Statistically Speaking: What Was the #1 Keyword on the Hoof Blog in 2011?

The most-used terms on The Hoof Blog; you should be able to double-click on the image to see a larger size  and read the small type. You might recognize a few words and names!

All the statistics in the world won't show what 2011 meant to The Hoof Blog. It was another great year, and I hope you were either along for the ride, or that you'll take the time to look back at some of the year's 172 stories.

The economy may be down but blog
readership is at an all-time high.

October and Decemeber 2011 were two of the highest visitor months ever in the history of the blog.

The Hoof Blog has grown in scope a bit--somewhat unintentionally. While this blog has always been a way for Hoofcare + Lameness to stay in touch with subscribers and supporters, some stories in this year's arsenal just wouldn't stay in the hoofcare world.

They went far and wide, and brought in a lot of new people who were interested in glue-on shoes for US racehorses, 3-D Italian roller motion shoes for dressage horses, historical insights to some of the hoofish customs displayed in the British Royal Wedding, and news about research and technical developments, particularly in the area of hoof function and barefoot trimming.

Gift-horses like assisting The New York Times with an article on glue-on shoes during the Triple Crown should not be looked in the mouth. The traffic that links like that one brought just kept coming--whoever those people were.

One article about Molly the Pony 
brought over 100,000 people 
to the Hoof Blog in 2008

If you're interested in what gets read on the Hoof Blog, this post is for you. If you're not, a new post will come along soon.

Of particular interest, besides the overall growth of the blog's visitor stats, was the list of most-read articles published in 2011.

The all-time leader is still the announcement of Molly the Pony, a book about an amputee pony who survived Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The post was published in April 2008 and someone (I still don't know whom--was it you?) forwarded the post. The email went viral, and over 100,000 people clicked into the blog.

Chaos ensued. Molly's post still garners a huge number of visitors every month, but taking Molly out of the mix, here are the runners-up.

Maybe Totilas beat Fuego in the World
Equestrian Games, but the Spanish
horse ruled on The Hoof Blog, thanks to
Hans Castilijn's intriguing shoes.
(Erin Ryder photo)

Top Hoof Blog Stories of 2011

1. Dressage, Fuego-Style: It's What's Underneath That...
2. Totilas: Heart Bar Shoes for the Dressage Champion...
3. Foot Photos: Totilas Used His Shoes at German Dres...
4. Why Is That Guy Following Prince William and Kate ...
5. Laminitis in a Moose? Vermont's "Pete the Moose"
6. Shackleford's Preakness is First Triple Crown Win ...
7. Polydactyl People and Ponies: A Gallery of Extra D...
8. British Racehorse's Story Touches a Nerve

These statistics are totals of visits by people who came to the Hoof Blog by following a specific link to a specific story. They did not type in the web address of the Blog or visit from a browser bookmark.

Most of these people were visiting only to read that one story and had little interest in hoofcare, but more in dressage, racing, the Royal Wedding or, in the case of polydactyl people and ponies, kinky anatomy.

Top referring outside web sites

1. Chronicle of the Horse (and its forum)
2. Equisearch and the AIM Equine Network of horse magazines
3. Eurodressage.com
4. Horse and Hound (Great Britain)
5. Eventing Nation

These web sites linked to specific stories on the Hoof Blog and brought in a lot of the casual one-time visitors who inflated the statistics for specific stories. These horse-related site links were unsolicited and completely voluntary. Links from farrier, veterinary and natural hoofcare sites also resulted in plenty of incoming traffic, but in smaller numbers than the large equestrian-related sites generate with a single mention. Many also came from Google (overall, the biggest source of traffic), Bing, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, although those referrals are calculated separately.

Top search keywords

After every possible spelling of Fran Jurga's name and "Hoof Blog" and "Hoofcare and Lameness"--there were some very creative misspellings of all--came some surprises.

Totilas and Fuego, the two dressage horses whose choice of hoofwear dominated the drop-in visits, were nowhere to be found.

The #1 horse searched for: Zenyatta. Back in January 2011, The Hoof Blog chronicled how the great American champion racehorse Zenyatta had been reunited with the horseshoer of her youth, John Collins, when she returned to Kentucky's Lane's End Farm to begin her life as a broodmare. People searched for anything and everything about Zenyatta and her hooves, and found a big archive of articles here.

Top 10 countries

Where in the world are you reading this?

1 United States

2 United Kingdom

3 Canada

4 Australia

5 Germany

6 Slovenia

7 Netherlands

8 France

9 Russia

10 Spain

This is quite a big change this year. Russia was never on the list before. It worries me that Japan is no longer on the list at all. I can't explain Slovenia but I think a good will tour there is in order. Bring on the Lipizzaners...

Browsers and Operating Systems

Internet Explorer is still the #1 browser used, but then it gets interesting. Explorer's share has dropped precipitously. It is followed by Firefox, Safari and Chrome.

