Travers: Shackleford Sticks with Glue-on Shoes for Summer's Biggest Thoroughbred Race; Horseshoe Technology Exciting Area of Track Safety, Health Innovation

The feet of a survivor: Shackleford ran in all three Triple Crown races in 2011, and provided some exciting memories. He won the Preakness in May wearing polyurethane glue-on Polyflex shoes, thus becoming the first Triple Crown winner to cross the finish line first in non-metal glue-shoes. The shoes appear rather amber-colored in this photo taken by Sarah K. Andrew (Rock n Racehorses) last week at Saratoga. The urethane is transparent, and shows a thin metal wire embedded in the plastic; the shoe also has a wear plate at the toe. Shackleford is shod by New York-based horseshoer Brad Dewey. The whitish patch on the colt's heel quarter is adhesive. Shackleford is a very large colt, an imposing equine specimen who could have a second career as a photo model. His face is marked by a wide white blaze with a triangle at the top, giving his face the appearance of a arrow pointing to the sky. He's easy to spot in a race. His namesake, an island off North Carolina populated by wild horses, is probably underwater right now.

News just in: That handsome Shackleford will race in today's Travers Stakes at Saratoga in his favorite high-tech run-a-red-streak horseshoes. Trainer Dale Romans confirmed this morning that his big red colt will stay in his Polyflex glue-on shoes, in which he won the Preakness Stakes in May. That was the first win of a Triple Crown race by a horse in plastic glue-on shoes. Let's look at it again:

2011 Preakness Stakes: first Triple Crown race won by a horse wearing glue-on and/or plastic horseshoes; Big Brown won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness with his aluminum shoes glued on.

There was some uncertainty, apparently, in the Roman camp that Hurricane Irene might arrive in time to turn the Spa to soup, but Irene is busy elsewhere and the rains aren't predicted to begin until long after the sun sets in upstate New York. A wet track, however, didn't impede Curlin when he won the Jockey Club Gold Cup in the same type of glue shoes in 2008. I still miss that horse. Just for old times' sake, watch him win that race, which catapulted him into the #1 spot in all-time money-earning racehorses:

2008 Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes at Belmont Park won by Curlin in plastic glue-on horseshoes over an off track; Curlin also wore the shoes when he won the Woodward that year.

The first stakes horse to run in glue shoes was Afleet, back in the 1980s; his trainer opted for the Mustad Easy-Glu. Since then, horseshoers at racetracks have had success with a variety of raceshoes adapted for glue, and in even directly gluing aluminum raceplates to the foot. Experimentation with glue shoes (rather than nails) goes back to the 1800s. Most experimentation has been done in Germany, which also gave rise to the newest era of glue shoes when the Glu-Strider emerged there in the 1980s. That shoe was developed by a creative engineer and horse owner named Peter Steubbe; the technology was quickly purchased and continued in research and development of a full line of shoes by hoofcare giant Mustad International.

Asmussen horseshoer David Hinton working on Curlin's foot, shod with a urethane Polyflex shoe. (photo courtesy of Polyflex)

Glu-Strider technology was based on a Super Glue type adhesive, while the current generation of shoes uses two-part PMMA-type adhesives. PMMA is the family of adhesives that includes the glue used by women to hold artificial fingernails to their nailbeds. The innovation and experimentation in footwear is one of the most exciting areas of developing health and safety innovations in racing today. At the same time, the Association of Racing Commissioners International is considering a model rule to allow horses to run without shoes. Currently, barefoot racing is outlawed in about half the jurisdictions in North America. The Grayson Jockey Club Foundation's Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit has kept shoeing and hoofcare in its sights since the consortium was founded in 2006. The Summit has an ongoing and active Shoeing and Hoof Care Committee that meets regularly and consults on shoeing-related matters affecting Thoroughbred racehorses. A sub-committee is tackling the possibility of a uniform, nationwide racetrack shoeing licensing program and test, and is currently seeking input from the industry. Mucho Macho Man and Nehro are two other Triple Crown contenders who ran in glue shoes in 2011. Top older stakes horse and candidate for Horse of the Year Tizway, winner of the Metropolitan and Whitney, also wears the Polyflex shoes.

