Hoofcare@WEG: What's Inside the French Farrier's Tool Bag?

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It all started early in the evening. I guess it was meant to be French night. I strolled through the Normandy pavilion here at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Inside was a poster showing a shoe being forged on the face of an anvil. It was promoting the 2014 World Equestrian Games, which will be held in Normandy. It was just a nice photo until I looked closely at the shoe in the picture and saw how the toe had been creased.

It seems like a good omen that the 2014 Games would include a horseshoe image in their promotion. I was happy as I headed to the show jumping arena. And then I saw him.

He slipped through the barrier without making a disturbance but something made me look over at him. Hundreds of people were walking by. But only one carried a beautiful leather bag over this shoulder. The very same type of leather bag I'd seen used by farriers in France. Made of saddle leather with a long shoulder strap, these bags bounce on French farriers' hips as they walk. You wouldn't fill one with sandwiches or Lego pieces: this is a special bag, a part of a farrier's life.

 I set off after him. 

I had heard that France had sent a farrier, but he had been eluding me for two weeks. I couldn't let him get away.

I felt like a wide receiver on a football team. I zigged and zagged through the warmup arena. Took a left at Sapphire, circled the $8 million Saudi horse, zipped behind a couple of Brazilians. I could still see him up ahead. He was headed to the top warmup ring, tool bag bouncing along through the crowd.

When I caught up with him, I was out breath. And that's when I learned that he spoke no English so I had to interview him in French, which means that none of the information in this article may be what he meant to say. But he was very nice about everything.

David Le Corre lives near Toulouse in France and is his country's sole farrier at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. He has been busy these weeks in America, and tomorrow will be hard at work with all the farriers out on the marathon course. He dutifully posed with one of the French team horses and showed me its left front foot, which was shod with a plastic plad and a frog cutout, for what little frog the horse had.

And that is when things started to fall apart. I asked David about his tool bag, could I take a photo of it?

He obviously thought that I was asking if I could see what was in it, which I would never ask. I realize that the contents of a tool bag like that are personal, like the contents of a woman's purse. But in a split second, the beautiful leather flap was thrown open and shoes were spilling out onto the ground.

Shoes were taped together and clearly marked "droit" and "gauche" (left and right). Nearly every shoe in the bag had a pad attached to it. There were Luwex plastic mesh pads, full leather pads, leather rim pads, and impression material.

David obviously likes two things: leather pads and aluminum shoes. He even likes the two together. In the photo of the single rolled wide-web aluminum shoe, you can see what the studs will go. He has it set up with a leather pad, and if you look closely you can see where it has been scored for the frog to be cut out. The circles marked on the pad on either side of the frog will be punched out so that silicon or some other  support material can be injected under the pad, while the frog stays open to the air and able to touch the ground and be functional, with luck.

I sheepishly helped David put all the shoes back in the bag and thanked him. He settled down to check rider Penelope LePrevost's horse's feet and adjusted the big black band over the heel bulbs.

Like all the farriers here, he had a lot of work to do. The groom chatted happily to him in French. I imagined she was saying, "David, that woman chased you across three warmup arenas, who IS that?" and David answered, "I have no idea."

Note: Be sure to read the comment about David, which is a blog story in itself, in which David's effort to glue a shoe on one of the French team horses is aided and abetted by Alan Orville Dryg, one of the AFA farriers! Just click on the comment link. Alan had a French farrier tool bag experience too!

© 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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Hoofcare@WEG Video: Inside the On-Site Veterinary Hospital

You can also view this video at this link, if it is not showing up here.

Note: Blog visitors may or may not see a video in this space. The video is provided by WKYT in Lexington, Kentucky and shows the temporary veterinary hospital built on the grounds of the Kentucky Horse Park for use during the World Equestrian Games.

Horses with serious injuries or illness have been transferred to Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, which is only six miles away. Some eventing and endurance horses have been treated there but, as the video says, the injuries have been relatively minor and few in number so far. That's something to be thankful for!

The on-site hospital includes a veterinary podiatry unit provided by Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in the form of a Stonewell Forge equine podiatry rig. (I learned last week from Brent Chidsey at Stonewell that this truck is not the same as a farrier truck, no matter how much it may look like one.) Dr Raul Bras DVM of Rood and Riddle, who is also a certified journeyman farrier with the American Farrier's Association has been on site several times. He speaks Spanish and has been able to assist some of the South American teams, who also found their way downtown to the Breeders Supply farrier store.

A special guest at the hospital was Professor Jean-Marie Denoix of France, who provided diagnostic ultrasound expertise at the hospital and spoke at the veterinary conference that preceded WEG.

