Fran Jurga`s Hoofcare + Lameness

Wednesday, June 06, 2012

Farrier Axes Out in Force at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Parade

Only a few people in the world noticed them. They were at the back of the column. Only they had black plumes on their helmets. Only they carried big bad farrier axes instead of lances.

Only they made the Hoof Blog.

They were, are and possibly always will be the farriers of the Household Cavalry, stationed at Hyde Park Barracks in inner London. The unit serves the Queen and the farriers serve the unit's horses.

The Household Cavalry of Buckingham Palace requires the services of no less than 11 farriers, plus the regiment's Farrier Major, Staff Corporal Neil Sherlock, who oversees his men's work on 120 horses per week.

One of the interesting aspects of the job is that they don't enter the military as farriers. They may be sent to Afghanistan or any number of assignments in the military world. When they rotate through London, they all ride. Some are interested and step forward to start farrier apprenticehips, but they already know how to ride.

Part of the duty of farriers is not to just stay in the forge and work hard, but to stay in training as riders as well so that they can accompany their regiment in their ceremonial role as carriers of the axes. The pole axes were used to lop off the feet of fallen horses after battles--the feet have numbers burned into them for inventory control purposes. You can imagine what the spike was for.

The farrier's ax has been featured on The Hoof Blog quite a bit--we followed it during the Royal Wedding last spring and watched one being restored at the Army Museum for the War Horse exhibit there.

We've seen quite a bit of interest in the ax--and not just from farriers. The world wants to know more about the ax and the men who carry them: when was the last time one was used? how do they decide how many axes are needed? Who shaprens the ax?

I can't answer your questions but I will try to find someone who can if you keep sending them in.

Photo kindly loaned by Alexandra Wade, a London-based photographer who thinks of this blog whenever she hears hoofbeats on the street--and has taken some spectacular photos for us!

To learn more:

Why Is That Guy Following Prince William and Kate Middleton Carrying a Big Shiny Ax? Because He's the Farrier, That's Why!

Farrier's Ax: A Museum Restores a Gruesome Tool of Mercy Designed to End the War for Horses

© 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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Tuesday, June 05, 2012

Silent Anvil: Horseshoers Like Dave Reed

There's a silent anvil here in Massachusetts today. The anvil belonged to farrier Dave Reed of Brimfield. You probably didn't know Dave, but then again, maybe you did. Or maybe you know someone a lot like him.

This article is my way of saying good-bye to Dave, and tipping my hat to horseshoers like him. They're out there. But they're disappearing from the back roads every day. Soon they might all be gone, unless we realize what they had to teach us. A lot of farriers I know who are working now chose the profession because they had been around horseshoers like Dave Reed.

I met Dave back in the early 1980s. Dave was one of a whole legion of farriers in that era who had come back from Vietnam and found their places behind the wheel of a rattley pickup truck. It probably had a dog in the passenger seat. Horseshoers like Dave Reed would always have a good story about how that dog got there.

Being a horseshoer worked out really well for a lot of those veterans, especially when they kept to the back roads in the small towns, away from the big stables and show barns. They could keep their own hours, and be their own employers. There weren't many rules and their biggest competitor was in the mirror, as the profession by the time I came along was changing and demanding that they up their skills--or lose out to someone with a shinier truck, a bigger belt buckle and a better sales pitch.

But back then, there were few books, few classrooms, the tests were optional and horseshoers like Dave Reed could always pack up and move to Vermont or Maine or Montana. A lot of them did.

There was a time when farriers didn't need or want to know how to make roadster shoes. They didn't need letters after their names. They didn't carry briefcases and they couldn't spell or pronounce arteriovenous anastomoses or care what it meant.

Horseshoers like Dave Reed didn't go to many clinics. When they did it, they could sense B.S. by the second slide and I used to smile when I'd see them get up and leave. "Aw, there was nothing there for me," they'd tell me later. I knew what they meant, because I'd catch on by the fourth or fifth slide and I'd be right behind them.

But horseshoers like Dave Reed would come around and stand rooted to the spot when someone like Bob Skradzio was giving a clinic. They'd say it was because he didn't show slides but I knew it was because his handshake was just as strong as theirs, and because he looked them in the eye.

Horseshoers like Dave Reed were the last ones to take the coal forges out of their trucks, and they don't hang up on the people who call looking for help with two-year-old drafts or the rank ones no one else wants to shoe. They shrug. Smoke cigarettes. And somehow get it done, even if it's not pretty.

