back of the joint) that the horse’s hamstring muscles are more important in the action of the stifle than the quads. Her thinking on this was that dressage horses are asked to work as though they are “sitting.” A student with experience in ballet volunteered the ballerina's plie support system of standing on the toes while engaging the hamstrings and adductors so that the quads are more relaxed and not the sole source of support. He even demonstrated the plie for the class!

In this research project, a rider's rein tension in measured. Rein tension can be compared between riders or to understand how different bits or the components of a bridle and reins are working. (McPhail Center photo courtesy of Dr Hilary Clayton)

Other highlights of the course included how the force plates work, and a riding demonstration of an electronic pad placed beneath the saddle to measure the pressure it puts on the horse’s back as he performs different activities, and an afternoon spent practicing core mobilization and strengthening exercises for horses with Dr. Stubbs.

The winter edition of this Equinology course is held at Writtle College in England in January and is sold out. Equinology’s next USA course, Biomechanics and Gait Analysis (EQ300MSU), with Dr. Clayton at The McPhail Center will be held October 12-15, 2009. An understanding of basic anatomic and veterinary vocabulary is a prerequisite for this class. Visit www.equinology.com for more information.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.