The racehorse Shackleford has probably never been anywhere near the Shackleford Banks off the North Carolina coast. And with Hurricane Irene in the neighborhood, he wouldn't want to be there. The area is famous for the wild horses, called Banker Ponies, that freely roam the dunes there. Photo courtesy of Kurt Repanshek and NationalParksTraveler.com.

Glue-on shoes are now so ubiquitous  at the track that it's hard to find out when horses win in them. We found out about Shackleford in the Preakness, after the race was over; he was shod by Brad Dewey. Horseshoes aren't as visible as a tack change or new style of blinkers or Zenyatta's ear plugs, so the news of innovative horseshoes isn't always obvious.

Here's a partial list of stakes horses who won their races (some set track records) wearing the Polyflex glue shoes: Ambitious Cat, Bargain Baby, Big Booster, Brother Derek, Buzzards Bay, Charitable Man, Cry and Catch Me, Cowgirls Don't Cry, Cubera, Divine Park, Dream Play, Eldaafar, Essential Edge, Ever Elusive, Foxysox, Fredaville,Golden Yank, Greeley's Conquest, Hold the Salt, Hot Dixie Chick, Indian Blessing, J Be K, Kandar Du Falgas, Kensai, Lantana Mob, Little Belle, Lucky Island, Luna Vega, Major Rhythm, Malibu Mint, Mo Cuishle, Mr Fantasy, Nehantic Kat, Noonmark, Octave, Osidy, Pray for Action, Present Danger, Pyro, River's Prayer, Roses 'n' Wine, Secret Gypsy, Set Play, Seventh Street, Shaggy Mane, Silent Name, Sok Sok, Stormin Baghdad, Stream of Gold, Student Council, Total,  Teuflesberg, Uno Mas, Wow Me Free, and Zanjero. (Names harvested from the Polyflex web site.) Favorite little known fact about Polyflex glue-on shoes: Both Curlin and his beloved stable pony Pancho wore them! Nothing but the best for the champion's best friend! Watch Shackleford and all the top three-year-old Thoroughbreds entered in today's Travers Stakes at Saratoga on NBC Sports at 5 p.m. Lots of news about the race and the track on www.nyra.com. To learn more about Polyflex shoes, visit www.noanvil.com. Photo of Shackleford's feet courtesy of Sarah K. Andrew and Rock 'n Racehorses. Sarah is a frequent contributor to the Hoof Blog and keeps a key eye on the hooves at the track. Her track and sport horse photography is nothing short of phenomenal; Sarah is also a key ingredient in the success of Camelot Weekly, the all-volunteer program at the New Jersey horse auction that channels racehorses, sport/recreational horses, and companion horses into new homes instead of the killer pen--via Facebook! Sarah photographs the horses available each week, without compensation, and I wish a book publisher would make a coffee table book of these portraits of horses in need. They have saved thousands of horses from slaughter; not one horse from that auction has been re-routed to slaughter since they began.

Click on ad for easy ordering of this spectacular, award-winning graphic reference poster featuring image from the Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine's Equine Foot Laboratory, Dr. Robert Bowker, and Dr. Lisa Lancaster.

 TO LEARN MORE

Hoof Blog coverage of Shackleford's Preakness victory and shoes

Hoof Blog: Laminitis-survivor Overdose sets European track speed record wearing American-made glue-on shoes

Hoof Blog: Shoes for Thought: Prototypes Put to the Test (introduction of Polyflex shoes in 2006)

Glue-on shoes at the 2006 Breeders Cup

The Unshod Racehorse: Racing Commissioners Table Model Rule on Barefoot Racehorses

Hoof Blog article on barefoot horse racing during California rule change 

Research: Clayton and Bowker's “Effects of Barefoot Trimming on Hoof Morphology” Focuses on Incremental Heel Recovery

Click on this link to go to the licensing survey for racetrack horseshoers.

