Fran Jurga`s Hoofcare + Lameness

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Deformity in Motion: Neglected Hooves Respond in Ireland

Johnny and James are two otherwise anonymous donkeys in Ireland who have been lucky enough to be rescued and find some kind people at The Donkey Sanctuary there.

Horses and ponies and donkeys with overgrown hooves are not uncommon to find. We routinely see photos of them when they are rescued by agencies or brought to farriers and vets for care.

But Johnny and James are different because these are not still shots, these are videos. You can see not just how overgrown they are, but that these strong, adaptable donkeys can still get around. They've had to adapt their gait a bit, perhaps, but they're still on the move.

We are always taught that the hoof wall bears the horse's weight and that the weight is transferred down the bony column of the limb. But nature obviously has a plan B, so that the horse can transfer its weight to the heels.

Another thing we're taught is that the toe is the strongest part of the hoof and the heel is the weakest and most deformable. And yet in these donkeys and so many other neglected equines, the heels are standing up to the job. The foot doesn't collapse, the heels don't rupture.

The second video shows that Johnny began to recover once his feet were under him again. The sanctuary mentioned that the hooves were radiographed and that the trim would be fine-tuned over the weeks to come until his weightbearing and gait could be normalized.

The hoof has to be one of the most adaptive structures in nature, yet we always try to make it conform to our ideal--whatever that may be. Surely there is a sweet spot for every hoof, a place where that foot finds optimal function.

The trick is to find it, to find it before it is too late, and to keep the hoof shape and position under the limb within a range of that spot throughout the animal's life.

Visit The Donkey Sanctuary web site to learn more about the charity's work on behalf of donkeys in Ireland--and everywhere.

$176 + $11 P+H US only; ready to ship: Tel 978 281 3222, fax 978 283 8775, email: books@hoofcare.com

© 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.

Friday, February 10, 2012

AVMA: Horseshoeing Is No Longer an Excluded Profession in the New Model Veterinary Practice Act (But Farriery Is)

What's in a name?

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Executive Board approved revisions to the new 2011 Model Veterinary Practice Act (MVPA) in November 2011, and those changes became official on January 7, 2012 when the AVMA's governing body, the House of Delegates, approved the document.

The Model Veterinary Practice Act is just that: an approved sample ("model") document that is promoted by the AVMA as reflecting the verbiage and policies it would like to see adopted in each of the 50 states as the ideal state veterinary practice act.

That said, each state can and probably will make some changes; the states usually end up with documents that vary on some level related to how veterinary practice is conducted or regulated.

Each time the MVPA is changed, the AVMA opens a comment period for members and the public to have their say. That period has now passed.

The AVMA reported that it received "985 comments on individual sections of the model act. About 70% of the comments were submitted by non-members, and 10% came from organizations as opposed to individuals. The sections attracting the most comments are Section 2 (definitions, especially “complementary, alternative and integrative therapies” and “practice of veterinary medicine”), Section 6 (exemptions to the act), the preamble (general comments) and Section 3 (board of veterinary medicine)."

While horseshoeing had been previously excluded from practicing veterinary medicine, this year's edits (Section 6. Number 8) showed a line drawn through the word "horseshoeing". It was changed to "farriery".

The old document read

The document-in-progress showed the change:

The exemption now reads "Any person lawfully engaged in the art or profession of farriery."

No explanation is given for the change, and while other words are defined, "farriery" is not.

Although other professions, such as pharmacists and researchers, are also listed as exempt, farriers are one of only a few professions predicated by "lawfully engaged". And it is the only one described as an "art or profession".

Since farriery and other hoof-related professions are not regulated in the United States except on racetracks, the language begs the question of how it would be determined whether or not an individual was lawfully engaged in providing farriery care to an animal.

And what, exactly, farriery is.

The word change in the horseshoeing--or farriery--section is probably a minor matter in the big picture of things, but it should be duly noted. "Horseshoeing" is the word traditionally used in all US government documents; farriery is seldom mentioned. The word seems to have been dusted off, perhaps around the time of the formation of the American Farrier's Association and it has enjoyed a renaissance, particularly in the past 30 years or so.

That said, it remains poorly defined and some hoof-oriented professionals simply don't like the word, while others prefer it. You can call yourself whatever you please--except a veterinarian, unless you are one.

The general public, however, is behind the curve; people are usually convinced that a farrier either makes fur coats or carries people back and forth across rivers in a boat. They think "farrier" is a great word for "Words with Friends" on their iPhones.

Repeated calls and emails to the AVMA and its task force administrators were not acknowledged or returned except for one interchange with a media relations representative who referred me to the librarian. I did enjoy my conversation with Diane Fagen, AVMA librarian, who set out to find out if a farrier was defined anywhere by the association.

