American Quarter Horse Association New "AQHA Medical" Plan Offers Affordable Benefits to Association Members

The world's largest horse breed association got my attention today when it announced that it would begin offering a range of health insurance plans to members. Membership costs to join AQHA start at $40 per year. I know that health insurance is a big worry to lots of people in the horse world and that many people go without it.

One of the policies that the AQHA is offering is an "active lifestyle" policy for only $20 per month for accidents. Note: there may be an exclusion for people who make their living with horses, but it is worth looking into, especially if you have a family.

The AQHA policies sound great and very affordable but before you get your hopes up, you should realize that the insurance laws vary from state to state and these types of policies may not be available where you live.

Other organizations, such as the US Equestrian Federation and US Eventing Association, have in the past offered some sort of accident insurance plus optional Med-Flight coverage, which the AQHA offering also includes.

It's an option, and may be something that will help some people in the horse world. Pass the word! And thanks to the AQHA for realizing what a problem health insurance is to many in the horse industry.

Here's the official announcement, which was made earlier today:

The American Quarter Horse Association is proud to announce its partnership with Nicholas Hill Benefit Group and the Active Life Plan by Adventure Advocates to bring AQHA members a new program through AQHA Medical. Members and their families now have access to sign up for affordable accident and health benefits.

AQHA members can choose from a selection of major medical/health plans with available worldwide coverage, dental, vision, life, disability, long-term care and Medicare supplement plans.

Twenty-four-hour accidental medical coverage plans start as low as $20 a month and carry benefits as high as $25,000. AQHA Medical enables horsemen and -women to protect themselves and their families with quality plans that respect the medical coverage needs of the horse enthusiast and the active horseback rider.

Nicholas Hill Benefit Group Inc. has partnered with insurance providers that offer extensive professional care networks, healthcare plan options and worldwide protection plus multiple year rate guarantees and other unique features such as Health Savings Accounts.

To learn more about the quality plans available through AQHA membership, or to receive your free quote, visit www.AQHAmedical.com or call (888) 213-9710.

© 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.

What Is This? Can You Identify This Reader-Submitted Image?

by Fran Jurga | 10 February 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

What is this? If you know the answer, please send an email to fran@hoofcare.com and I'll publish your guesses and information from the reader who sent this in later this week. Please do NOT use the comments button to leave your answers because then the first correct answer will stop others from guessing! Super bonus points to anyone who can expound on this subject.

© 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.

Congratulations to Allie Hayes of HorseScience

by Fran Jurga | 9 February 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

Congratulations to our friend Allie Hayes of HorseScience, who was recently inducted into the Horseshoeing Hall of Fame.

Allie's fame in the hoofcare world began when she retired from active shoeing in the 1980s, after a long career as a farrier here in Massachusetts. She was one of the first women to go through farrier school, and was challenged by instructor Bud Beaston to complete the course at his Oklahoma Farrier College. She met the challenge, and went on to do advanced studies with Dr. Doug Butler at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas. And this was after she had finished both a Bachelor's and Master's degree in liberal arts!

Allie said in her acceptance speech that sitting in Bud's classroom was the first time that a lecture really hit home with her and meant something in her life.

In the mid-1980s, Allie's ability to shoe was limited by a freak accident on the job, and she switched her attention from shoeing to making educational hoof models. Her "HorseScience" business has expanded to a point where she is the world's leading (and almost exclusive) source of freeze-dried educational models, and she also supplies much more than legs. The models are freeze-dried in a monstrous freeze-drier machine on Allie's farm, a stone's throw from her wildlife rehabilitation and re-homing projects (anyone for a blind skunk or a one-winged crow?), her farm animals, and her how-many-are-here-today cats.

She's also well-known to FedEx, as vets and farriers from all over the country ship legs amputated from euthanized cases to her to be eternally preserved for further study. People must wonder...

As one farrier said in an email, "It's too bad Allie had that accident and had to stop shoeing, but it was a great thing for us that she started making her models!"

Allie gives clinics, lectures, and slide shows on the anatomy of the foot and lower leg and occasionally presents a museum-like collection of her most unusual specimen. At the Cincinnati conference last week, she casually pulled out a camel's foot, and mentioned a giraffe foot as well. Her show-and-tell discussions with farriers and veterinarians are legendary.

Needless to say, Allie is the first woman to be inducted to the hall, and it is a sign of respect for her that the living members voted for her to join them.

Allie has a hard time drawing the line between education and business and has not been utilized as much as a formal speaker and consultant, partly because her business keeps her so busy. If you are in the hoofcare industry, it is important to support Allie and HorseScience as she leads us all ahead on the road to understanding horses and their problems. She has enabled many people to "see" inside the horse and probably learn things they would not otherwise be able to comprehend. Allie Hayes is a unique treasure in the hoofcare world, and deserves this latest honor very, very much.

Allie makes foot and leg models like this one, which has magnetic bones that snap in and out.

HorseScience also makes hock and knee models, and specialized ultrasound interpretation models.

