The exhibit opens to the public today but we were allowed to see it without the crowds in our way, so here's a very special report direct from London,just for Hoof Blog readers.
Friday, April 06, 2012
Animal Inside Out: Plastinate Anatomy Exhibit Showcases Real-World Horses and Hooved Mammals at London's Natural History Museum
The exhibit opens to the public today but we were allowed to see it without the crowds in our way, so here's a very special report direct from London,just for Hoof Blog readers.
Tuesday, April 03, 2012
Grass Laminitis: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You (and Your Horse) and Surprise the Researchers
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| New ad promo and publicity from Boehringer-Ingelheim Vetmedica perhaps oversimplifies grass laminitis. But it might get the attention of horse owners. |
Sunday, April 01, 2012
Hoof Blog's April 1 News Roundup: Headlines from Hoofcare + Lameness
by Fran Jurga | 1 April 2012 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog
It's time for a roundup of headlines from news stories in progress as of April 1, 2012:
HOOF ANATOMY BOOKS RECALLED AS ERROR FOUND: “It’s not a digital cushion, it’s more like an entire sofa,” says leading professor about that softest of all soft tissue structures within hoof. “And the lateral cartilages? Think of them as end tables. With lamps, if the horse has a sidebone." (April 1, 2012)
MUSTAD LAUNCHES NEW PRODUCT: World’s first nail-on hoof boot to be introduced at Kentucky Derby. “Nails are news again!” crow Mustad executives as sales soar. "This product has something for everyone!" (April 1, 2012)
SELF-REPAIRING HOOF IMPLANT: Vettec product engineers report that they have cracked the code on urethane molecular implants for equine hoof wall, guaranteed to repair cracks before they occur. “Wall transplants are next,” they promise, as worldwide search begins for horses with high quality hoof walls to become wall donors at time of death. As we went to press, they were still looking. (April 1, 2012)
FIRST OFFICIAL OLYMPIC HOOF TRIMMER NAMED: The farriers can go fishing this year; the FEI is expected to enforce its global horseshoe ban in time for the 2012 London Olympics this summer, although horses may be able to compete with shoes if accompanied by veterinary prescription, after completing the pre-event soundness inspection without shoes. (April 1, 2012)
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| American corporations are developing new policies requiring horse commuter employees to clean up after their horses in the parking lot. "Now we know what those double lines are for," employees remarked. |
“WANTED” HORSE CRISIS PEAKS IN USA: As gas passes $10 per gallon, horse demand soars. “Everyone wants one,” moans auctioneer at New Holland (PA) sale. “And no one’s selling!” Rescue farms are now forced to mow their empty pastures. Equine meat-packing industry advocates charge that the rising gas prices are all a ploy by the anti-slaughter crowd. (April 1, 2012)
AFA BOARD MEMBER ARRESTED EN ROUTE TO OFFICERS RETREAT: “Buddhist Colony? I thought they said the retreat was at a NUDIST Colony!” cries naked farrier in self-defense to state police when pulled over in rural Kentucky for driving in the nude through the gates of the Tron Chri Trim Spa and Retreat. Meanwhile, the American Farrier's Association office has received a Feng Shui makeover to stimulate positive chi. “We should have done this years ago,” hum harmonious directors while practicing yoga poses in matching CJF-embroidered prayer robes. “Who are you calling a downward dog?” snarl disgruntled ex-members, meanwhile, from website chat room. (April 1, 2012)
VET SCHOOL FARRIERS ANNOUNCES NEW CONFERENCE: “Hoof Diseases We Haven’t Heard Of Yet” is the title of the 6th Annual Conference of University Veterinary Teaching Hospital Farriers. (April 1, 2012)
FARRIER APRONS SOLD OUT: Madonna’s on-stage costume based on her new line of provocative farrier aprons sends stock flying out of farrier supply stores. “I prefer used ones. I love the smell of burnt hoof,” purred the superstar singer. (April 1, 2012)
“BREAKOVER: IT’S SO OVER!” Gathered academics at international equine locomotion meeting decide it’s really breakUNDER since fashionably short, blunt toes now dominate sport and racing. “The toes have been bred right off these horses,” veterinarians concur. Farriers threaten international strike: “There’s nothing to trim!” they moan. “Long toes were job security!” (April 1, 2012)
“I CAN GET A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP AT LAST!” England’s Queen Elizabeth announces after issuing a royal decree banning steel horseshoes on cavalry mounts guarding Buckingham Palace. “Those shoes clattering on the cobblestones wouldn’t let me sleep through the night,” she admitted, adding that she has suffered from insomnia since her coronation 60 years ago but didn’t want to be viewed as anti-horse on any front. EasyCare has reportedly changed the name of its newest boot to "EasyZ" in hopes of winning the contract and raceplate manufacturers are offering their "Queen's Plate" models in urethane. (April 1, 2012)
We hope you enjoyed this special April 1st news roundup.
