Fran Jurga`s Hoofcare + Lameness

Friday, March 13, 2009

Hoofcare's Family Album: Herman Kretzschmar's Blacksmith Shop in Henry, South Dakota

by Fran Jurga | 13 March 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

Our friend Julie Grohs, who knows this blog loves old photos of farriers and smithies, writes:

"Here is a blacksmith shop in Henry, South Dakota, in the late 1920’s. The man on the left is my uncle, Herman Kretzschmar. He emigrated from Germany as a young boy. Most of the children from his family made it to South Dakota at that time, including his brother, my grandfather. They farmed in eastern South Dakota, using horses and mules, and worked on plow parts in this amazing blacksmith shop."

Julie and her husband Joe are both veterinarians and own Alaska Equine & Small Animal Hospital in Chugiak. Julie has a deep interest in foot problems and always has fascinating cases to share, as you would expect from a place like Alaska! When she wrote, she and Joe were about to leave for a long weekend at their remote wilderness cabin, 12 miles by snowmobile from the nearest road over six feet of snow, near Mount McKinley.

Herman would probably fit right in there, and be proud that his niece still has the family's pioneer spirit.

By the way, Julie mentioned in an email, "See you in November!" She is already planning to attend the 5th International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Disease of the Foot in West Palm Beach, Florida, to be held November 5-7. I hope you will be there, too.

© 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.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Event Announcement: Hufbeschlagkongress Will Be Held at Equitana in Germany

by Fran Jurga | 12 March 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

Here's the EDHV "booth" at a recent event. Take a good look at the construction of the portal: My compliments to the architect! Double-click on the image for a larger view.

EDHV, the national farrier association of Germany, will host an international congress of farriers at Equitana, the "world's fair of horses", which opens tomorrow in Essen, Germany. EDHV will also have a booth and ongoing demonstrations in Hall 1, the "Hufdorf".

The Congress is scheduled for Saturday, March 15 at 10.30 a.m. in the "Deutschland" Room of the Congress Center South.

Program highlights:

Prof. Dr. H. Geyer - University of Zurich: "The influence of
environmental factors on the hufhorn of the horse "

Veterinarian and biomechanics expert Gerd Heuschmann :
"The biomechanics of the horse"

Farrier insturctor Melanie Scherer and Dr med vet. Wolff - University of Giessen:
"Farriery, using before and after X-ray imaging"

Farrier Josef Ganser of Austria: "What pad for what purpose? How soft or
hard should a cushion be? "

Farrier Jörg Ohl - Underrun heels: "How many degrees of lift or none at all? What is the effect of wedges on the hoof? "

Note: Dr Heuschmann's new anatomy/biomechanics dvd, "Stimmen der Pferd" ("If Horses Could Speak") will be shown in a special event at Equitana, with a separate admission charged. The Hoof Blog will have a review of the English translation of the dvd later this week, and we will also be offering it for sale. It is the media-rich follow-up to his bestselling book "Tug of War: Modern vs Classical Dressage" and is expected to open up his biomechanics ideas to an entire new audience. Watch for details or reserve your copy now!

For more information about the Farrier Congress, visit www.edhv.de.

Equitana is possibly my favorite horse event in the world; it is a heady 10-day cocktail of horses mixed with adrenaline and international glamour, with world-class shopping, champagne, new faces, old friends and entertainment as a chaser, all squashed into eight huge coliseums of exhibits and arenas with 100,000 people celebrating their work with or love for horses. Oh, how I wish I was there.

(speakers and topics translated very loosely by Fran Jurga, sorry for any errors!)

Mid-Week Hoof Humor: Going Heavy on the Forehand

posted by Fran Jurga | 12 March 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

Is this what the trainers are talking about when they say a horse is "too heavy on the forehand"? Here's another Photoshop masterpiece from worth1000.com and equinest.com's "Photoshopped Horses" gallery. I thought the jumping boots on the hinds were an especially nice touch. Thanks!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Favorite Photo: This Horse Was In Good Hands

by Fran Jurga | 11 March 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

"You're in Good Hands" by Dwight Usry

This photo just showed up in my email a while ago. I thought it was quite beautiful...and even moreso when I realized what I was looking at.

This horse's toe crack has been patched with PMMA adhesive, which will harden into a shell-like covering that closely mimics the hoof wall. Plastic wrap is placed over the material while it sets and the farrier is smoothing the big patch as it goes through its processes from a pastey liquid to a solid when it is exposed to the air after mixing the two parts together.