© 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.

Watch the Most Popular Super Bowl Commercials: Budweiser Clydesdales Dominated with Three Ads in 2009!

This was an impressive moment in the Budweiser Clydesdale "love" commercial this year.

Thanks to everyone who mentioned appreciation for the Super Bowl commercials last week. It looks like Hoof Blog readers are in tune with the national audience; the Budweiser Clydesdale ads took the first three places in viewer voting!

The actual videos of complete ads are not available until after the game, so here are the top three, for your instant recall anytime you need a dose of Fetch, Love or Clydesdale.

Thanks again to Budweiser for brightening up the Super Bowl and the added video they provided for Blog readers last weekend.

First place: "Fetch"


Second place: "Love"



Third place: "Clydesdale" ("Generations")



© 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.

Animal Planet's "Jockeys" Reality Show Repeats Tonight If You Missed It!

Jockey Alex Solis studies the facts and figures on his competition in the next race. (Animal Planet Photo)

Barns, shedrows, vet clinics and tack shops across the USA are buzzing this morning as horse people dissect their opinions on last night's premiere of the new reality show Jockeys on the cable network Animal Planet.

Jockeys follows six--or is it seven?--jockeys through the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita racetrack outside Los Angeles, California. Oak Tree is the four-week race meet in October that culminated last year in the 2009 Breeders Cup. Among the jockeys featured were Mike Smith, Chantal Sutherland, Aaron Gryder, Corey Nakatini (briefly, he was injured in the first race), Garret Gomez, Joe Talamo and others.



I was front and center and watched the two back-to-back episodes aired last night. Except for the fact that I kept wondering who that horseshoer was who could often be seen working in the background at Santa Anita, I thought it was well done, and better than I had feared. The repeats of the spills and crashes were disturbing, but I think they could have been portrayed more graphically or sensationally. The directors and producers showed some restraint.

The wrecks were worse--a LOT worse--in the "home video" special that aired right after the show. Untamed & Uncut: Trouble at the Track isolated some of the worst wrecks and runaway horses from around the world and even re-created them using high-tech slo-mo animation.

The highlight of Jockeys for me was the end of the second episode, which showed some great tape of Mike Smith riding 2008's champion filly Zenyatta as she defeated Hysterical Lady.

What surprised me is that there was no mention of the fact that the jockeys were riding for the first time on Santa Anita's revamped (and untested) Pro Ride artificial racing surface.

For hoof lovers, there were lots of ground level shots of flying hooves. For racing plate manufacturers, there was plenty of flashing aluminum in the California sunlight.

The music on the show is well-done too; kudos to the post-production editor who wove rock and hip-hop music seamlessly with the fast-cut action, especially during the actual race footage.

If you missed it and you have cable access, Jockeys repeats tonight at 10 p.m. (eastern US time); crash lovers can see Trouble at the Track at 9 p.m. tonight. Click here for Animal Planet's schedule, as the show may be repeated again. The next new episodes of Jockeys air on Friday, February 13, at 9 p.m and continue for six weeks.

© 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.

Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital to Provide Services for 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Test Events

posted by Fran Jurga 4 February 2009 Fran Jurga' Hoof Blog

(received via press release)

LEXINGTON, KY—Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital will provide veterinary services for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games test events, as announced today by the World Games 2010 Foundation, Inc.

As the Official Equine Hospital and Veterinary Partner for 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games, Rood and Riddle has extended its partnership with the Games to provide veterinary services for a series of test events beginning in 2009. The test events, each called The Kentucky Cup, will allow the World Games 2010 Foundation, Inc. to prepare for the world championships coming to the Kentucky Horse Park in 2010.

“Rood and Riddle is very pleased to provide the veterinary services for The Kentucky Cup test events,” said Dr. Tom Riddle. “Our entire staff of veterinarians looks forward with great excitement to serving the sport horse industry, both at the test events and the 2010 Games.”

Lexington-based Rood & Riddle is a full-service equine hospital established in 1986 as a referral center for horses requiring specialized medical and surgical care. Today, Rood & Riddle is known and respected throughout the world for its innovative and highly skilled treatment of horses. The hospital facility offers a full range of services including surgery, internal medicine, advanced diagnostic imaging, a focused Podiatry Center and a specialized Reproductive Center.

The practice also provides ambulatory services (on-site care) for breeding farms, sport horse facilities, horse shows and events, with a variety of services, including emergency and preventative care, general reproduction, lameness, radiography, podiatry, and internal medicine.


“We are very fortunate to extend our partnership with Rood and Riddle through the test events for the 2010 Games, and to have the services of such a high-caliber equine hospital available to our equine athletes,” said Competition Director Kate Jackson.

The competitions will begin in 2009 and run through the 2010 Rolex Three-Day Event. All events will be held at the Kentucky Horse Park. Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital will manage the veterinary needs for all test events. A complete schedule of all Kentucky Cup test events is available at www.feigames2010.org.

© 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.