You don't want to cross horseshoers like Dave Reed. They can have pretty thin skin sometimes. And speaking of skin, their tattoos are the real kind, with anchors or eagles, and you know they got them in places like Bangkok but they never will get around to telling you what the tattoos mean. Or what really happened the night they got those tattoos.

Horseowners would tolerate their erratic schedules because they knew that horseshoers like Dave Reed might not show up when they wanted them but would when they needed them. If their barns burned down or they had a child in the hospital or a horse was injured in a trailer wreck, these are the guys who would show up and probably forget to leave a bill. Even if they didn't shoe there anymore. I've seen it happen.

Horseshoers like Dave Reed don't hold much stock in horse whisperers. What they do is more like a growl but the horses seem to understand. It's hard to fool a horse. They know that.

Sometimes I think what's wrong with the horse world today is that we've forgotten that being a farrier shouldn't require a business background or a pile of impressive references or a brand new truck or a last name that is a dynasty at the anvil. The job takes character.

The most successful farriers I know seem to be the ones who are characters...and who have character, too. Lots of it. Because you need it. Some days, more than others. It shows up in the way you treat the horse, the jokes you choose to tell (or not tell) the customer, and the time you take explaining to the kid working the drive-through window what a farrier is.

You can do it without character, of course, but you probably won't thrive. You'll always be making more rules and upping your prices and changing your clients and buying new tools. It might be years until you figure out that you need to relax and let the job change you. You can't do much to change the job.

I never actually saw Dave Reed shoe a horse, that I recall. I don't have any shoes he made hanging on the wall. He never wrote an article for or with me. But he never let me down because all Dave Reed ever was was exactly who he was: a horseshoer. A character. And a friend.

Most of the time, I find that all three of those things come together naturally in one package. I hope it always will be that way.

Photo credit: An anvil in the woods would suit horseshoers like Dave Reed. Photo by Jake Matthews.

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Sunday, June 03, 2012

Camelot's Epsom Derby Victory Footnote: American Farrier Jeff Henderson

C A M E L O T

Trainer: Irish

Foaled in: Great Britain

Bred by: Bahrain's prince

Owners: Irish/British

Jockey: Irish
Exercise rider: Japanese

Sire: French-trained

Grandsire: Legendary Australian sire

Farrier: American
Horseshoes: Dutch

The most exciting horse in the world today is not Australia's Black Caviar. It's not American Triple Crown candidate I'll Have Another. It's not even superstar British sprinter Frankel. Move over, Zenyatta and Totilas, there's a new horse in the headlines.

It's a horse with a list of international connections that you'll need the fingers on both your hands to count.

British Triple Crown contender Camelot has a footnote of international interest. The colt has unusual face markings and white untrimmed whiskers on his muzzle. (Photo by Monkeywing)

But when you look at his feet, forget the Irish and English stereotypes. Forget tweed caps and dark, smoky smiddies. Think stars and stripes, wide open spaces, and the Great State of Texas.

Rood + Riddle Equine Hospital Podiatry

Center's Jeff Henderson CJF

Camelot--just like 2011 Breeders Cup Turf champion St Nicholas Abbey who won the Coronation Cup at Epsom today right after the Derby--has a special hoofcare consultant from the USA. By way of Texas.

Jeff Henderson, a transplanted Texan who continues to flourish as a Kentucky transplant, travels to Ireland to provide specialist services to the Ballydoyle training center of trainer Aidan O'Brien.

Jeff works with Scott Morrison DVM in the podiatry referral service of Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital's Podiatry Center in Lexington, Kentucky.

Henderson has become a frequent flyer commuter to Ireland to shoe for O'Brien; he also took over St. Nicholas Abbey, who had been worked on in the past by Morrison, and also worked on Kentucky Derby starter Daddy Long Legs, among others.

Jeff said that Camelot's hoofcare needs were simple; Camelot is shod with Kerckhaert raceplates--no glue, no patches.

Ballydoyle employs two full-time farriers in addition to Henderson and Morrison's consulting services.

Today's stunning win of the famed Epsom Derby in England means that three-year-old Thoroughbred Camelot has won 2/3 of the British Triple Crown.

St Nicholas Abbey on his way to victory in the Coronation Cup. (Photo by Monkeywing)

It's been 34 years since a horse has won the Triple Crown in the USA. I'll Have Another is 2/3 of the way there this year, and goes for the big honor a week from today at New York's Belmont Park.