(Credits: Creative Commons images used: farrier gopher by Josh Grant; horse is a parking lot by cadfael1979. Farrier apron by Sisters in Steel.)
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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.
Red Renchin Earns American Association of Professional Farriers Honorary Membership
The following text is an edited press release provided by the American Association of Professional Farriers.
Wisconsin farrier Robert "Red” Renchin, APF CF, of Mequon, Wisconsin, received special recognition recently when he was named as an honorary member of the American Association of Professional Farriers (AAPF).
Renchin was presented with a horseshoe coat rack, designed and forged by AAPF Director Jennifer Horn, APF, CJF, at a special event hosted by Joy Ream at Palm Beach Farrier Supply in Wellington, Florida on March 17, 2012.
Renchin is known throughout the North American equine industry for his extensive work with hunters and jumpers at all levels of competition. The recently retired farrier operated a multi-farrier business for many years, serving horse owners in southeast Wisconsin and northeast Illinois.
Over the years, Renchin has trained a number of farriers who have gone on to successful hoofcare careers of their own.
Distinguishing qualities outlined by AAPF about Renchin include:
Horses shod by Renchin have won numerous major competitions, including jumpers that have participated in the Olympics.
Renchin was inducted into the International Horseshoeing Hall Of Fame in 1995. He also serves as the technical editor for American Farriers Journal, is a frequent a speaker at the International Hoof-Care Summit, and has served as an outstanding clinician at various hoofcare events around the country. He is a long-time member of the American Farrier’s Association and the Upper Midwest Horseshoers Association.
The American Association of Professional Farriers is a non-profit organization created to represent the interests of professional farriers and others involved in the farrier industry. The primary objectives of the new association are: continuing education, member support and serving as a hoof-care reference for horse owners. The AAPF is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.
End of edited press release
© 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.
Wisconsin farrier Robert "Red” Renchin, APF CF, of Mequon, Wisconsin, received special recognition recently when he was named as an honorary member of the American Association of Professional Farriers (AAPF).
Renchin was presented with a horseshoe coat rack, designed and forged by AAPF Director Jennifer Horn, APF, CJF, at a special event hosted by Joy Ream at Palm Beach Farrier Supply in Wellington, Florida on March 17, 2012.
Renchin is known throughout the North American equine industry for his extensive work with hunters and jumpers at all levels of competition. The recently retired farrier operated a multi-farrier business for many years, serving horse owners in southeast Wisconsin and northeast Illinois.
Over the years, Renchin has trained a number of farriers who have gone on to successful hoofcare careers of their own.
Distinguishing qualities outlined by AAPF about Renchin include:
- Well-respected by, and able to work hand-in-hand with, area veterinarians and other farriers on critical horse care cases;
- A willingness to share his knowledge and train future hoofcare professionals through his multi-farrier business;
- A continuing desire to learn more about all aspects of hoofcare and evaluate new techniques in the farrier field;
- Always willing to go out of his way to help fellow farriers;
- A huge believer in the need for highly effective customer services.
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| Red Renchin, front and center, holding his coat rack at a special event in his honor March 17 at Palm Beach Farrier Supply in Florida. If someone can ID everyone in the photo, we'd love to add the names. |
Horses shod by Renchin have won numerous major competitions, including jumpers that have participated in the Olympics.
Renchin was inducted into the International Horseshoeing Hall Of Fame in 1995. He also serves as the technical editor for American Farriers Journal, is a frequent a speaker at the International Hoof-Care Summit, and has served as an outstanding clinician at various hoofcare events around the country. He is a long-time member of the American Farrier’s Association and the Upper Midwest Horseshoers Association.
The American Association of Professional Farriers is a non-profit organization created to represent the interests of professional farriers and others involved in the farrier industry. The primary objectives of the new association are: continuing education, member support and serving as a hoof-care reference for horse owners. The AAPF is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.
End of edited press release
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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, March 30, 2012
Hallmarq Standing Equine MRI for Hoof Puncture Wounds: Is MR Scanning Necessary? Will It Help?