All my knowledge of the hospital is secondhand, since security there is very tight and they won't allow media (that's me) in, hence the posting of this video, which may be as close as I ever get!

© 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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Racehorse Performance "Not Significantly Affected by Tendon Injury", According to Horse Trust Research

This horse has "bowed" it superficial digital flexor tendon; the tendon protrudes, or bows out, at the back of the leg. This is the most common debilitating tendon injury suffered by racehorses and requires a long layoff for recovery, although new treatments are shortening the time lost from training. (Photo: Dr. Barak Amram/VetMoves)

Data compiled and analyzed in a research project in Great Britain funded by The Horse Trust found that racehorses who recovered from tendon injuries did not have inferior racing performance records compared to horses that had not had tendon injuries.

The research was led by Bryan O'Meara, who is in the final year of a three year clinical training scholarship funded by The Horse Trust. O'Meara carried out the research at Donnington Grove Veterinary Surgery in Newbury, under the supervision of epidemiologist Dr Tim Parkin from University of Glasgow.

Tendonitis is one of the most common musculoskeletal injuries in racehorses, with a prevalence of 11-30%, according to earlier research.

O'Meara examined the clinical records and racing histories of 400 racehorses who had been treated for superficial digital flexor (SDF) tendonitis injuries over a five year period from 2003 to 2008.

The race records of horses affected by tendon injury were compared with 400 matched control horses that had never suffered SDF tendon injuries. The controls were horses training in the same establishment at the time of injury and of the same age and sex as the case horse.

The Horse Trust-funded research looked at the performance of the racehorses in races before and after treatment for the injury, and at the performance of the control horses before and after the treatment date. The Racing Post Rating (RPR), which is published by the Racing Post (a British racing newspaper with charts) after every race, was used as a measure of performance.

O'Meara found that there was no significant difference in RPR before and after the treatment date in case and control horses.

This result is unexpected as in vitro studies have found that healed tendon tissue has reduced elasticity properties due to the presence of scar tissue. This suggests that a horse with a healed SDF tendon would need to work its muscles harder to compensate and would therefore be expected to have lower performance.

O'Meara said more research is needed to back-up his finding that performance isn't significantly affected by tendon injury.

"It could be that using Racing Post Rating to measure performance isn't sensitive enough to pick up a change in the horse's performance," said O'Meara. "However, it's encouraging that there's no marked change in performance after a horse has recovered from a tendon injury. These findings show that there's no need to give up on a horse that has a tendon injury--they can still come back and perform well, or can be used for other, less demanding riding activities."

The Horse Trust-funded research also found that there was no significant difference between case and control horses when returning to racing and completing three races. Only after completing five races, or three years post treatment, was a significant difference found between case and control horses. This finding is a step towards developing a more accurate assessment of tendon-treatment outcome after five races or three years post-treatment is a better indicator of the outcome of treatment.

"At the moment, some tendon treatments state their success as the percentage of horses that return to racing after treatment. However, we've shown that there's no significant difference between case and control horses at this time," said O'Meara. "At the moment, there are a myriad of treatments available to treat tendonitis. Hopefully this finding will be used in further research to learn which treatments are most effective."

O'Meara's research also found a link between SDF tendon injury and the racehorse competing at its maximum performance level: the case horses were significantly nearer to their pre-injury maximum performance level in the race immediately before injury (compared to matched controls), suggesting that they were competing nearer their individual maximum performance level when the SDF tendon injury occurred. (Note: this statement is not explained but would seem to suggest that either the level/class of the race or the distance perhaps was the best the horse had done in its career when the injury occurred.)

Editor's note: Information in this article was provided by The Horse Trust, a British charity that funds equine research and promotes education about horse health and welfare. Hoofcare Publishing likes to support The Horse Trust whenever possible. The research described in this article was published in the May 2010 edition of the Equine Veterinary Journal and is available online as a downloadable PDF file: "An investigation of the relationship between race performance and superficial digital flexor tendonitis in the Thoroughbred racehorse".

Readers should keep in mind that the study included only British racehorses and that the majority of British racing is done on grass. Race distances, conditioning schedules and training methods also vary in Great Britain from methods used in North America and some other countries. But the results are interesting, no matter where you live!

© 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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Hoofcare@WEG: Paparazzi Moments at the World Equestrian Games

Great Britain's Eventing Team Farrier Brendan Murray carried the British flag into the arena for his country in the opening ceremony. All the British riders followed him.

Here's a great story: Backstage at the opening ceremonies on the first night of WEG, almost 60 nations' riders were lining up. It was an endless line of happy people in national uniforms with video cameras, cell phones, signs, stuffed animals, and noisemakers. They were ready to have fun, although they were clearly honored to be there and be representing their countries.