© 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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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

British Racehorse's Story Touches a Nerve: Illicit Neurectomy Revealed After Breakdown and Euthanasia

Nerves in the distal limb of the horse, shown in yellow in this image, are very specialized. It is possible to selectively de-sensitize only the heel area of the foot, a common location of foot pain, with a neurectomy, a relatively simple surgical procedure that is commonly used for many racehorses in the United States but banned in Great Britain on welfare grounds. Image from The Glass Horse: Elements of the Distal Limb.

Political scandals often draw a line in the sand for the accused. It comes down to: “What did they know and when did they know it?”

Sometimes, lame racehorses can make the same question a valid one. And the wrong answer can cost a trainer his career.

That’s what happened in England this week, when a trainer received a four-year ban, ostensibly for the off-season use of steroids. But what really earned him the ire of the public and the racing world was the post-mortem discovery that a horse in his stable had run eight races after having a chronic foot lameness caused by an ulcerated corn resolved by surgically severing the nerves to the back part of his foot.

The British racehorse suffered from a lameness problem stemming from an infected corn, which is a form of heel bruise in an area of the horse's foot known as the "seat of corn". Corns are common in so-called "thin-soled" horses. (Photo © 2011 Hoofcare Publishing, from the Wildenstein Photo Library.)

How did anyone come to know the horse had been secretly nerved? During the horse's eighth race since surgery, the horse ruptured the superficial flexor tendon in the same leg as the injured foot. The trainer ordered the horse to be euthanized on the track. A subsequent necropsy looked closely at the injured limb; the pathologists reported their finding, that the horse had been nerved in that foot, in violation of British racing rules.

The very same surgical procedure would have been legal in many racing jurisdictions in the United States.

It's not all bad news for lame horses in jump racing. Here's a horse who's been on the Hoof Blog before. This is Knowhere, one of the original poster colts for stem cell implantation in tendons. He suffered a serious tendon bow in 2005 but has managed to stay in training and racing since his return. He lost his rider somewhere at Cheltenham this year.

The procedure is known as a “low” palmar digital neurectomy (PDN). This minor surgery has traditionally been performed on many horses that have so-called incurable navicular disease. It is sometimes performed repeatedly in the same horse, since the nerves regenerate. And it is sometimes even performed on multiple limbs of the same horse.

The problem in America? Buyer beware: it is difficult to ascertain if a horse has been “nerved” or not. Nerved horses (sometimes called de-nerved horses) are suspected by some of being unsafe mounts.

The problem in Britain? No one knew the horse had been nerved until it broke down on the track and necropsy examination revealed the surgery.

Debates go on and on in the United States about both the safety of nerved horses and the ethics of performing the procedure. If you believe that it is best to relieve a horse’s chronic pain, neurectomy certainly achieves that goal.

The nerves of a horse’s distal limb are very specialized, and it is possible to selectively desensitize the palmar or plantar region of the front or hind foot. This is where heel pain and “navicular” type pain are centered. One snip and the horse’s pain is gone.

So is its ability to know if it stepped on a nail or not. The British and some US states—such as California and Arizona—think a horse shouldn’t race if it can’t feel its foot. In the show horse world, nerving is still a common and economical solution to the problem of a lame horse that has not responded to therapeutic shoeing. FEI rules prohibit a nerved horse from competing. But how would anyone know?

Nerving salvages the careers of laid-up show, performance and rodeo horses. Horses that I see nerved are usually older horses with chronic conditions and the owner understands that it is a salvage procedure to keep the horse comfortable. They ride with care It makes a less painful retirement for many geriatric horses with chronic foot pain.

But I don't live in the real world. In some cases, horses return to the show ring. In some states, neurectomy keeps a horse racing and earning money.