But in England, the drought has been even longer; no horse has won the Triple Crown there since Nijinsky won the 2,000 Guineas, the Derby and the St Leger in 1973. Camelot may attempt the crown, or his owners and trainer might choose other options.

Camelot is trained by Aiden O'Brien at Coolmore's Ballydoyle training center in Ireland, where footnotes to victories abound. A special aspect to his victory today is that he was ridden by O'Brien's teenage son, Joseph.

The victories by Camelot and St Nicholas Abbey are especially sweet for Coolmore; both winners are by their late, great stud Montjeu, who became ill and was euthanized this spring at the age of 16 after siring (so far) four winners of the Epsom Derby.

To increase the international connections of Camelot, his lineage goes back to the great Hungarian mare of the 1870s, Kincsem, undefeated in 54 starts, including major events in Austria, Hungary, Germany, France and England, according to the experts at pedigreeconsultants.com.

In basic American breeding terms that US Hoof Blog readers and Thoroughbred racing fans can celebrate, Camelot is from the European continuation of Canada's Northern Dancer's dynasty on the sire side and Kentucky's Mr. Prospector line on his dam's side.

Horse behavior observers may have noticed that Camelot wore the comforting Monty Roberts-designed "barrier blanket" into the starting gate yesterday. His sire, Montjeu, had to be ridden into the paddock by his groom, according to Thoroughbred Daily News.

The horse's name reflects much more than a famous Broadway musical; Camelot was the legendary mythical kingdom of Britain's King Arthur and his knights.

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Wednesday, May 30, 2012

FEI Grant Funds World Horse Welfare's Cambodian Farrier Education

British farrier Tom Burch (far left, kneeling)

With the Olympics looming on the calendar, the FEI is prominent in the news. But today's story is not about dressage star Totilas or Kiwi eventers or even showjumpers in Rome. The FEI is entering the international horse welfare arena with a farrier education project.

World Horse Welfare (WHW) reports that the organization will be working in partnership with the Cambodia Pony Welfare Organisation after being awarded a grant from the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) to help train farriers and harness-makers in Cambodia.

The grant is part of the FEI’s Solidarity development program launched in 2010 to engage and support the organizations national equestrian horse-sport federations by creating, supporting and expanding projects and programs from “grass roots” to elite level throughout the global FEI family.

Working ponies in Cambodia are part of a two-level education program for the Asian nation.

It is the first time that World Horse Welfare has worked in partnership with another welfare organization in this way, and the first WHW project in this part of South East Asia. The first module has now been completed: representatives from World Horse Welfare, farrier Tom Burch and saddler Stuart Russell, shared their knowledge and skills with local Cambodian farriers and harness-makers.

The training course is taking place in the country’s capital of Phnom Penh, where ten students will be taught the sort of advanced farrier techniques that will allow them to work with horses used in international sport and then train local farriers. A further four students will study saddlery and harness making techniques with the intention that they pass on their newly-learned skills to other service providers and horse owners in Cambodia.

Head of Program Development at World Horse Welfare, Karen O’Malley said: “Although the Cambodia Pony Welfare Organisation is carrying out farriery training, it was felt that with this funding we could complement the work of the organization and further advance the skills and knowledge of the trained service providers.

Tom Burch RSS was the long-time farrier for the London Police. He retired in 2009 and has been traveling the world, giving back to his profession and the horse world by educating farriers in developing countries under the aegis of the World Horse Welfare organization. Photo kindly loaned by www.spitalfieldslife.com

O'Malley continued: “It should be an exciting project as we haven’t been involved in something quite like this before. During our initial farriery research visit in January we found that the local horse owners and existing farriers are lacking in basic handling skills and knowledge regarding the anatomy of the horse. However, it seems that they are desperate to learn new skills and very much welcome what we have to offer.”

Another objective is to create good quality farriers and harness-makers in order that future Cambodian horses can be used to compete in equestrian sport with the end goal of taking part in the 2013 Asian Games. Jacqueline Braissant, Director of FEI Solidarity said: “We are extremely pleased to be able to offer the grant to World Horse Welfare and we are confident that the new skills gained will make a positive impact and contribution to the future sustainability of the area. The hope is to really engage local horse owners in Cambodia and create a solid foundation for equestrian sport which can be built on in the future. These are exciting times -- over the coming weeks, we will be announcing a series of FEI Solidarity grants to support wide-ranging projects around the world. ”

Saddler Stuart Russell concentrates on harness and saddles used in Cambodia.