Ahead of each nation walked three young girls in jockey silks. They carried a sign with the country's name. Next came an individual rider who carried the flag, and then the mass of riders followed the flagbearer.

The rider who carried the flag was elected by the riders. I saw Karen O'Connor carrying the US flag. I saw dressage great Isabell Werth carrying the German flag. The Crown Prince of Dubai carried the flag of the United Arab Emirates. Eventing rider Andrew Nicholson carried the flag of New Zealand.

So I did a double-take when Great Britain gathered at the in-gate to march in. I scrambled for my camera, even though it was totally dark outside. I hoped for a super-flash, just this once. And I got it.

Farrier Brendan Murray was carrying the British flag. It really was Brendan! I found out later that Brendan is retiring as the eventing farrier for the British team; he's been to who-knows-how-many World Equestrian Games and Olympics as the team farrier, and this WEG will be his last. So, apparently, as a show of support and appreciation, the riders elected him to carry the flag.

I still get a little teary-eyed when I look at this picture.

But at the end of the parade of nations, all but one country had passed. As the host nation, the US was last and backstage there was a mass of people getting ready to march into the arena. I took a big gulp when I saw that the girl who lived around the corner from me back in Shirley, Massachusetts had been chosen to carry the flag for the USA. Karen Lende O'Connor was leading the pack of US riders into the arena, and rightfully so. Who ever thought either of us would be here? Wait until I tell the gang back home.

I barely had a chance to wipe my eyes when not three feet from me was another familiar face. Stephen Teichman, US Team Farrier, was marching into the arena with the riders and looked fantastic. He belongs with them; I know how hard he works and I was thrilled to see him.

I could only wonder who might come by next.

But that wasn't the last great moment of that night; there would be many more, including standing next to Muhammed Ali--who ever thought I'd be able to say that? Even at his age and in his health condition, you feel something, as if he could still float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. The man still has it!

I tried to explain some of the USA cultural and horse things to the UAE team (although they insisted that the Saddlebreds were from Poland, no matter what I said); they had never heard of Wynona Judd but the Crown Prince nodded his head when he heard "My Old Kentucky Home" and smiled, "Kentucky Derby song!" They weren't impressed with William Shatner at all until I explained that he was Captain Kirk in Star Trek, then they paid attention.

"Look who's here!" Farrier Hans Albrecht on the Red Carpet at the premiere of Secretariat, by Fran Jurga on the Pavement.

I had a lot of paparazzi competition tonight at the Lexington (Kentucky) premiere of the Disney film Secretariat, starring Diane Lane and John Malkovich. It was such an honor to be invited but I couldn't resist the red carpet. If I stood there, all the celebrities would pass by and I could snap their photos! Here comes the first wave now! They're actors from Hollywood, for sure. Ready, focus...

Hey, wait just a darn minute! That's Hans Albrecht, a farrier from California, or Lexington, depending on how long you've known him. Someone from the Hoofcare + Lameness community was strutting down the red carpet!

I don't know what Hans was doing there or what his connection to the film is nor did I run into him later in the night, as I told him I would. But from now on, he's "Hollywood Hans", in my book. He looked right at home on the red carpet!

I'll never make it as a real paparazzi, since I don't have the nerve to stick my camera in someone's face. I notice that my photos of all the famous riders at the Games seem to be of their backs and all the photos of the famous horses seem to be of their feet--perhaps so only I can match them up.

But every once in a while, the little camera in my pocket comes in handy and I know I'm in the right place at the right time. Brendan and Hans were having the times of their lives when I snapped these two photos. My camera caught that moment for each of them--and for all of you--and saved it forever.

© 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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Hoofcare@WEG: Rob Renirie's Dutch Gold Shoeing Keeps It Simple

The Dutch have dominated the dressage at the World Equestrian Games with a sweep of all three gold medals. In this photo you see Exquis Nadine, ridden by Hans Peter Minderhoud, giving an uncharacteristic bolt which showed off her front shoes. All the Dutch horses were shod with straightforward quite uncomplicated shoes applied by a highly skilled farrier. (Dirk Caremans photo courtesy of Alltech)

The star of the World Equestrian Games, so far, has been the spectacular black Dutch Warmblood stallion Moorlands Totilas. He won two individual Gold Medals and led the Dutch to a team Gold Medal. The Dutch have a good sense of humor so he trotted into the arena for the medal ceremony in "solid gold" bell boots. His shoeing is very straightforward. (Detail of a Dirk Caremans photo courtesy of Alltech)

The man behind the Dutch team horses' hooves is farrier Rob Renirie. He has been the team farrier for The Netherlands for many years. He's caring for the hooves of all the Dutch horses at WEG; this photo was taken at the endurance race. (Fran Jurga photo)

It was really quiet in the office last night. I was uploading photos from the camera and a farrier came in. He'd just arrived from out west and we chatted about what he'd missed. He said something that really surprised me; it stopped me in my tracks. He said he wanted to see the feet on the gold-medal-winning Dutch dressage horses, especially Moorlands Totilas, because he figured that they must have some special gaited-horse type shoeing to get them to move like that. (Totilas has a lot of expression and almost impossible joint extension.)