Being a good librarian, she cheerfully suggested we look up farrier in the ultimate reference, the Oxford English Dictionary. I warned her not to, and that attorneys roll their eyes at OED definitions, but she did anyway.

"Oh my," Ms Fagen murmured, reading aloud a lengthy definition of the term "farrier" that seems woefully outdated, though historically accurate. "It means horse doctor," she concluded.

"I can see why you called," she acknowledged. But no, she didn't have any information on why the word had been changed.

But that's how change happens, sometimes: it just does.

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Monday, February 06, 2012

War Horse Hoofcare: Puncture Wounds Then and Now

While collecting photos of farriers during World War I, I passed over this photo several times without realizing how interesting it was. It took a magnifying glass to appreciate this one.

The sign reads, "'Kindness to animals, 500 horses lamed weekly by nails dropped on roads and horse lines by cookers carrying firewood with nails left in. Please remove nails."

As if the war horses didn't have enough to worry about with staying alive in combat and battling environmental conditions like mud and heat and lice and mange, and diseases like glanders, they had to walk across scorched earth littered with shrapnel, and sometimes even the "friendly fire" of nails dropped from wagons hauling salvaged timber to burn in the cookers.

Cooks of the Newfoundland Regiment at the cookers

What's a cooker, you might ask? A cooker was a horse-drawn kitchen--a sort of wood-fired stove on wheels. Here you see some Canadian troops from Newfoundland who were happy to belly up to a cooker as if it was a modern-day urban food truck.

Both these photos were provided by the Royal Library of Scotland.

Puncture wounds from shrapnel and nails are still a problem for horses and donkeys in war zones. They are also a problem for horses after natural disasters like tornadoes, earthquakes, tidal waves and hurricanes.

What's a simple way to protect hooves from puncture wounds when disaster--or war--strikes today?

Click the graphic to order your poster!

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Foal Defomity: SPANA's Video Postcard from a Developing World Clinic

This video is provided to give you an idea of the type of challenges that a charity like SPANA faces at its clinics. We do not have medical records or radiographs of this foal to document the severity of the injury. We all know that this type of deformity would be a challenge to any veterinary practice, and yet the treatment seems very simple and straightforward and the effect was almost immediate on this foal.

Far away in Morocco, a mule called Amina was born with a painful deformity to her fetlock joints which meant she was unable to straighten her front legs. Her worried owner, Bouishak, brought the foal, aged two weeks, to the Society for the Protection of Animals Abroad (SPANA) veterinary center.

In developing countries like Morocco, most donkeys, mules, horses and camels support the families who own them: they carry goods or produce to market, they plow land for crops or they transport people and their belongings.

Amina arrived at the clinic unable to stand on her hooves.

If an animal is born with a condition that means they can’t work, they’re of little use. Their impoverished owners simply can’t afford to look after a lame animal, so if they're unable to work, they are usually abandoned or put down.

Without veterinary treatment, the wounds to Amina's fetlocks would soon have become infected and the owner may well have had no choice but to put Amina out of her misery.

The wounds were cleaned with antiseptic cream, and then carefully wrapped with soft padding and bandages. Head SPANA vet Dr Hinnach then applied splints to keep Amina's legs in the correct, extended position while they strengthened.

The foal's pressure sores from "standing" on her fetlocks were at risk of infection.

Over the next few days SPANA's dedicated team of vets closely monitored Amina’s care and her incredible recovery surprised everyone. Amazingly, Amina was able to walk a week later, but the splints were kept on for a few more weeks to allow the legs to fully strengthen.

Dr Hinnach filmed Amina’s first steps--Amina’s joy at being able to walk is clear to see.

SPANA vets gave this foal a future.

The low-tech treatment on this young foal used simple splints over bandages.

We all know how expensive a treatment like this would be for a foal in a developed nation. The radiography, antiseptics, medication and orthopedic devices would run into the thousands of dollars. The foal would have to have a high potential value and it would need a good prognosis for an athletic future.

SPANA, however, estimated that it could offer this treatment for less than $50US to pay for splints, padded bandages, antiseptic cream, three rolls of cotton and penicillin.

Visit SPANA's donation page to see how a relatively small donation can be put to work by vets and farriers in developing nations.

Hopefully, you will donate to SPANA. That's the point of this article. But maybe it is a good idea to look beyond just donating some money to support SPANA and organizations like it.

Farrier and vet innovators are climbing a high-tech ladder that towers high above the simple tenets of basic health and care of horses' and donkeys' hooves. We have reached a point where tech-based treatments and products are available to anyone with enough open credit on their cards to purchase them.

