by Fran Jurga | 12 July 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog
It has been reported here, and published in scientific journals, that elephants have limited gaits. Research tells us that they can't run, or even trot, and they can only accelerate their walk, according to research conducted at the Motion and Structure Laboratory at the Royal College of Veterinary Medicine in England.
"Poor elephants," I always thought. Stuck in a four-beat walk their entire lives.
But I think those researchers should take a look at this video. It never fails to make me smile...and to want to go for a swim.
Maybe elephants have some secrets that they keep to themselves. If this is a four-beat gait, it's done with such obvious enjoyment.
Question: when horses swim, do they move their limbs independently (four beats) or in diagonal or lateral pairs (like a trot or pace)? Just curious...
Elephant lovers: Click here for another favorite video, the elephant on a trampoline. Elephants have all the fun!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Thursday, July 09, 2009
English Farrier Stephen Beane Wins Calgary's World Championship Title
by Fran Jurga | 9 July 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog
© 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.
Farrier Steven Beane of North Yorkshire, England, won the World Championship at Calgary this week.
English farrier Steven Beane outdueled his countryman Darren Bazin in 2009’s final of the Calgary Stampede’s 30th anniversary World Championship Blacksmiths’ Competition. Steven earned his first career global title in the process after two previous close calls under the Stampede Big Top.
Beane, who was the Calgary runner-up, or reserve champion, in 2005 and ’06, took home first prize of $10,000, a limited-edition bronze trophy, and a handcrafted gold-and-silver Stampede championship buckle.
Beane had trailed Bazin, a two-time WCBC winner, by seven points entering Sunday’s five-man final, but stoked up a fantastic finish, finishing with 153 points to Bazin’s 141. England’s Derek Gardner was third with 118 points; Welshman Grant Moon was fourth with 109 points; and Canada’s Iain Ritchie finished fifth at 88.
Point totals for all competitors reflected three days’ work in front of the forge.
Roughly 25 first-time competitors made the trip to Calgary, after winning national competitions in their home countries. A large number of past champions and runners-up made the trip because it was the 30th anniversary, making this one of the most impressive fields ever contested at the Calgary Stampede.
Other class winners were Gene Leiser of Texas USA in a forging class, and in the artistic division, Mike Chisham of California USA, Stephane Demartinprey of France (I think), and John Steel of Pennsylvania. Ben Casserly of England won the rookie award.
(Thanks to the Calgary Stampede for this photo and the results information.) Congratulations, Steven!
© 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.
Monday, July 06, 2009
"Relax Dressage Medication Rules!" Anky Speaks Out in Support of Isabell, Defends Meds for Therapeutic Use
by Fran Jurga | 6 July 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog
They are the Affirmed and Alydar of the sport horse world. Venus and Serena on horseback. One wins one day for technical perfection. The other wins the next day for taking risks on a horse that seems barely under control...and yet delivers in artistic superlatives. A single hoofprint out of line often is all that separates the two.
They are the Affirmed and Alydar of the sport horse world. Venus and Serena on horseback. One wins one day for technical perfection. The other wins the next day for taking risks on a horse that seems barely under control...and yet delivers in artistic superlatives. A single hoofprint out of line often is all that separates the two.
When Germany's top dressage star Isabell Werth was suspended last week for a positive medication test on her lower level horse, her arch-rival Anky Van Grunsven of Holland did not shout with glee that her rival would not be at the World Equestrian Festival in Aachen this weekend to oppose her.
In a poignant moment of sport solidarity, Anky stepped up to microphone and voiced her criticism for the zero tolerance medication rules that make it impossible to sedate a nervous horse for a routine stable procedure like shoeing or clipping. In Isabell's case, it was a medication for the condition known as "shivers". (Click here to read post about Isabell and shivers medication.)
Here's Anky's statement, taken from a video published in Dutch last week:
"I am not a supporter of doping at all but I want to do what is best for the horse.
"An example: when I want to clip my horse before a show, I would like to give him a light sedation to relax because my horse is a bit afraid of the clipping machine. The stuff we use to relax the horse is doping positive. Imagine, I asked the vet how many days before the show I can clip my horse and he says three days. But what if it is found in my horse’s blood at the show five days after I used it? That means my horse is doping positive! But I think it’s for the horse benefit to clip him.
"I think the rules have to be changed. The research regarding doping is very expensive but it will be a good idea to work with a logbook and write down what had been given and why.
"If the medication is not to improve the performance, I think there is no reason to maintain the zero tolerance for these cases."
Click here to watch the video. It's in Dutch but has some nice footage.