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| Mystery lameness? Puncture wounds take some detective work sometimes. This lame draft horse was referred to Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine Equine Hospital. It was a long drive for his owners, only to find out that a nail was embedded in the foot, invisible to everyone who had looked at the horse. When the nail came loose in the winter shoe and finally dropped out (note empty nail hole), the horse probably stepped on it. (© Michael Wildenstein photo collection) |
The Literary Hoof: "Great Expectations" on PBS Is a Classic Tour de Forge
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| Who's teaching whom? You'll have to read Great Expectations to learn what the young apprentice and his master were studying here. (Image scanned by Philip V. Allingham of Victorian Web.) |
If you have never read Great Expectations (when
I was in high school it was required reading for English classes) by
Charles Dickens, consider picking it up now, especially if you have
children of your own. Make it a family project to read it together,
maybe even aloud. The forge images will come alive. So will the
characters in the forge.
Here's a preview of the 2011 BBC miniseries starring Douglas Booth as Pip, which will be aired in the USA beginning Sunday, April 1, 2012 on PBS Masterpiece.
That's right: The classic Victorian novel of an orphan's fate begins and ends in a forge, and it could be said that it truly is a tale of seeing that forge in two very different lights. I think of it as a perfect allegory for T.S. Eliot's great quote: "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."
Like War Horse, Great Expectations is a book that has been adapted into a film and a play. But it's also been a film many times over, starring some great and not-so-great actors. And it's about to become one again: Hollywood and the BBC both re-discovered the book last year and have brought forward films--one for television and one for the cinema--at almost the same time.
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| Actor Shaun Dooley plays blacksmith Joe Gargery, one of Charles Dickens' rare sympathetic heroes, in the BBC film of Great Expectations that will air on PBS in April, beginning this Sunday. "I have often thought of him...like the steam-hammer that can crush a man or pat an egg-shell, in his combination of strength with gentleness," is how Pip described him. (BBC photo) |
For the high-dollar new Hollywood version, Jeremy Irvine, the star of War Horse, has signed on to play Pip, the once-future farrier of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations in the cinema version. He had to learn to ride a horse for War Horse; for Great Expectations, he had to learn to shoe one.
The movie blogs are reporting that Irvine even went to farrier school in England to get his hammer technique down.
The movie blogs are reporting that Irvine even went to farrier school in England to get his hammer technique down.
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| Jason Flemyng as blacksmith Joe Gargery |
Joe's not the only smith in Great Expectations. There's also the evil journeyman, Orlick.
Orlick just doesn't fit in. And he sees young Pip as a threat to his job security.
Dickens writes: “He was a broad-shouldered loose-limbed swarthy fellow of great strength, never in a hurry..he always slouched, locomotively, with his eyes on the ground; and when accosted or otherwise required to raise them, he looked up in a half-resentful, half-puzzled way….”
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| The kindly blacksmith Joe Gargery finally lost his temper and scattered the evil journeyman Orlick among the horseshoes in this scene from Great Expectations. The jealous Orlick didn't want to see Pip be an apprentice. (Image scanned by Philip V. Allingham of Victorian Web.) |
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| Here comes trouble, also known as Magwitch, an escaped convict who threatens to rip Pip's liver out if he doesn't bring him a rasp. Why does he need a resp? You'll have to watch the film or read the book! (PBS press photo) |
"A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who limped, and shivered, and glared and growled; and whose teeth chattered in his head as he seized me by the chin."And that's just the beginning of the book.
I'm not a director, but I think the 1946 black-and-white version of Great Expectations would be hard to beat. Thanks to archive.org, you can view the entire David Lean film of Great Expectations online or even download it.
David Lean received an Academy Award nomination for directing this film and went on to create great film classics such as Doctor Zhivago. Let's hope the BBC version is half as good as that one.
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In this old illustration from the book, Joe Gargery hammered on to repair the handcuffs that would be used to capture escaped convict Magwitch, while the soldiers who commandeered his services helped themselves to his special bottle of Christmas port. Some thank you, but the calm blacksmith wisely kept his eyes on his anvil.
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A comment about Joe from a review in The Telegraph sums it up: "Joe Gargery has a recessive role to play as the novel unfolds. But there he is, smudged with soot from the forge, a distant bedrock of compassion. If you finish the book without caring for Joe quite deeply, pop in a thermometer: you may need defrosting."
And if you don't get the message of Great Expectations, you just might be doomed to a life like Orlick's.
Art: illustrator Chris Riddell's characterization of Joe Gargery from the Observor's gallery of characters in Dickens' novels.
PBS.org says that part 1 of Great Expectations airs on Sunday, April 1 and part 2 on Sunday, April 8. PBS will also stream part 1 of Great Expectations beginning April 2 on its Masterpiece web site.
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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.
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