Looking a little closer, iPads account for 4% of visits and 10% of visits to the Hoof Blog are on an iPhone, Android (catching up to iPhone!), Blackberry or Nokia mobile systems. Only 68% of visitors used Windows; 17% were on the Macintosh OS. There's also a loyal clan of Linux, iPod and Ubuntu users.

The Hoof Blog seems to be trending mobile...just like the rest of the world. I hope everyone knows that there is an iPhone app-type version of The Hoof Blog that works on all smart phones and displays the blog in a single narrow column. The icon shows up on your phone's desktop once you favorite it.

Top search people

Most searched for farrier: Rob Renirie

And two farriers' names were in the top ten: The leading search term was for Dutch farrier Rob Renirie, who has been featured many times on The Hoof Blog.

In 2011, however, the blog featured a little video of him shoeing the great dressage star Totilas, before the world champion was sold to Germany. People couldn't get enough of that video; it was part of the #2 most-read story of the year, about the switch to heart-bar shoes on the horse under his new flag--and, as a result, new farrier--in Germany.

Most immortal farier: Jack Miller

There was another farrier searched for in the top 10; perhaps our search box goes to another level in the spiritual realm. The Hoof Blog has published many obituaries but none come close--or show up in the search box--like the one for the late American farrier Jack Miller, who is still being searched for more than a year after his death. Jack Miller will live forever on the Hoof Blog.

Statistics are just statistics, in the end. What matters is that you keep reading and sharing and forwarding and emailing and tweeting and Facebooking the information that you find here.

The hoof world is changing around us, and you'll read about it through Hoofcare Publishing. Maybe The Hoof Blog can't always explain it, but we'll make sure you'll know about it, and you can decide what it means to you and what to do with or about a new development.

And as the statistics show, there's a good chance The Hoof Blog will report on that, too!

Click on the ad to order your copy of this award-winning educational reference poster!

© 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.  

Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal

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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.

AAPF: Farrier Association Launches Along with the New Year

While you were watching the Times Square ball drop on television Saturday night, you could have been experiencing the launch of a new farrier association if you'd had your iPad on.

At midnight on the last day of the old year, someone somewhere flipped a switch and a new web site went live. Professionalfarriers.com snapped onto computer screens around the world.

Professionalfarriers.com is the home page for the new American Association of Professional Farriers (AAPF), an association that was "soft-launched" in December via a series of dramatic smoke-filled, drop-graphic videos on YouTube.

The message of the videos was that a new day in farriery was coming on January 1, 2012.

AAPF was launched on January 1 by ten well-known US and Canadian farriers, most of whom have been involved in governance and policy making in other farrier organizations. They see an opportunity to stimulate interest in continuing professional development for farriers by giving credentials that must eventually be maintained by proving attendance at farrier education events, albeit events created by other organizations and hosts.

The founding members and board of directors are:

• Royden Bloom APF CJF (Drummond, Wisconsin) 
• David Dawson APF (Uxbridge, Ontario)
• David Farley APF CF (Coshocton, Ohio)
• Jennifer Horn APF CJF (Dafter, Michigan)
• Scott Lampert APF (Lake Elmo, Minnesota)
• Bob Pethick APF CJF (Califon, New Jersey)
• Steve Prescott APF CJF (Hardeeville, South Carolina)
• Ed Reardon APF CJF (Lone Jack, Missouri)
• Jeff Ridley APF CJF TE (Leighton, Iowa)
• Doug Workman APF CJF (Cleveland, Georgia).

Officers are:

• President - Jeff Ridley APF CJF TE 
• Vice President - Dave Farley APF CF
• Treasurer - Ed Reardon APF CJF

AAPF President Jeff Ridley of Iowa

Farriers and veterinarians who join may call themselves APFs: Accredited Professional Farriers. Membership costs $200 per year.

The mission statement on the association's by-laws states: The American Association of Professional Farriers will promote the integrity of the farrier industry by strengthening the knowledge and skills of its members through continuing education and support at the state, national and international levels while improving overall equine health through collaboration with other industry professionals.

Regular membership in the AAPF is open to any full-time or part-time farrier or veterinarian.

The AAPF hired Bryan Quinsey, former executive director of the American Farrier's Association, to serve as its first executive director. Most recently, Quinsey was a Customer Service and Marketing staff member at Farrier Product Distribution (FPD) in Shelbyville, Kentucky.  

The new association added ten new members--seven American, two Canadian and one German farrier--in its first two days of existence.  The early signups mean that the association begins with 11 regular life members, one associate life member, 66 regular members (now 76 with the additions in 2012), and one associate member, according to the web site.

© 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.  

Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal

Read this blog's headlines in your Facebook news feed when you "like" the Hoofcare + Lameness Facebook Page

 

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.