Jump racing horses are among the fittest equine athletes of the horse world. This is Neptune Collonges, one of the top horses in Great Britain. He's expected to race again this year, at age 11. (Charles Roffey photo)

And that was all British trainer Howard Johnson wanted: a horse that kept racing, so its owners would be happy.

On page 32 of the rules of British racing it says simply: "Neurectomy operation: horse may not start 152(iv)".

Compare this with most US states that require a nerved horse's surgery to be recorded on a list (Massachusetts), or added to his official registration records, as is the case with harness racing horses in the state of Kentucky.

In Britain, there is no list and apparently no official recording of the surgery. It's a Catch-22: the procedure makes it illegal for a horse to race so the horse would be removed from racing. But then again, there's no record so if the horse changed hands...how many trainers are savvy enough to really tell if a horse has sensation in his heel bulbs or not? How many actually feel their horses' feet?

The effects of a neurectomy gradually wear off but the timeframe varies from horse to horse. Some horses might benefit from the surgery, such as the case of the British horse, who suffered from an infected corn and went on to race successfully in the tough sport of National Hunt racing.

But the flip side is also true: an infection could go deeper into the foot and cause more damage...but the horse might gallop on until the infection spreads to an area served by other nerves or until a structural rupture or fracture occurs.

Neurectomy surgery is performed at the site of the nerve branch that the surgeon wishes to sever. (Modesto Bee photo of surgery at Pioneer Equine Hospital as published previously on The Hoof Blog.)

Johnson's hearing before the British Horseracing Authority conflicted with the testimony of his veterinarian. It was vague whether the vet knew that the trainer planned to race the horse again; the vet testified that he hadn't ever heard of a neurectomy being done on a racehorse before.

When interviewed, Johnson gave the following explanation when questioned as to what was his understanding of the denerving operation: “…Well, when you de-nerve something like say in the foot he said the horse would become sound, and I just wanted the horse to run.…you have to try every corner to get a horse to win a race.”

The Panel received expert evidence from (veterinary surgeon) David Ellis from the Newmarket Equine Hospital. He explained that a neurectomy removes sensation from the painful area, masking the signs of pain but not curing any pathology which gives rise to the pain.

Following a palmar neurectomy, such as undergone by the horse in question, Mr Ellis explained that the gelding was at risk that an injury, such as a fracture of the heel or navicular region or a penetration or infection, would go undetected.

As to the welfare aspects of equine care, Mr Ellis noted that it cannot be in the best interests of a racehorse’s welfare that in order for it to be sound enough to be trained and raced it has to have an operation to permanently desensitize the area which is giving rise to pain and lameness. The Panel accepted this evidence.

Racehorses of all types are under scrutiny for how their welfare is being protected. What seems like an act in the best interest of the horse is sometimes disputable.

Hoofcare and Lameness originally learned of the judgment against Howard Johnson when word came from the British charity World Horse Welfare that it welcomed the British Horseracing Authority’s decision to impose a four-year ban from training on Johnson, who subsequently announced his retirement. The charity’s Chief Executive Roly Owers said: “We welcome the BHA’s verdict and sentence of Howard Johnson which is proportionate to the seriousness of his crime.

“When we use horses in sport, that places a significant burden of responsibility on our shoulders for their welfare, and Howard Johnson simply did not live up to that responsibility. He showed a callous disregard for the well-being of the horse when he made the decision – not once but eight times – to run Striking Article without any feeling in one of his forefeet.

"This was a reprehensible act that clearly crossed the line between the acceptable and unacceptable use of horses in sport.

“We are also dismayed that a trainer of Johnson’s experience and stature is pleading ignorance of the rules. Ignorance is no excuse for not knowing the rules but more importantly it’s no excuse for cruelty. Looked at it another way, we just need to apply a little simple common sense: how could anyone think it was acceptable to race a horse that was in so much pain it needed a neurectomy in the first place?

“This case should send out a clear message to everyone involved in racing that the welfare of the horse has to come first, not the need to win at any cost.”

