A young Edward Martin set out from his village one morning in the 1950s to see the annual Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh. He carried with him the forehammer you see here in his hands. It was bought in 1893 in anticipation of his grandfather's first shoeing competition, which he won...and was used by Edward up to the time that illness forced him to stop work.
It took me a lot of work to find the source and acquire the rights to this photo, which I finally did in 2004, and Edward always seemed a little amazed that I could have found a photo he had never seen of himself, on such a special day.
After I sent him the photo, Edward added this note, in addition to the hammer explanation: "I was striking to James Lawson, of Edinburgh....James had lost his father, his normal striker, some time before. He had no one to strike for him. I stepped in to do the job. It was a big occasion for me. It was the great Scottish poet Robert Burns who said, 'Nae man con tether time nor tide' and that is true."
Edward Martin's funeral has been moved to Monday, February 23, 2009 at noon in the Closeburn Church, Closeburn by Thornhill, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. I hope to have information soon on how (or if) to send flowers or messages. Stay tuned.
People sometimes ask for names of famous blacksmiths and farriers. There are too many, history is full of them, from the gods of antiquity, Vulcan and Hephaestus, to today's highly skilled farriers using modern materials like engineers of the hoof and artisan maestros of forging like Francis Whitaker and Samuel Yellin.
But Dexter Pratt may be the most famous of them all.
For many people, their earliest images of who a blacksmith or farrier is and what s/he does were formed by the immortal words of the poem, The Village Blacksmith, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The smith in the poem seems like Everyman. Most wouldn't think that there was a real man behind the anvil in that story, but there was.
First, a refresher, in case you don't remember the poem:
Longfellow was America's most famous poet, but he was also a professor at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. When he walked to and from the campus, he passed a mighty chestnut tree on Brattle Street, under which stood the modest smithy of his neighbor, Dexter Pratt. Dexter is believed to be the inspiration for the poem, along with the fact that Longfellow's own grandfather, Stephen Longfellow, was a blacksmith in Newbury, Massachusetts.
If there was a seed of inspiration for the poem somewhere in Longfellow's fertile mind, it was reinforced and enhanced every day by his encounter with the smith, who became his friend.
Longfellow's home on Brattle Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts is open to the public as a National Park site. It is across and down the street from the site of what must have been several blacksmith shops in Harvard Square.
Longfellow probably wrote The Village Blacksmith in 1839; it was published in 1840. Longfellow was paid $15 for the poem by Knickerbocker magazine.
Around the same time, Longfellow met a very interesting man named Elihu Burritt, known as "The Learned Blacksmith". He was living in nearby Worcester, and Longfellow encouraged him to move to Cambridge; the poet even offered to support the blacksmith.
But Burritt turned the famous poet down. He wanted to keep working in the forge while he pursued his studies.
At one time you could buy prints and post cards of Dexter's smithy, long after it and the chestnut tree were gone. Maybe you still can.
Dexter's shop and tree probably could have become one of the greatest tourist attractions in Cambridge, except that urban planning interfered: there was a curve in the street where they stood and the city wanted to straighten it. The authorities didn't see a way around it: the big tree had to go and, with it, Dexter's shop and forge. Not even Longfellow could save it.
The big tree was cut down in the 1870s.
Longfellow's chair, made from the wood of the spreading chestnut tree.
What a day it must have been when they cut it down. Cambridge schoolchildren took up a collection to make a memento. A chair was made from the tree for Longfellow, and you can see it if you visit his house. The poet wrote the children a poem of thanks. It is an ode to the tree; it doesn't mention the blacksmith, though.
"The Village Blacksmith" has outlived Longfellow, Dexter, and the tree. And so, it turns out, have the two houses where the men lived. They're still there.
Dexter Pratt's more modest home on Brattle Street is painted almost the same color as Longfellow's, but it's not so grandiose. (Wikipedia photo)
Dexter's house at 54 Brattle Street is in the National Register of Historic Places and owned by the City of Cambridge. It is now known as "The Blacksmith House". It was built in 1808 for a blacksmith named Torrey Hancock, who sold it to Dexter Pratt. It's interesting that Pratt's daughter sold the house to a runaway slave named Mary Walker, who lived there with her family for many years.
During World War II, a bakery opened in the house, selling baked goods made by women refugees from Europe.
Over the years, The Village Blacksmith inspired a lot of people. In 1922, famed director John Ford brought The Village Blacksmith to the silver screen, in a melodramatic story based loosely on the blacksmith in the poem. The subtitle for the film was "The Blacksmith's Daughter, Falsely Accused".
Almost 100 years after Longfellow wrote the poem, a mysterious silent film pantomime of the poem appeared. There's no documentation to go with this rough gem, which is copyrighted by the distributor as 1936 but looks to be older.