Happy New Year from the Hoof Blog!

Just a note, as they say, to wish everyone a happy, healthy and harmonious new year with many new adventures, accomplishments and alliances. The only way I can get my own attention is to attach sticky notes to the screens of my computers, so I'm speaking to you in official Hoofcare office language. 

Thank you all very much for all your kindness, friendship and support in what turned out to be a difficult 2011. 

What you're doing for and with horses will always amaze and inspire me enough to keep sticky notes on my computer screens, refrigerator door, car windshield and bathroom mirror forever. 

I'm sticking with you in 2012 and wishing you the very best that life can bring. Thanks for reading, thanks for being out there, thanks for moving forward and (most of all) thanks for letting me tag along.

War Horse Hoofcare: Keep Your Eye on the Galloping Horseshoe Pouch

When you go to see the film War Horse, try to keep an eye on the farrier-related clues scattered through the story like a treasure hunt.

And keep your eye on the bouncing horseshoe pouch.

He's a British cavalry horse. It's World War I. He's lost his rider and he's behind German lines. The horse is running for his life, blindly through the forest.

Do you notice anything interesting about his tack?

Most people are arguing about whether the runaway scene through No Man's Land toward the end of the film (the one shown repeatedly on television trailers) was done with edited tack. Surely his stirrups were removed or they would have caught on something in all that debris the horse encountered. And a real horse would have stepped on his reins, they say.

But some of us were straining to see if the horseshoe pouch had found its way back to the saddle. This leather case was designed to carry two spare horseshoes and 12 nails. The case was attached to military saddles; every horse went forward with spare shoes and nails. And Steven Spielberg's crew was detail-oriented enough to make sure that the traditional pouch is attached to the saddle.

How considerate of the actor who played Captain Nicholls, Tom Hiddleston, to lift his arm and reveal the horseshoe pouch (circled) in this still image from the film. DreamWorks Pictures image.

Horseshoe pouches can be pricey; Ken McPheeters' Antique Militaria has two American ones (one is shown below) for sale, one pre- and  one post-Civil War. They start at $1000. There is a double pouch for shoes and brushes.

When you opened the case, this is what you would have seen (see photo): a small pocket for nails and usually two horseshoes. I think someone needs to make a nice horseshoe for this nice old case, unless maybe the old used shoe shown here has historical significance.

Some cases had a loop on the outside that held a saber where it would not impede the movement or comfort of the rider but where it could easily be reached and drawn. The pouch in War Horse did not have that loop, although the one in the photo from the National Army Museum does have it.

Throughout War Horse, the attention to detail in the uniforms and horse equipment is admirable. Once the horse goes to war, the experts were on the set. Of course, there are always disagreements about what is accurate, since there were so many variations over the course of history. 

The horseshoe case was one little detail among many but it's an important one to get right. And they did.

 TO LEARN MORE

Links to US military horseshoe pouches for sale by Ken McPheeters:
http://www.mcpheetersantiquemilitaria.com/04_horse_equip/04_item_022.htm
http://www.mcpheetersantiquemilitaria.com/04_horse_equip/04_item_012.htm 

More about horseshoe pouches:
http://www.sportingcollection.com/blog/?p=222#comments

Much more about War Horse: Fran Jurga's War Horse News blog

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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.

War Horse Hoofcare: Holy Horseshoeing at an Anvil Altar in France, 1918

Today we salute some holy horseshoeing. During the long battle in World War I to take (or defend) the Argonne Forest, American transport horses were stabled inside the ruins of a church in Consenvoye, in northeastern France. A corner of the once-grand church became the smithy where American farriers worked to keep the horses shod. 

War Horse Hoofcare: The Way It Was

It's War Horse week on The Hoof Blog. We'll start off with a short and not very sweet video of the British Army farrier encampment somewhere in India.You can see the forges and the horses lined up, and you can also notice the division of labor between the Indians and the British. 

Who's pumping the bellows?

The second part of the clip demonstrates what they are calling the Lightwark Tackle System. I haven't found any other reference to this. It is similar to other systems used to desensitize a green horse and get shoes on it.

They didn't have much time, and this is how they got it done. I don't know how many horses broke their legs or necks or how many young Indians were seriously injured in the making of this film, but I know that the American Humane Association--the organization that watched over the making of War Horse and gave the film its highest rating for the welfare of the horses on the set--wouldn't have been pleased that the British even made this film, much less actually used that system.

It's just the way things were.

I hope you will enjoy the posts planned for this week and that you will go see War Horse, if you live in the United States or Australia. Go see it on a big screen and watch what's going on in the background as well as where the camera is pointed.

This film is from the archives of the War Horse: Fact or Fiction exhibit at the National Army Museum in London.

MORE

© 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.  

Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal

Read this blog's headlines on the Hoofcare + Lameness Facebook Page

 

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.