I had to tell him that the shoeing doesn't have anything to do with that horse's animation, unless it is that the shoeing stays out of the horse's way. I hope that people watching the Games on video don't think that the horse is manipulated by shoes or pads or weights. The shoeing is surprisingly simple on these horses, although every aspect of the balancing and trimming of the feet is no doubt very, very carefully managed. The shoe is just the icing on the cake.

The man managing that hoof balance is longtime Dutch team farrier Rob Renirie. Having him in the United States for ten days is quite a treat. On Wednesday, he left the gold medal celebration in the Dutch camp (perhaps figuring there would be more champagne in the days to come--and if so, he was right!) to go to dinner with 16 American farriers, many of whom were from the local Lexington area. He was very friendly and generous with his information and encouragement for everyone. He hadn't met about half the farriers before, and met some of their spouses for the first time.


He also met Doug Watkins from Breeders Supply, the farrier supply store in Lexington, which he said he wanted to visit before he headed home, Mitch Taylor from Kentucky Horseshoeing School, and a delegation from Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital's Podiatry Clinic, plus many others.

An article about Rob's presentation at the Global Dressage Forum in Holland last year, describes his basic shoeing philosophy as this: 

"The coronary band usually makes the shape of the foot and thus the shoe. For front shoes, he prefers a slightly rolling toe which covers one third of the hoof wall. He doesn’t use concave steel on dressage horses, preferring to use quite light flat steel (but not aluminum as it’s very slippery) front and back so that the shoe stays on top of the surface and allows the horse to turn easily. He thins the toe until it’s wider by about 3mm and then he lifts it a little bit, with no clips where possible, and small nails. He files as little as possible of the wall, wanting it to stay nice and straight and strong. For hind shoes, again, he hammers the toe of the shoe to create a rounded toe that so it rolls easily; he doesn’t take the toe too far back and leaves only 4.5mm over the shoe at the back. "

One of Rob's popular sayings is that "You can't make a Ferrari out of a Fiat" and that the horse needs to land on its entire foot. He believes in preserving the horse's toe and frog to absorb shock and create energy for the next stride.

He told me that he worries that single points from articles are often taken out of context and championed by horse owners who disagree with their farriers or veterinarians. He receives many emails and phone calls from U.S. warmblood owners asking for advice on horses he can't see and said he would prefer to hear from the farriers if they feel they need help.

Rob presented a masterclass in sport horse farriery at the Fourth International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot in West Palm Beach, Florida in 2007.

Past Hoof Blog articles featuring Rob Renirie:
2009 Global Dressage Forum courtesy of EuroDressage
Rob Renirie at 2008 Olympics in Hong Kong

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Hoofcare@WEG: Cutest Farrier Rig at the World Equestrian Games

I don't know how Sandy Johnson gets any work done. Everyone is so curious about her cute little shoeing trailer that she has to keep showing it off. But she doesn't seem to mind.

Shoeing trailers have become the road fashion accessory of the American farrier for the past few years. Some farriers work out of them on a daily basis, and get to enjoy having a truck that functions as a truck. Or they can pull a small trailer with a smaller truck or SUV, as Sandy has done with this Honda Pilot.

The little black trailer was built this spring from Sandy's scale drawings by Stonewell Forge in Genoa, New York.

Sandy lives in Wellington, Florida, where she and her husband, Joe, operate their International Farrier Service. Horses shod by IFS competed in the Dressage at WEG in the first week and will compete in the Para Dressage in the second week. Sandy was credentialed in horse handling operations for WEG and you might have found her out on the runway at the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport, riding the high-low up and down with a bouquet of leadlines in her hand. Joe and Sandy were the US Team Farriers for show jumping at the World Equestrian Games in 1996 in Rome, Italy.

The black trailer is only used to service clients in the north during the off season. Sandy's is one of many clever designs rolling down the highways that are saving space and gas and making convenient unhooking locations or even transporting shoeing trailers within cargo containers for overseas work or inside big horse vans or moving vans. Try doing that with a truck.

Sorry it was raining when these photos were taken!

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