In the film, you will see first Longfellow's stately, then the more colonial home of Dexter Pratt, though I doubt it was so grand when he lived there. I don't know if the entire film was shot in Cambridge or just those buildings.
You can walk in Longfellow's footsteps down Brattle Street, and visit both houses. If you walk down the street to the Mount Auburn Cemetery, you'll find the graves of both men. A chunk of the chestnut tree is preserved in the Cambridge Public Library on Broadway.
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Edward Martin died early on the morning of February 14th at his home in Closeburn, near Thornhill, Dumfriesshire, Scotland.
The worldly farrier and blacksmith used to have a saying about how much you'd be missed after your death. He'd say, "Swirl you hand around in a bucket of water, and watch the hole it makes in the center, and watch it for a a few minutes. That's how much you'll be missed when you're gone."
That might be the one thing that he was wrong about.
PS I am struggling to write Edward Martin's obituary but it is being written and will be published when details of his funeral are available.
This has to be the animal-lover's photo of the year; a firefighter in the Australian state of Victoria shares his bottle of spring water with a burned koala. (photo links to Horse Deals Australia blog)
The numbers are staggering. Wildlife and public health officials in Australia estimate that as many as one million animals may have been killed in the wildfires that ripped through the state of Victoria last weekend. As if that news isn't bad enough, there may be a double whammy coming for horses who had to stand on the scorched earth: the fire in the bush is over, but the fire in the feet may be only beginning.
We know that rapid and continual cooling by the icing of the horse's lower limb and digit ("cryotherapy") can clinically prevent laminitis, as proven in studies by the Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit at the University of Queensland, directed by Dr. Chris Pollitt.
But can the inverse be true? Can heat cause laminitis?
Dr. Pollitt is flying south to Victoria to help with rescue efforts and provide veterinary services for the hundreds of horses displaced or injured by the wild bushfires that ripped through the countryside in Victoria.
The University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Veterinary Science in Victoria is providing free care to pets and horses injured in the recent fires. Professor Ken Hinchcliff, Dean of the Faculty there, says that veterinary clinic staff at the university are deeply concerned.
Dean Lewis of the Victoria Farriers Association has spoken up about the danger of horses "losing their hoof capsules" and has offered the services of his member farriers to help with rescue operations.
One of the things that touched me was that the rescue center are having trouble feeding the horses, and put out a call for soft lucerne (alfalfa) hay. So many horses have burned muzzles that it is painful for them to eat regular hay with its stiff stalks poking their burnt flesh.
The burns on this cat's paws are typical of what pets and livestock have experienced. This cat is receiving veterinary care at the Victoria Animal Aid fire assistance center.
Triple R Equine Welfare Inc. (TREW) warns horse owners and anyone wishing to help, "The immediate threat to horses left stranded in burnt properties is damage to hooves. Prolonged exposure to hot ground will cause a low grade overheating, that develops into heat induced laminitis. The prognosis for horses suffering this condition will be extremely poor. It is imperative the we move swiftly to relocate horses off burnt properties."
The textbook Technical Large Animal Emergency Rescue by Gimenez, Gimenez, and May (Wiley-Blackwell 2008) offers some insight into what body conditions of a burn victim horse may contribute to laminitis and hoof capsule detachment:
"Thermal injury produces local and systemic responses. In the local (skin, which would include the hoof) response, inflammation is the primary reaction, caused by damaged, leaking tissues and blood vessels. Tissue fluid and electrolyte shifts cause inflammation and fluid loss...
"Tissue injury continues for 24-48 hours after the initial thermal injury, therefore the burn will increase in severity over that period of time. Necrosis (death) of the dermis and epidermis in full-thickness burns creates a hard, leathery charred appearance to the skin; this is called eschar (Pascoe 1999). As the eschar sloughs, it creates an increase in open wounds."
It's pretty straightforward to think that burned hooves are a danger in themselves, even though farriers routinely hot-fit hooves and prolonged hot fitting has not been shown to be a danger to hooves. Burned coronets would affect the blood supply to the lamina within the hoof, which would probably already be decreased by the inflammation, edema, and compromised circulation.
Let's keep all the Australians--two-legged and four-legged in our thoughts, and hope that we can learn something about laminitis and how to prevent and treat it in future forest fire emergencies.
Sam the Water Guzzling Koala is recovering at a shelter; she too has extensive burns on her feet. It looks like she's been to the hairdresser, too.
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.
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).
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Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.
by Fran Jurga | 10 February 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog
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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.
A young Edward Martin set out from his village one morning in the 1950s to see the annual Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh. He carried with him the forehammer you see here in his hands. It was bought in 1893 in anticipation of his grandfather's first shoeing competition, which he won...and was used by Edward up to the time that illness forced him to stop work. 
