Fran Jurga`s Hoofcare + Lameness

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Book Announcement: Pete Ramey's Collaborative Reference "Care and Rehabilitation of the Equine Foot" from Hoofcare Books

Title: Care and Rehabilitation of the Equine Foot
Author: Pete Ramey, lead author, with collaborative chapter authors
Chapter authors:
Robert M. Bowker, VMD, PhD
Hilary M. Clayton, PhD, Dipl ACVSMR, MRCVS
Brian Hampson, PhD
Eleanor Kellon, VMD
Kerry Ridgway, DVM
Debra R. Taylor, DVM, MS, DACVIM
Kathryn Watts, BS

CHAPTERS BY GUEST AUTHORS: Concept of the Good Foot: Its Evolution and Significance in a Clinical Setting (Bowker); The Feral Horse Foot: The Australian Brumby Studies (Hampson); Growth of the Hoof Wall from the Foal to Adult Horse (Bowker); The Horse’s foot as a Neurosensory Organ: How the Horse Perceives its Environment (Bowker); Metabolic Laminitis (Kellon); Nutrition and the Hoof (Kellon); Carbohydrates in Pasture Plants: A Moving Target (Watts); Hay Analysis (Kellon); Balancing the Diet (Kellon); Equine Ulcers: Are We Seeing Just the Tip of the Iceberg? (Ridgway); Veterinary Management of the Laminitis Patient (Taylor); Radiographic Imaging of the Laminitis Patient (Taylor); Hoof Mechanics During Locomotion (Clayton); Low Heel/High Heel Syndrome (Ridgway)

Chapters by Pete Ramey: Hoof Care Theory; The Hoof Trimmer’s Attitude; Evaluating and Trimming the Sole; Evaluating and Trimming the Frog; Evaluating and Trimming the Bars; Heel Height: The Deciding Factor; Care and Rehabilitation of the Hoof Walls and Lamellar Attachment; Distal Descent of P3; Under-Run Heels; Club Foot; Angular Deformities; Contracted Heels; Hoof Protection; Laminitis; Navicular Disease: Special Considerations for Donkeys and Mules; Reflections/Closing

Review: This is much more than a book about barefoot vs shod. In fact, it’s not about that at all. This is the new way of thinking about care for the foot--care takes on a double meaning. Instead of just compensating for the horse’s problems, look at how to help the horse grow a better foot. Think ‘rehabilitation’ instead of ‘compensation’, when you can. It might make people turn their heads, especially for work on young horses--the idea is to anticipate problems and avoid them instead of fix them.

We live in an age where collaboration is not just an interesting undertaking--it's almost a requirement. Pete Ramey has wrapped his reference book in a cloak of collaborative experts to create a synergistic look at how hooves can be nurtured back to health--or rehabilitated to a state of health that the horse may never have known in its life.

Forget what you know about barefoot trimming and be prepared for the launching pad to the next era of collaborative hoofcare technology. Ramey admits that he has softened his stance on shoeing, but believes we can do better than continuous shoeing with steel or neglectful long intervals between re-shoeings. This book is a snapshot of where we are now--with bare hooves, booted hooves and metal/aluminum/plastic shoes creating the spectrum of choices. It may not be what we choose, he concludes, but how we use the materials and methods.

I like the way that this book opens the door to the future--and leaves it open. Innovation is the path through the door and this book should encourage everyone to decry neglect, ignorance and lack of skill as hooves worst enemies. Some horses may be well through that door, thanks to having new materials and methods and smart, skilled people on their side. I hope in our quest for innovation we don't create a divided society of "hooves" and "hooves not". The best solutions will be the ones that are affordable and usable in many hands.

Ramey also includes veterinary support, imaging, nutrition, pasture management and locomotion in his spectrum; without working them into the hoof equation, the rehabilitation is not going to be realized. Collaboration is not an option, it's a requirement. The hoof needs to feel the influence of much more than a rasp and a knife to find its way along recovery road.

The road through this massive book passes through the clinics, laboratories and research expeditions of authors well-known to Hoofcare + Lameness readers. I hope their names in the table of contents will encourage some readers who might dismiss this book as a "barefoot tome". You can read it on many levels and believe me, you will.

--Fran Jurga, Hoofcare Publishing

Specifications: Hardcover, 8 3/4 x 11 1/4; 464 pgs, full color, 630 pictures+ drawings, index, references.

Ordering information: Cost $176 + $14 Postage in USA (+ $33 to Canada; +$50 elsewhere) via Paypal, Visa, MC. US Postal Service does not specify delivery time. Packages are generally not trackable outside USA. Priority Mail service (6-10 days) available to most countries.

Order via PayPal link or contact office directly: Email books@hoofcare.com or call 978 281 3222. Checks in US $ to Hoofcare Books, 19 Harbor Loop, Gloucester MA 01930.

Availability: In stock after 1 February 2012.

Just click on the arrow at the right of the drop-down menu to choose your shipping destination (USA, Canada, or elsewhere) so the correct postage will be calculated. Then click "add to cart" and your PayPal page will have the correct information.

© 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 soliciting retail sales of the book from 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.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Have a Heart: Hoofcare's Plastinated Valentine to the World

Today's a big day for hearts. Whenever I think of hearts, I think of that racehorse champion of days gone by, Phar Lap. He's always associated with Australia, but the truth is that he was foaled in New Zealand. Next month will be the 80th anniversary of his tragic death at the heigh of his racing career.

When Phar Lap died, his heart and his hide went to two museums in Australia, and his skeleton went to a museum in New Zealand. Phar Lap's heart, at 6.3 kilograms (13.86 pounds) was considered extraordinarily large by horse standards; it lives in a museum in Canberra, Australia. The average weight of a horse heart is four kilograms and there's even an Australian saying: "a heart as big as Phar Lap's".

On the clinical side, horses' hearts are the subject of a lot of studies lately. Research and education are aided by plastinated organs, such as this heart preserved by Christoph von Horst, PhD, DVM of HC Biovision in Germany. Yes, that was once a living, beating heart.

Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. 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.

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

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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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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.

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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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.

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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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.