There are plenty of ways for a jump racing horse to go lame. (Pablo Camera image)

Remember the old saying, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"? We're learning that equine welfare is in the mind of the owner (or trainer). What seems like the kind thing to do in one country is seen as the antithesis in another.

The moral of this story: Remember what you say and when you say it. And to whom. Most of all: know the rules...and follow them. Work to change them if you don't think they're in the best interest of the horse.

Maybe that's what Howard Johnson will do in his retirement.

 TO LEARN MORE

Hoof Blog: Neurectomy Ethics Rear Up Again in California (October 2007): What happens when you buy a horse in a state where nerving does not have to be disclosed but you intend to run it in a different state...where nerved horses are prohibited from racing? That's what happened in California a few years ago. The following year, running nerved horses was banned in California.

Hoof Blog: Watch a horse undergo a neurectomy procedure at California's Pioneer Equine Hospital in a special video.

Hoof Blog: Cobra Venom Raises Its Numbing Head at Racetracks (Cobra venom use has been described as creating a "chemical neurectomy" when injected into a horse's foot)

Watch a detailed procedural video of a neurectomy at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine

Thanks to Charles Roffey for the photo of Neptune Collonges, to Pablo Camera for the action photos and to Carine06 for the photo of Knowhere.

 © 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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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Since It's Sunday...

What does a farrier do? Shoe a horse? Farriers of days gone by did a lot more than that. Even if they specialized in horses, they did plenty of other work, like fitting iron rims on tires, or working on farm equipment, sharpening the tines of a harrow, or making all sorts of metal implements and tools for use in the workplace and the home.

One of the things that has always fascinated me is that blacksmiths were also locksmiths. They made the locks. They made the keys to fit the locks they made.

Handmade church keys from Gary Huston's forge

Gary Huston recently shared some photos of two keys that he made for his local church in England. When the key was lost, the vicar turned to Gary to make a new one. Smart Gary: he made them a spare at the same time.

Wouldn't you love to see the door that this key opens!

This is a close-up of what Gary calls the "business end" of the key

Thanks very much to Gary for sharing these photos.

Gary has a terrific YouTube channel with lots of videos showing how he makes things in his forge, in addition to shoeing horses. There's no video on how he can make keys to fit pre-existing locks. But the end result is impressive!

The ultimate equine anatomy book--from the fetlock down only!

 © 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 about this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.  

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Tell Us About This Shoe...

Not much information was passed along with this photo. Is this a Quix shoe? That was my first guess, what's yours? It looks like it's a big shoe on a big foot, but maybe it's a tiny foot and it's actually an Imprint and just looks yellow? Thanks for your help! (Photo courtesy of Nottingham Vet School, Great Britain)

© 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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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Dogs in Motion: An X-Ray Video With a Cold Nose

Here's some eye candy for a summer's day: video x-rays of a dog...share this with your friends who love Dachshunds! Thanks to New Scientist for this video.

Be sure to bookmark the Hoof Blog. You can also sign up to receive an email when a new post is published, or read the blog via the RSS feed. If you have a web site or blog, you can embed The Hoof Blog news headline widget too. Have you seen the smart-phone version of The Hoof Blog? Please get in touch if you need help connecting to the blog!

 © 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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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Hoofcare World Landmark: Edgar's E. P. Stern & Co. in Yalding, England

On the map of an old village called Yalding in Kent, England, it just says "The Forge".

Farriers all over the world recognize this building. It is a landmark in its village and it is a landmark in the world of farriers. For more than 60 years, farriers have passed through this place, whether for a day or two or a year or two or more, in the case of the dozens of apprentices who were trained here.

 This is the home and forge of "E.P. Stern Co., Farrier and General Smith", the Stern family of farriers in Yalding, a village in Kent, England, just south of London. This amazing photo of the ancient building is by British photographer Elsie Bell, who sells prints and cards of this image. Visit http://www.elsiebell.co.uk/ to order this beautiful photo for your own.