The same procedure is used to build up heels, fill in gaps in the wall or sometimes cover a quarter crack patch. A similar process was used in the 2008 Triple Crown by hoof repair specialist Ian McKinlay in his work on Big Brown's separations and crack. The material also can be used to glue shoes onto hooves.

By feeling the texture and heat through the plastic, the farrier will know when it is safe to put the foot down. Once hardened, the patch can be rasped and shaped and may be indistinguishable from the "real" wall at the quarters if the job is done with skill.

You can be pretty sure that was the case here; those long fingers that look like they should belong to an artist or musician were Mr. Edgar Watson's, an expert farrier from Keswick, Virginia. Eddie died this fall, and the farrier world hasn't been the same since.

I'd like to thank Dwight Usry of Peak's Forge in Hanover, Virginia for sharing this photo.

Architect's drawing of the Britt-Watson Veterinarian/Farrier Facility to be built in Virginia in memory of farrier Eddie Watson. The location is The Meadow Event Center; The Meadow is the farm where Secretariat was foaled. The farm was recently taken over as a horse show park and will be the new site of the Virginia State Fair.

Be sure to watch for news of Dwight's fundraiser for the Britt-Watson Veterinarian/Farrier Facility to be built in Mr. Watson's memory at The Meadow Event Park, a new horse park and home for the state fair, built on the farm in Doswell, Virginia where Secretariat was born. Farrier Product Distribution (FPD) has already kicked off the fundraising with a $1000 donation. If you'd like to chip in, I can fax the donation form to you or click here to send Dwight an email.

© 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.

Hoofcare 101 Part Three: Functional Aspects of Sole Loading and Heel Expansion

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

Welcome to Part 3 of this week's featured video series on hoof function and anatomy from the Extension Service. The segments feature farrier instructor Nate Allen from Central Community Technical College in Hastings, Nebraska.

"Wait a minute, where's Part 2?" you may ask. There's a technical glitch with that video, and I hope to have it ready for you as soon as possible. In the meantime, pat yourself on the back: you can graduate to Part 3!

The majority of this segment is footage from the excellent video/dvd "Horse Foot Studies" by Dr. Chris Pollitt of the Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit and Wild Horse Research Unit at the University of Queensland, Australia. The complete video is available from Hoofcare and Lameness Journal; click here to place an order.

Click here to view part one of the video series, which is made possible by the University of Nebraska and Purina Mills. Please note that this is a very general introduction to foot anatomy and functions; much more in-depth material is available for study for those who seek it, but this is a good introduction.

Monday, March 09, 2009

Hoofcare 101 Part One: Anatomy Basics Refresher Course Video with Nate Allen

This blog is read by hoofcare professionals of all levels and stripes and ranks and religions. It is also read by hundreds of people each day who are just "passing through" and are interested in a specific aspect of the hoof, or maybe manufacture a product or are horseowners looking for a clue that will help a lame horse.

Farrier instructor Nate Allen of Allen Farrier Service in Juanita, Nebraska and Central Community Technical College in Hastings, Nebraska, narrates this and other videos in the series that I will be posting in short segments so as not to overwhelm you all. This project is made possible by support from the University of Nebraska and Purina Mills through the Cooperative Extension Service network of educational agriculture resource providers and eXtension.org, an educational partnership of 74 universities in the United States.

Note: if you think this video is too basic for you, be patient. The series has to walk before it can run, and I think it is a good idea both to review basic anatomy and learn the terms and principles that Nate Allen will prefer to use in later videos. Anatomy doesn't change and is not a creative subject, but people do approach it in different ways and educators tend to vary in the way that they stress the roles of different structures.

I should probably add that throughout these videos, Nate is sharing his own point of view on subjects like sole pressure, hoof expansion, the role of structures in hoof mechanism, etc. and I realize that many people do not share the tried-and-true farrier science approach. Again, these videos are what a mainstream, middle-of-the-road well-educated farrier instructor thinks people should know about hoofcare. He has put a lot of work into this project and deserves a lot credit and respect, whether you agree with him or not.

You could also download these videos and use them for educating horse owners, or run them on a loop at a trade show booth. You can't go wrong by starting with the basics...and no matter what people tell you, most of them can't find their way around the most basic anatomy diagram and have forgotten everything they learned decades ago in Pony Club or 4-H. Letting them watch this refresher-course video may save them a lot of embarrassment, and you'll be even more of a hero than you already are.