Chief Executive of World Horse Welfare Roly Owers said: “We have decided to take our international work in a different direction in order to make our training programs more sustainable in the countries we are operating in. Therefore, the focus is more on creating in-house service providers so that local people can transfer their skills onto to other local people.

"We are also turning our attention to providing cost-effective solutions. This means that our international team will be sourcing locally-made tools to make them more affordable as and when the people in a particular country need them.”

To learn more:
A photojournalist visits with Tom Burch on the job in London

World Horse Welfare Launches Inaugural Farriery Education Program in Saudi Arabia

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Monday, May 28, 2012

Boston's historic 54th Regiment of black soldiers marched straight into Civil War history

A brief excerpt from a PBS documentary on the sculptor Saint-Gaudens, who created the Shaw Memorial on Boston Common. We take it for granted 364 days a year but Memorial Day seemed like a good time to stop and take a closer look. What memorials are in your town?

I don't know how many times I have walked by this statue--hundreds?--and never stopped to think much about it. It's part of the fabric of the city. We learned all about it in school. I saw the movie "Glory", which was Hollywood's version of who these people were. You probably saw it too.

I was intrigued by the horse's legs and hooves. Remember that this is a
relief sculpture. It's not exactly 3-D. It's more like 2.5-D. And hard to do.
This is the best my iPhone could record in the dark.

But the other night I stopped there at the top of Boston's Beacon Hill because I was taken with the horse and I wanted to see it close up.

It struck me that the foot soldiers are all leaning forward. But the rider and horse are not. In fact, they seem a bit hesitant. The horse's ears are back.

That's when I decided to start doing some more reading. And start forgetting Hollywood.

As soon as the Civil War began, African-American men in the North tried to enlist in the Union Army. They were turned away.

Colonel Shaw ended up in
an unmarked grave with his
fallen black soldiers.

Then it happened: it was two years into the bloody war, in 1863. Massachusetts, the hot bed home of the abolitionists, received permission from Washington to form a Black regiment.

They knew was they were up against. Confederacy policy was to enslave any captured Black soliders.

The governor of Massachusetts assured them that African American soldiers would be treated equally; they would receive the same pay and the same benefits as white recruits.

Only white men, however, could serve as officers. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, the only son of one of Boston's leading abolitionist families, would lead the regiment. He was only 25 years old.

Hollywood made Americans
much more aware of the 54th.

On May 28th, the regiment was ready to fight; they marched through the streets of Boston, to the cheers of thousands of well-wishers the same way we lined the streets when the Red Sox won the World Series. This is the moment memorialized in the sculpture. They marched right to the docks and boarded ships headed south.

One of their first engagements was on July 18th at Fort Wagner, in Charleston Harbor in South Carolina. Colonel Shaw led 600 men up the embankment. Almost half his men were killed, wounded, or captured.

Colonel Shaw was shot through the heart; the Confederates buried him in a common (unmarked) grave alongside 74 of his men.

Who were the black men who
modeled for the sculptor?

His parents said he would have wanted it that way.

The War Department, meanwhile, did not deliver on the governor's promise to the soldiers. The men of the 54th were paid only $10 per month--$3 less than the white soldiers.

So, they decided if they could not receive equal pay, they would accept no pay.

For 18 months, soldiers could send no money home. In turn, they received heartbreaking letters from their impoverished families back in Massachusetts.

Finally, in July 1864, Congress acted to give African-American soldiers the equal pay they had been promised, retroactive to the date of their enlistments.

In winter, the three-dimensional relief sculpture comes to life. They march on.

Memorial Day was declared a holiday in 1868, so that Americans would stop what they were doing and place flowers on the graves of fallen soldiers--a custom that began in Mississippi. It was called Decoration Day.

On May 31, 1897, 60 veterans of the 54th Regiment were among hundreds of people who gathered on the Common for the unveiling of the memorial. This bronze relief statue, which took the leading sculptor in the United States 14 years to create, is considered one of the greatest works of public art in the United States and was the first to portray black men in uniform.

Sculptor Saint-Gaudens' original plan was to craft a magnificent equestrian statue of Shaw--alone on his horse, on a pedestal. But Shaw's family wouldn't hear of it. Saint-Gaudens bought into their line of thinking and designed the first public sculpture to show an officer and enlisted soldiers together.

And, probably, blacks and whites together.

It was commissioned by the black citizens of Massachusetts, who raised funds to pay Saint-Gaudens. I'm just not sure why it is called the Robert Gould Shaw memorial. I hope someday I'll hear that its name will be changed to honor the whole regiment.