In marketing, they call it "top of mind" recognition. Think: Goodyear rubber...GE nippers...Farriers Formula hoof supplement...Rolex watches. When a brand name defines a class of products -- iPhone, iPad, Ariat, Jeep, Kleenex, Equilox, Hoofjack -- that's when you know it's "top of mind".

And it's where you want to be in the minds of potential customers. Getting "top of mind" status isn't something you can buy or rent or put on your Wish List. You have to earn it. And in the case of people, you have to be a little larger than life, and have a name to match. Or, maybe being "top of mind" makes you that way.

It's a funny thing about first names. In the context of rock 'n roll, all you have to say is "Bruce", and Springsteen starts singing Born in the USA in your head.  But say "Bruce" to an American event rider, and they see Bruce Davidson.

Say it to a farrier and they'll hear Bruce Daniels winding up to tell a story.

The farrier world has had only one Bruce. There was only ever one Edward. One Burney. One Seamus, One Buster. One Emil. One Jack. And today we have only one Doug. One Grant. One Danny. One Ada. One Billy. One Myron. One Victor. One Simon. One Gunnar. One Austin.

A lace curtain. A sign with old-fashioned lettering. What photographer could pass up this photo opportunity? (Josephine Clark photo)

Are there other farriers with these first names? Of course, and many of them have reputations of greatness as well, but they'll also have last names until the legends fade, and some never will.

When icons have common first names like Steve or Jim or Bob, it can mean they earn a nickname to make a one-word designation possible, or people use the last name. You only need to say "Pethick", "Duckett", "Teichman", "Trnka" or "Skraz" at a hoofcare event and people are tuned into the conversation. These well-known farriers lost their common first names when they went top-of-mind.

Plenty of farriers named Edgar are hard at work around the world as I write this, but it will be a while before one can go by only his first name. And if I'm successful at my mission of keeping some legends alive, they might want to think about changing their names.

The Sterns' home and forge sits right on the street in Yalding. It's on the Grade II Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest in Great Britain. That means it's old. Very old. And important.

Today's photos show the imprint of the farrier world's "Edgar" not on the profession, but on his own forge and the village that seems to be built around it. Edgar died in 2006, but I'd say he's quite alive in his town and in his forge, where it looks like little has changed since his passing.

Actually, little has changed since I was there 25 years ago, come to think of it. I'm sure a lot has changed but the stage was set a long time ago, and it's as if things were nailed permanently into place, even if they're not.

Just as first-name-only "Edward" did in Scotland, Edgar brought the world to his tiny town and, in turn, put it on the map--the world map of farriery, that is (which I intend to draw someday). In the case of both men, they could have been just as famous, perhaps, if they'd stayed home and let the world come to them, because the world did seek them out.

But the late 20th century opened the gates to international travel, and like all curious people with the means and time to do it, they went out to see what was going on. And before they knew it, they had frequent flyer accounts and bulging mileage totals and a waiting list of houseguests.

I'll never forget Edgar saying, "When you come to England, you will stay with us." He must have said that to thousands of people. And a lot of us took him up on it. Maybe, like me, they were just doing as they were told, with no idea what lay ahead of them when they arrived.

When I tumbled into Yalding for the first time, I joined visiting farriers from South Africa and New Zealand. I immediately noticed that Edgar became "Mr. Stern" in most situations. I remember how his clients deferred to his judgment and that we could drive into a stableyard without anyone interrupting him except to give a wave or a nod.

Have you ever smelled hops? Hops are grown in Kent, and Edgar made sure I had a good whiff of the basic ingredient of beer and ale. I can smell it now but remember his tales of the impoverished Londoners who had trekked to Kent in the old days to have a few weeks of fresh air as they worked as hop-pickers. Years later I discovered Alfred Munnings' series of paintings of hop-pickers. I immediately recognized the scenes, as they'd already been painted in my mind by Edgar Stern. Munnings filled in the colors. (Image: Hop Pickers; the Costume Picture by Alfred J. Munnings, circa 1930. He painted much more than just racehorses.)

