Irish Farrier Wins Alltech's World Equestrian Games Trip

Irish farrier Damien Gallagher let some sparks fly when he learned he would be coming to America as the guest of Alltech to attend the World Equestrian Games next month.

Damien Gallagher, a farrier from remote County Donegal in northwest Ireland, will be coming to the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games next month at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky.

No, he's not one of the Irish team farriers. No, he's not a personal farrier to an Irish rider. He won't be packing an apron, and he probably won't be checking a toolbox through customs. What he will be is a VIP. Damien is on the list to be a guest of Alltech, title sponsor of the Games and international horse feed manufacturer.

Customers were invited to fill out entry forms accompanied by a “golden ticket” that was affixed to thousands of Gain Horse Feed bags in Ireland over the past number of months; the contest was to devise a slogan extolling the benefits of the feed, which is the official Irish Animal Health and Nutrition Partner of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

After an exhaustive trawl through more than 5000 slogans submitted, the judges agreed that Damien’s entry best summed up the objectives and achievements that go hand in hand with Alltech and Gain Horse Feeds products.

Damien wrote: “The best thing about Gain Horse Feed is empty feeding pots, happy healthy horses and red rosettes!”

For his winning entry, Damien will receive a pair of tickets to the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games along with flights and hotel accommodation. When notified of his win, Damian commented “I am delighted to have won this great prize, it is a trip of a lifetime and I am really looking forward to going on it. Thank you very much to Gain Horse Feeds and Alltech!”

Damien qualified as a farrier in 2005 after completing the four-year apprenticeship program of the Irish Master Farrier Association. After qualifying, he set up his own business in County Donegal.

"Each year it has gradually expanded and I find myself shoeing a wide variety of horses from leisure to competition horses," Damien told Hoofcare and Lameness by email. "I always enjoy working on our native breeds--namely, the Irish draught and Connemara pony--and look forward to our summer when I get the opportunity to carry out corrective work on foals. I mainly work from a mobile unit traveling from yard to yard.

"Both my wife and I are active members of the Letterkenny riding club," Damien commented, regarding his own involvement with horses.  "Although we only compete at amateur level we take great enjoyment from show jumping, cross country and dressage."

"My wife, Nadine, and I will be in Kentucky from the 5th to the 11th of October," he said. "I would love to meet up with some American farriers."

The 2010 World Equestrian Games, by the way, might be quite naturally linked to Ireland; title sponsor Alltech has its roots in Ireland, where its founder, Dr Pearce Lyons, was born. Thirty years ago, he established his animal nutrition company in Kentucky and the rest is history! Alltech now has headquarters in the USA, Ireland, and Thailand. The Games will feature an "Irish Village" promoting Irish horses and horse culture in addition to many more exhibits and pavilions. Damien should feel right at home.

(Note to American readers: when you leave the USA you may be surprised to learn that our blue ribbon is second prize in many countries, and the red ribbon is first prize!)

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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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Cornell Laminitis Research Beneficiary of Arabian Horse Foundation Grant to Study Genetic Markers in Equine Metabolic Syndrome and Cushings Disease

Good news for hoof research: this week the Arabian Horse Foundation (AHF) of the Arabian Horse Association (AHA) announced that it awarded $5,000 to fund equine research; the Foundation directed $2,500 to Cornell University. 

The $2,500 to Cornell University will go toward research into Equine Metabolic Syndrome (EMS) and Equine Cushing’s Disease (ECD) in the Arabian horse. The grant will fund the work of Dr. Samantha Brooks and Cassy Streeter.

A frequent complication of both EMS (also known as Insulin Resistance) and ECD is laminitis and laminitis, in turn, is one of the most common causes of lameness and death in the horse.  
 

Beth Minnich, chair of the Foundation’s Equine Research Advisory Panel, stated, “Arabians are a breed affected by EMS and ECD, so to be able to define genetic markers associated with a predisposition to these diseases would help tremendously in being able to identify at risk horses, properly manage affected horses and potentially assist in developing therapies for treatment. Additionally, the influence of the Arabian breed in the development of many modern breeds will assist in the identification of these genetic markers among a variety of horse populations.”

The metal sculpture "Scotty's Arabian Horse" shown in this article was constructed by hammer on galvanized steel for the Swell Sculpture Festival on Currumbin Beach on Australia's Gold Coast by Andy Scott; photos top and left are by Jeannie Fletcher. I wonder if this magnificent horse and his huge hoof are still there. He was designed to bask in the sun...although he might look great in the snow, too.  The photo below is from Andy's astonishing portfolio of public art.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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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Moyer's AAEP Presidency Means Temporary Changes at Texas A&M Vet School

(press release edited for space restrictions) 

Dr. William Moyer, professor and department head of the Large Animal Clinical Sciences Department (LACS) of the Texas A & M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (CVM), will become the next president of theAmerican Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) in December 2010. While Moyer goes on administrative leave to fulfill his duties with the AAEP, Dr. Allen Roussel, professor and associate department head at veterinary college, will become the acting department head of the LACS on September 1, 2010 until January 1, 2012.