When it was unveiled back in 1897, people could read the names of the five white officers killed in battle; they were inscribed on the back of the monument.

It wouldn't be until 1981 that the names of the fallen black soldiers would be carved into that stone.

To learn more:

About the dedication of the Robert Gould Shaw memorial: Patrick Browne has done homework on Professor James' speech that day

Thanks to Mass Moments, a history website that inspires every day.

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Friday, May 25, 2012

British Farrier Banned for 90 Days for Damaging Former Client's Horses

A farrier in England has faced two prosecutions for professional misconduct after he was found to have crudely remove one front shoe from each of two event horses owned by a former client.

In court for criminal damages, the farrier "was convicted of cutting the shoes off both animals other than in the ordinary course of farriery, which damaged them" according to a local newspaper account, which included photos of one of the feet and said that the shoes were removed on two occasions, two weeks apart. Apparently he received a suspended sentence and paid compensation of about $500US.

The second prosecution was by the Disciplinary Committee of the Farriers Registration Council, the British government agency charged with enforcement of the Farriers Registration Act, and which found the farrier guilty of serious professional misconduct and suspended him from the Register of Farriers for three months.

For accuracy, the text that follows is from a transcript from the Farriers Registration Council, with names removed.

The farrier, who been in the Register since October 1983, appeared at the Hearing to answer the following charges:

Damage to the hoof wall of one of the horses in the case; one front shoe from each horse was cut off the foot, two weeks apart. Photo from ThisIsGloucestershire.co.uk

1. (a) On 21 July 2011, at the Cheltenham Magistrates Court, you were convicted of criminal damage on 23 February 2011 to the front left hoof of a horse named Arron, intending to destroy or damage such property or being reckless as to whether such property would be destroyed or damaged, contrary to sections 1 (1) and 4 of the Criminal Damage Act 1971, for which offense you were discharged conditionally for 12 months and ordered to pay compensation in the sum of £220.80 and costs in the sum of £85.00.

2. On 23 February 2011 the criminal damage referred to in paragraph 1 above was such that: (a) you removed a shoe from the front left hoof of Arron without the consent of (the owner), knowing that you were doing so without such consent; and/or (b) you removed the shoe by cutting it off; and/or (c) you removed the shoe other than in the ordinary course of farriery; and/or (d) you caused damage to Arron; and/or (e) you caused unnecessary suffering to Arron.

3. On 7 February 2011 you removed the shoe from a horse named Eric belonging to (the same owner) and in doing so: (a) you removed the shoe without the consent of the owner, knowing that you were doing so without such consent; and/or (b) you removed the shoe by cutting it off; and/or (c) you removed the shoe other than in the ordinary course of farriery; and/or (d) you caused damage to Eric; and/or (e) you caused unnecessary suffering to Eric.

A veterinary surgeon who had attended Arron confirmed the damage to the horses' hooves would have caused both horses pain on walking and unnecessary suffering. The horses required specialist farriery care over many months following the incidents; for Arron this is still ongoing.

The FRC's attorney submitted that “…the Respondent's conduct fell far below expected standards. Causing damage and unnecessary suffering to horses’ breaches the most fundamental principle of farriery...

...In addition, the horses were no longer under the Respondent's care and there was no reason for him to be with the horses: the Council would submit that this behavior must have been pre-meditated.

...The Council would further submit that the damage was an abuse of the Respondent's position, as it made improper use of his professional skills and abilities as a farrier.”

The farrier showed remorse for his actions, admitted all the facts outlined above and that they amounted to serious professional misconduct but offered no explanation.

After full consideration of the facts, the Committee found him guilty of serious misconduct in a professional respect and directed that he should be suspended from the Register for a period of 3 months.

Speaking on behalf of the Committee the Chairman stated: “….Your actions failed to uphold the good reputation of the farriery profession or to show you as honest and trustworthy. Finally, doing this shows a complete failure to comply with your legal obligations...

"…If we thought that your behavior stemmed from an indifference to the suffering which you have caused to the horses, we would have no hesitation in instructing the Registrar to remove your name from the Register. We have, however, seen your genuine sadness, your humiliation and remorse concerning what you have done. We do not expect that there will be any repeat of such actions in the future.”

The farrier's suspension took effect on Thursday 24 May. It will be illegal for him to practice farriery during that interval and to do so will be a criminal offense. He is still subject to a conditional discharge following the magistrates hearing on 21 July 2011.

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