That's right: A man who had his sons lined up back at the forge with dozens of horses to shoe and farm calls to make and half a dozen apprentices needing guidance could stop what he was doing to be my tourguide.

On my visit, he wanted to erase how impressed I'd been by the Clydesdales in Scotland and I think he took me to see every Shire horse south of London, including the magnificent team of the Whitbread brewery. And, at many farms, he drove right up to the stable, walked right into the stall, and lifted a foot for me to see the shoe. Even on farms where he wasn't the farrier. That's clout.

Through the marvel of the Internet, I'm able to create for you a slide show of the forge, post-Edgar. These photos were taken by a local photographer, Josephine Clark and feature Edgar's grandson, Dan, whose dedication to his family's heritage, and the memory of his grandfather, inspired me to write this post.

One of my favorite moments in my farrier life took place in this forge. I was standing in the forge, horses and farriers were doing their dance around me as I watched, wide-eyed. I'd never been in a forge with so many farriers working. And then the strangest thing happened.

Mrs. Stern appeared at the doorway. Hammers stopped in mid-air. Bent backs straightened. Apprentices and ponies breathed sighs of relief. The men clustered around Mrs. Stern and for a few moments there was silence. Silence, except for the gentle tinkling of teaspoons against china cups. They stood there, sipping tea.

For a few minutes, the forge had gone from what was surely orchestrated group labor (but looked and sounded like chaos) to a refined moment of civilized behavior. Big fingers barely fit through the handles of the cups. I wondered if each had his own cup--they were all different. Was a new apprentice assigned a cup? Was one of them for guests? What if you took the wrong cup?

Up until that moment, I had been a coffee drinker. I was traveling around with a jar of instant coffee and politely refused the tea offered me from one end of the United Kingdom to the other, explaining that I was an American and Americans drink coffee, not tea. Thanks, but no thanks.

But at that moment, had I refused a cup of tea, I would have missed being part of that scene (or worse, offended Mrs. Stern), so I took a cup tenuously, hoping I could feign its merits politely to my wonderful hostess.

To my surprise, it tasted wonderful, like no tea I'd ever had in America.

After that day, the jar of instant coffee stayed in my suitcase, and when I left, Mrs. Stern packed some of her teabags in a little envelope for me. And I've been drinking tea every since.

Mrs. Stern is quoted in a town history article as describing her family's lifestyle this way: “Here we live and breathe horses. The only holidays we have are when Edgar is competing in events in other parts of the country. Days off are spent at race meetings.”

What that article failed to mention is that some people can stay home, and the world will come to them. Mrs. Stern made sure they'd come back, too, by making people feel at home in an ancient house with a staircase so steep, every American who has ever visited has a tale to tell of navigating it with suitcase in tow.

It has been said that, in England, whenever you see a farrier in his forge, the chances are that Edgar Stern in one way or another has imprinted the techniques of that man's profession.

They don't say anything about journalists who were influenced by him, but I do, every chance I get.

--Fran Jurga

 Thanks and more information about this article:

Slide show photos kindly loaned by Josephine Clark

Edgar had references on his resume as local as a little girl with a pony in his little village and as global as the Queen of England, who awarded him the British Empire Medal for his service to Thoroughbred racehorses. He did everything a farrier of his generation could do, and was often either the first to do it or on the committee that governed it.  Please read the Yalding village's historical biography of Edgar Stern.

Click here to read Hoofcare & Lameness's farewell on learning of the death of Mr. Edgar Stern MBE, FWCF in 2006.

Be sure to "like" the E. P. Stern (Yalding) Ltd. Facebook page with great photos of Edgar and all the family farriers.

Learn more about "top of mind awareness" in the horse industry.

Special thanks to Josephine Clark, Tony Kremer of Yalding History, Elsie Bell and Dan Stern. Many thanks to the entire Stern family for their hospitality and friendship over the years.

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 © 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). 

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.