Note: in another poignant twist of fate, Anky did not win at Aachen this weekend. That honor went to the American, Steffen Peters, on Ravel. One can only wonder what might have happened if Isabell had been allowed to compete.
Click here to follow Fran Jurga and The Hoof Blog on Twitter!
© 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.
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.
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Drama at Aachen as German Horse Pulls Up Lame During Dressage
by Fran Jurga | 4 July 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog
Niels Knippertz of the Aachen press team wrote: "Ulla (Salzgeber) was riding around the arena when all of a sudden Herzrufs Erbe went lame by (arena marker) "B". Ulla dismounted and led her horse out, but he was still very lame."
Even more amazing was that Ulla Salzgeber posted a report on her web site about the incident within hours. Roughly translated, she recalled being stopped in the arena, waiting for the veterinarian, and wrote that the preliminary diagnosis was fairly devastating: a severe "Sehnenzerrung", or bowed tendon. Ulla was so shocked by that news that she immediately withdrew her mare Wakana out of the Grand Prix Freestyle and retreated home.
Ulla predicts that a year will be required to heal the tendon and believes her horse deserves the chance to come back.
The limb in question: photo Kenneth Braddick of dressage-news.com.
I may not be in Aachen, Germany this weekend for the World Equestrian Festival, but the Internet certainly had me ringside at the dressage competition today when Germany's best hope for a high score in the Grand Prix Special was pulled up after entering the arena.
Niels Knippertz of the Aachen press team wrote: "Ulla (Salzgeber) was riding around the arena when all of a sudden Herzrufs Erbe went lame by (arena marker) "B". Ulla dismounted and led her horse out, but he was still very lame."
An RSS feed from US journalist Kenneth Braddick of dressage-news.com showed the leg in question and provided more details. Click here to read Kenneth Braddick's report and see more photos.
Ulla schooling Herzi at home. (Jacques Toffi image courtesy Ulla Salzgeber's web site)
"Meanwhile, Herzi's hoof is packed in plaster to give it relief. And on Sunday he goes to the clinic to Dr. Brake, for further treatment," Ulla wrote.
Ulla and Herzi placed 15th in the Grand Prix on Friday, which was won by American rider Steffen Peters riding Ravel in his Epona plastic glue shoes.
Many thanks to Niels, Kenneth and Ulla for their excellent communication across the Atlantic and across the language barrier.
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© 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.
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.
Independence Day in the USA
Happy Fourth of July to all the Hoof Blog's USA readers!
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Isabell Werth: Illegal Substance Found Was Shivers Medication
by Fran Jurga | 1 July 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog
The sport horse world was shocked last week to learn that Olympic Gold Medalist Isabel Werth of Germany has been provisionally suspended from competition for a doping violation and now faces up to two years' suspension.
Werth issued a press statement (below) which states that she administered the banned anti-psychotic substance not as a sedative but as a treatment for the horse's shivers condition. She had believed that all traces of the medication would have left the horse's system before the competition but that was not the case.
Shivers is a difficult to treat condition seen usually in warmblood sport horses and draft horses. It is often confused with stringhalt, which is a completely different condition, and has been studied at the University of Minnesota by Dr. Stephanie Valberg.
Farriers are extremely familiar with shivers, as the horse has difficulty balancing itself on three legs. Shoeing or trimming can be dangerous for the farrier and the horse.
Click here to read an article previously published on the Hoof Blog about shivers, with an illustration. An excellent article by Dr Beth Valentine in Hoofcare & Lameness #75 is also a good resource.
Here is Isabell Werth's statement:
Yesterday I was informed by the FN (German Equestrian Federation) that during a medication test on May 30, 2009 at the CDI in Wiesbaden, traces of the substance FLUPHENAZINE were found in a sample taken from my small tour horse Whisper. Therefore I feel the need to inform the public personally – in addition to today's FN press release – about the background of this matter.
Whisper suffers from the so-called SHIVERING SYNDROME. This affects the central nervous system and causes imbalances if the horse has to stand on three legs for a longer while – for example when being groomed, bandaged or shod. Feeling insecure, the horse begins to shiver and lunges uncontrollably for fear of losing its balance and keeling over. This illness is not painful and does not influence a horse's ability to compete, but it entails an increased risk for the persons working with the horse (farrier, groom, rider).
Therefore I asked my veterinarian Dr. Hans Stihl (SUI), if and how this Shivering Syndrome can be treated. Dr. Stihl explained to me that so far there is no cure for this ailment, but that several horses in his care had showed positive reactions to a drug called MODECATE. This drug contains FLUPHENAZINE as an active substance. So we treated Whisper once, on May 16, 2009, with this drug, in order to find out if he responds to it. This was the case, the shivering was reduced, and there was less uncontrolled movement when we raised one of his legs.
