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| 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.
Something about this photo just grabs me. It's another of those, "Huh!" sorts of photos. A photographer frames something we see often in a way that makes it interesting and visually compelling. And makes it look pretty dangerous!
Photographer Tim Dawson had a wonderful time at the New Zealand Farriers Association's North Island Dairy Flat Forging and Heavy Horse Competition in Auckland on July 23-24. While I try to figure out which farrier this is, I will let you enjoy the shot.
For the uninitiated who may have stumbled upon this image, you are looking at the age-old act of a hot horseshoe being pressed against the trimmed bottom of a Clydesdale's hoof. The farrier will hold it there firmly for a few seconds (no, it doesn't hurt the horse) while it gives off some acrid sulphurous smoke. Then he will pull it away and observe the hoof to see if the burn mark is uniform around the wall of the hoof. This will tell him if the shoe is level; without a level shoe, the nails won't be tight and if the nails aren't tight...well, you remember the old "All for want of a horseshoe nail" ditty.
This process is called "hot fitting" and it is done for all types of horses. It is even done for Thoroughbred racehorses, though they wear thin aluminum shoes that can't be heated and pressed. I don't think it has been scientifically proven, but it is widely believed that feet that have been hot fit hold together better because the horn tubules are somehow "sealed" by the heat and they keep out bacteria or there is some other beneficial effect that protects the hoof wall.
But nothing is quite as dramatic as hot fitting a Clydesdale.
The Clydesdale competition was won by Grant Nyhan, Marcel Veart-Smith and Deane Gebert.
Thanks to Tim Dawson for allowing this photo to be shown on the Hoof Blog today.