But what if the same brain power could be used to de-engineer hoof treatments? The world needs some simple low-cost solutions to the needs of working equids in less-advantaged nations. We also need low-cost ideas for hoof protection when natural disasters hit and hooves are in danger of heat or puncture damage.

The same low-tech, low-cost solutions could be put to good use by horse rescue and wild horse sanctuaries right here in the developed world, as well.

Please, don't stop thinking high-tech, but maybe some little part of your brain power can think about the horses and donkeys in need out there, wherever they are. I'm sure that groups like SPANA would love to hear your ideas, or invite you to be part of their programs.

I would, too...and I'll tell the world what you've developed for them.

Followup: Amina's treatment was done in July 2011. Dr Hinnich recently visited the family and was pleased that she was walking normally. If Amina needs any care in the future, it will be provided free by SPANA.

To learn more:

SPANA web site

British newspaper (Guardian) article about vets going to Morocco to work for SPANA

Click on this graphic to go directly to order page and start upgrading your anatomy reference information with the latest version of this 3-D animated CD-ROM

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Friday, February 03, 2012

War Horse Hoofcare: Don't Come Between a Farrier and His Horse

Photographers talk about the "point of infinity" in an image. There's a horizon or a focal point that draws your eye to the defined distance. Or lack of a defined distance.

This photo of farriers at work at a British horse stables in France during World War I is a study in efficiency, 1915-style. You see one man (on far left) in charge of the bellows for the little portable forge. One farrier at the anvil. And one farrier with the horse, holding the hoof up, ready for the shoe to be hot-fit.

Noticed there is a top-anvil tool lying on the ground by the first anvil, and the striker's hammer is set to go.

The question is whether the striker was also the forge cranker. That would mean he had to dance back and forth around the anvil without getting in the way.

The photo begs the question as to whether the official looking military figure at the second anvil was also keeping time.

The stables and farriers stretch to infinity. How many farriers do you think are in this photo?

This image was provided by the Royal Library of Scotland, and there is very little information available about where it was taken, other than in France during the First World War.

Can you add any information?

Call to order your copy of this amazing reference book

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Wednesday, February 01, 2012

War Horse on Your Coffee Table: A Beautiful Book About the Film from Hoofcare Books

Scroll down to the bottom of this article to initiate your order and proceed to PayPal.

Every once in a while, a book comes along that belongs not in your office, not in your barn, not in your truck. No, this book belongs on your coffee table, or maybe in the waiting room of a vet clinic or farrier shop.

Over the years, this blog has championed the story of War Horse, from the very time it opened as a play in London in 2007.

When director Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks Pictures authorized a beautiful coffee table book about how the film was made, you knew it had to be worth a look.

And I'm here to report that it is worth owning, and that it is also a tremendous gift.

Hoofcare Books has added War Horse: The Making of the Motion Picture to the list of books and media that we sell. You can order yours today! Scroll to the end of this article for ordering link and information.

The book is full color, with 144 pages, about half of which are massive full page photos taken during the production of the film. It is hardcover, with thick, high-quality paper and dust jacket.

War Horse: The Making of the Motion Picture has several introductions--include one by Steven Spielberg. After the formalities, it features an introduction to 21 cast members with portraits. They're arranged in the order in which they appeared in the film, for easy reference.

The heart of this book is a 70-page "Journey of Joey" section, with photos of the narrative sequence of the film, followed by 20 pages of behind-the-scenes production notes, with quotes from the crew and photos of how they lit scenes--they even show the horses having their makeup put on, so that all the Joey stand-ins looked alike!

There are also beautiful sketches of set designs from the art directors and even storyboards of how scenes like the barbed wire entrapment were sequenced.

Then comes a visual (mostly) history of war horses through the centuries, ending with World War I. Cue War Horse, and then you'll want to go back and read it all again!

To order online: click on the ADD TO CART button and notice there is a drop-down menu. Simply choose the postage amount: USA, Canada, or other countries. Click order. PayPal will open and you can pay via PayPal or designate a credit card.

To order by phone with credit card: call 978 281 3222. By fax: 978 283 8775. By email: books@hoofcare.com.

To order by mail: Send checks in US funds with the proper amount of postage ($41USA, US$50 Canada, US$60 elsewhere) to Hoofcare Books, 19 Harbor Loop, Gloucester MA 01930 USA.

Prices are subject to change without notice and supply is dictated by the publisher's inventory.
The "add to cart" button will direct you to an order and payment screen.

Thanks very much!

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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 is active as a sales agent for the publisher. 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.