When asked for the settling time, Dr. Stihl told me that according to his experience, six days are enough, but one could never be completely sure. So, to be on the safe side, we decided to let Whisper compete again on May 30, 2009 in Wiesbaden. I took this decision to the best of my knowledge. In spite of this, the FEI doping lab has now found traces of said substance. One reason may be that the lab has used new analyzing methods.
The FEI has suspended me immediately, as dictated by the rules of procedure. The fact that only ineffective traces of the drug were found does not matter according to those rules. I deeply regret this incident, but I was convinced that I had acted correctly. I wish the rules were revised as quickly as possible in a way that allows reasonable treatment of sport horses without risking long suspensions because the settling times change constantly with each new method of analysis and become literally “incalculable”.
I am aware that I have given reason to doubt the honesty and cleanness of my person and of our sport. I herewith apologize to everyone who is close to me and to equestrian sports. Of course I will do everything to help clarifying any questions that still remain.
(Isabell Werth)
Click here to follow Fran Jurga and the Hoofcare & Lameness newstream on Twitter.
© 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.
The sport horse world was shocked last week to learn that Olympic Gold Medalist Isabel Werth of Germany has been provisionally suspended from competition for a doping violation and now faces up to two years' suspension.
Werth issued a press statement (below) which states that she administered the banned anti-psychotic substance not as a sedative but as a treatment for the horse's shivers condition. She had believed that all traces of the medication would have left the horse's system before the competition but that was not the case.
Shivers is a difficult to treat condition seen usually in warmblood sport horses and draft horses. It is often confused with stringhalt, which is a completely different condition, and has been studied at the University of Minnesota by Dr. Stephanie Valberg.
Farriers are extremely familiar with shivers, as the horse has difficulty balancing itself on three legs. Shoeing or trimming can be dangerous for the farrier and the horse.
Click here to read an article previously published on the Hoof Blog about shivers, with an illustration. An excellent article by Dr Beth Valentine in Hoofcare & Lameness #75 is also a good resource.
Here is Isabell Werth's statement:
Yesterday I was informed by the FN (German Equestrian Federation) that during a medication test on May 30, 2009 at the CDI in Wiesbaden, traces of the substance FLUPHENAZINE were found in a sample taken from my small tour horse Whisper. Therefore I feel the need to inform the public personally – in addition to today's FN press release – about the background of this matter.
Whisper suffers from the so-called SHIVERING SYNDROME. This affects the central nervous system and causes imbalances if the horse has to stand on three legs for a longer while – for example when being groomed, bandaged or shod. Feeling insecure, the horse begins to shiver and lunges uncontrollably for fear of losing its balance and keeling over. This illness is not painful and does not influence a horse's ability to compete, but it entails an increased risk for the persons working with the horse (farrier, groom, rider).
Therefore I asked my veterinarian Dr. Hans Stihl (SUI), if and how this Shivering Syndrome can be treated. Dr. Stihl explained to me that so far there is no cure for this ailment, but that several horses in his care had showed positive reactions to a drug called MODECATE. This drug contains FLUPHENAZINE as an active substance. So we treated Whisper once, on May 16, 2009, with this drug, in order to find out if he responds to it. This was the case, the shivering was reduced, and there was less uncontrolled movement when we raised one of his legs.
When asked for the settling time, Dr. Stihl told me that according to his experience, six days are enough, but one could never be completely sure. So, to be on the safe side, we decided to let Whisper compete again on May 30, 2009 in Wiesbaden. I took this decision to the best of my knowledge. In spite of this, the FEI doping lab has now found traces of said substance. One reason may be that the lab has used new analyzing methods.
The FEI has suspended me immediately, as dictated by the rules of procedure. The fact that only ineffective traces of the drug were found does not matter according to those rules. I deeply regret this incident, but I was convinced that I had acted correctly. I wish the rules were revised as quickly as possible in a way that allows reasonable treatment of sport horses without risking long suspensions because the settling times change constantly with each new method of analysis and become literally “incalculable”.
I am aware that I have given reason to doubt the honesty and cleanness of my person and of our sport. I herewith apologize to everyone who is close to me and to equestrian sports. Of course I will do everything to help clarifying any questions that still remain.
(Isabell Werth)
Click here to follow Fran Jurga and the Hoofcare & Lameness newstream on Twitter.© 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.
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