"This is the greatest honor I have ever received," explains Moyer. "I have been a member of AAEP since 1969. AAEP has set the ground work for a lot of other organizations of its kind. It was the first to have a motto, and it is one of the only organizations that is very progressive in dealing with all issues of the horse world. Personally, AAEP is my window to the world I work in. I am very grateful to Dr. Roussel for fulfilling the responsibilities of my current position while I execute my role with the AAEP."

AAEP's mission statement is "to improve the health and welfare of the horse, to further the professional development of its members, and to provide resources and leadership for the benefit of the equine industry." AAEP encompasses all aspects of the horse industry. Moyer is currently president elect of the AAEP. He received his DVM from Colorado State University in 1970. He has been the department head of the Large Animal Clinical Sciences Department for 17 years. He also holds memberships in the American Veterinary Medical Association, Association for the Advancement of Sports Potential, Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges, Association of Equine Sports Medicine, and the Texas Veterinary Medical Association.

"Dr. Moyer's rise to the presidency of the largest, most influential equine veterinary organization in the world speaks volumes about his success as an influential leader and the regard in which he is held in the profession," said Dr. Eleanor Green, Carl B. King dean of veterinary medicine at Texas A & M.  "The AAEP presidency is one of the greatest honors, opportunities, and responsibilities an equine veterinarian can achieve.  We are all very proud of Dr. Moyer."

"As AAEP President, Dr. Moyer will advance both the AAEP and Texas A & M University," Green continued.  "In recognition of the growing responsibilities and time commitment associated with AAEP Presidency, Texas A & M fully supports Dr. Moyer and encourages him to focus his talents and energies on his presidency during his term.  So how can the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences continue to flourish during this period?  Dr. Moyer fully supports Dr. Allen Roussel in serving as Acting Department Head.  What speaks volumes about Dr. Moyer's selfless nature and his well-known advocacy for and faith in his faculty is that he has entrusted the department completely to Dr. Roussel.  He has made it clear that he wants Dr. Roussel to lead the department as if he were the permanent department head until his return.

"Dr. Roussel is up for the challenge.  He has demonstrated excellent leadership as Associate Department Head and has been working side-by-side with Dr. Moyer over the last few months.  One can almost hear Dr. Roussel saying, 'Put me in coach.'  Because of unselfish dedication of both of these leaders, the department will not merely be held together, it will continue to drive forward."

Hoof Blog note: Among his many other accomplishments, Dr. Moyer is co-author of A Guide to Equine Joint Injection and Regional Anesthesia, our current bestselling book. Sadly, it has gone out-of-print and we are down to the last copies. If you need one, please go to our order page and make sure you get one before they are gone.

Also: Dr. Green knows what she's talking about; she was AAEP President in 2008.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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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Trot on! Hambletonian Winner Muscle Massive is a Jersey Boy But Might He Be the Last?

"Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated," is a line attributed to Mark Twain. The same could be said of The Meadowlands racetrack in urban New Jersey. Rumors from Trenton this summer suggest that the governor and state legislature might like to bypass support for casino-type gambling there in favor of other venues in the state. New Jersey's horse industry--much of it based in small Standardbred racing and breeding operations--is up in arms.

So when the $1.5 Million Hambletonian, the world's most famous trotting race, went off at The Meadowlands on Saturday afternoon, a crowd of 26,712--the highest attendance in five years--was on hand to watch, and a plane flew overhead with a banner asking them to "Save the Meadowlands".

The winner of the Hambletonian, a sparkling and regally-bred three-year-old bay colt named Muscle Massive, is a Jersey Boy and could be the poster child for Save the Meadowlands. He was bred right in New Jersey, at Perretti Farms. He's the son of Muscle Yankee, winner of the Hambletonian in 1998 and sire of 2008 Hambletonian winner Deweycheatumnhowe and 2009 winner Muscle Hill.

Muscle Massive clocked the second fastest final in Hambletonian history. The record was set by his sire.

If the horse is sound and that fast, credit must go his farrier and this horse has a good one. Congratulations to Conny Svensson (left) on shoeing his third Hambletonian winner. He also shod Malabar Man in 1997 and Scarlet Knight in 2001. Conny's most famous charge was the great and legendary globe-trotting mare Moni Maker.

Conny didn't comment about how the horse was shod--he had shod three horses in the race--but the trainer had this to say to Hoof Beats: "We raced him in steel shoes last week and I did that just for safety because he pulled a muscle, just to make sure he wouldn’t go off stride. I put aluminum shoes on him for today."
  
Harness racing is much more popular in attendance in Canada and in Europe than it is in the United States and yet The Hambletonian is still the one that every owner in the world would like to win. International wagering was nearly $2.4 million, up from $1.97 million wagered on the 2009 simulcast. Total wagering worldwide was $8,391,600, on the full card of yesterday's races at The Meadowlands.

Ah, but then in other parts of the world horse racing is often the only form of gambling, and the sport is a little more secure.

Muscle Massive is owned by a consortium of Swedish and Canadian interests and trained by Swedish native Jimmy Takter, who said in an interview that if The Meadowlands closed he would probably look for a different job.

A plane pulled a banner over the Meadowlands Racetrack on Saturday during the Hambletonian. The USA's richest Standardbred racetrack is endangered.

It seems like wherever I go, there is a crisis in the horse industry, and it usually has something to do with expanded gambling and state legislatures. I'd like to know how much better off the states with gambling really are; I think it is too soon to tell. What I can tell is that the pressure is on. New Jersey is caught between Delaware and Pennsylvania, where gambling is in at the racetracks; it is promised to come to New York at Aqueduct, a long stone's throw across the expansive marshland that gives The Meadowlands its name. The squeeze is on.  Kentucky feels the same kind of pressure. Maryland has struggled. Texas feels threatened. And here in Massachusetts,  our governor flatly refuses to save racing and insists of backing resort casinos identical to the ones in the state next door. Politics and horses have never mixed, but this is the future of all the horse industry that is at stake here. When the racing goes, other services go with it. Sport horses and pleasure horses will suffer, vets and farriers will suffer, hay and grain supplies and prices will suffer. And those are just the big ticket items at the top of the list. It's one big chain of dominoes. Just ask the owners of Perretti Farms, the largest Standardbred farm in New Jersey, where Muscle Massive's sire stands.

To learn more:

New Jersey Star Ledger's analysis of the effects of racing changes on vets, farriers, and sport horse industry in the state by Nancy Jaffer

Article about winning trainer Jimmy Takter and his comments on a future without The Meadowlands

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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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Smiddy Stane: What Is this?

Smiddy Stane, originally uploaded by airth_man.

Do you know what this thing is? The Hoof Blog will be telling you, but I just thought I'd post this photo and see if anyone already knew. Or wanted to guess.

Lisa's Booby Trap: Sort Out the Feet, You've Got a Racehorse

Lisa's Booby Trap is a horse for anyone who has given up on horseracing. Or life. 
Photo courtesy of New York Racing Association.

Saratoga. Playground of the rich and famous. Well-bred people, better-bred horses. They check your pedigree at the city line.

But on Monday night, the best pedigree in the world couldn't get you to a new home; svelte yearling after svelte yearling went unsold at the Fasig-Tipton Select Sale, or sold at prices below what was expected, and hoped for.

The buyers turned up their noses at the yearlings. The hottest horse in town, instead, is none other than a $2000 freakishly-fast-finishing Florida-bred Finger Lakes filly who is trained by Tim Snyder, a guy from Maine who normally wouldn't be able to even get a stall at Saratoga.

The racing secretary at Saratoga does not have Tim Snyder on speed dial. The guy has one horse in his stable. But, this year is different in a lot of ways.

You see, Tim seems to think the horse may be the reincarnation of his wife, Lisa, who died of ovarian cancer in 2003 and vowed she'd "come back as a horse". And then this horse showed up in his life.

Lisa's Booby Trap. That's her name. The whole thing reads like a script for a video that plays inside a Hallmark card. Except it's really happening, right here in Saratoga, of all places. He was broke, and didn't even have a horse trailer to go pick her up when he bought her. She was club-footed, and only had one eye anyway. But, the way people tell me the story, she had not just a bad club foot but a flat pancake foot too and she needed someone to pay some attention to her hooves. According to NYRA, she wears a hind shoe on the flat front foot now. And she no longer hits herself when she runs. Tim found a horseshoer to get the job done. And now it is just a matter of waiting for Oprah to call.

Here's their story, though we don't know yet what her feet look like. (I'm on it, though.) This TVG segment was made when she had won her first three starts this spring and summer at Finger Lakes, which is sort of the "outback" of New York racing, out in the middle of the state.

So Tim must have borrowed a trailer or begged a ride for the filly across New York State to Saratoga. She made her workout debut during the morning trackside breakfast on the main track. The announcer didn't notice her streaking by, but the timer certainly did. That was a fast work. Lisa's Booby Trap had arrived.

Tim Snyder had never even entered a horse in a stakes race before. Not even at Finger Lakes. His filly was entered against a full card of Kentucky-breds. Two were conditioned by Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. One was owned by Stonestreet Stables, owners of 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra. Speed demon Stormandaprayer is owned by chef Bobby Flay. And than there's Lisa's Booby Trap at 12-1, the only longshot on the program. Here's what happened:

According to NYRA and the Albany Times-Union, Lisa's Booby Trap will probably run next on Travers Day, which is Saturday August 28, in the Grade 3 Victory Ride.

I can't wait.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. 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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