Fran Jurga`s Hoofcare + Lameness

Monday, August 20, 2012

Tennessee walking horse shoeing videos: Ending soring begins with education

The end of August has arrived and that means just one thing: it's time for the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration in Shelbyville, Tennessee.

It's one of the largest and possibly most successful horse shows in the United States. As many as 170,000 people from 40 states have attended the 11-day show in recent years. As many as 2,660 horses may compete in the show's171 classes; more than $650,000 in prizes will be awarded.

And if there is a "hot spot" in the horse world for the next two weeks, this show is it. The reason? In spite of more than 30 years on the books, a federal law designed to stamp out the cruel practice of "soring" Tennessee walking horses has failed.

These videos from trainer Winky Groover are posted for educational purposes. Most people have never seen a Tennessee walking horse perform in the show ring, much less on the cross-ties being shod. But everyone does have an opinion.

You should know the process of shoeing a Walking horse and what the different items used are called: packing materials, double-nail pad, hose clamp, chains, etc.

The actual shoeing you see in the video below is not "soring", which would use chemical irritants, short-trimming, and/or sharp objects between the hoof dressing pad and sole of the foot to manipulate the horse's action. Everything you see here is completely "legal" and accepted practice.

The shoeing video simply shows how a stack of pads is attached to the foot and how the foot is prepared for it. In the first video, Winky gives a very general description of the difference between a flat stack and a wedge stack and how trainers adjust or increase the weight and shape of the stack to manipulate lift or reach.

In June of this year the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) called for the stacked pads, pastern chains and hose clamps you see in these videos to be banned since they form the basis of the system and can be manipulated to the detriment of the horse. (see link below)

Today we learned that the "DQP" (non-USDA) inspectors at the Celebration plan to swab all the horses' pasterns to detect chemicals. This the latest in a confusing series of events in the past few months, including a lawsuit against the USDA, a de-certification of the Celebration's inspection organization, and the impression that the elimination of soring could simply be postponed indefinitely while lawsuits and countersuits sort themselves out.

But the show must go on, and the Celebration says it is going to swab pasterns and that this is a great move forward.

When used at the 2011 Celebration, swabbing revealed that 50 of 52 samples were positive for foreign substances. Most positives were for numbing agents.

According to a press release from the Celebration, swabbing results will be made public during the event for the first time. Violations will be punished severely, the Celebration says, by suspending trainers’ licenses, disqualifying horses, removing ribbons, trophies and prize money.

Will there be more news from Shelbyville about Walking horses and soring between now and Labor Day? Probably. But at least by watching those two videos you'll know the basics of the horseshoeing part of the equation. The human and legal parts of the equation are much more complicated.

Thanks to the Tennessean newspaper for making these videos available.

Hoofcare Publishing and Fran Jurga do not endorse or recommend the practice of soring. Tennessee walking horses are wonderful animals and deserve the best possible care as well as a speedy solution to this controversy. Techniques shown in these videos are for increased understanding only and are not meant for instruction or to pass judgment.

To learn more:

HSUS anti-soring billboard rises near Celebration showgrounds

AVMA and AAEP call for ban on stacked pads, chains, and clamps

Background article on controversy surround the Celebration's inspections: "Change eyed in walking horse industry" (Times Free Press)

Click to support laminitis research in the United States and Australia

© 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.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Two shakes of a dog's tail: Gyro locomotion of animal skin

What if scientists took the same tools they use to analyze how horses walk, trot, canter and gallop and turned it to how they use their bodies?

Forget the legs and hooves (or paws).

Most mammals have a quantity of loose skin that they can move. That looseness gives the skin a locomotion all its own and now scientists are measuring it and trying to understand how and why animals are able to shake as much as 70 percent of liquid off their bodies.

It's not a linear locomotion; it's a gyro, or rotational movement around the animal's axial skeleton.

It's a good thing they can do it. If they couldn't, chances are the water would freeze, and they might get hypothermia, according to David Hu, PhD at Georgia Tech University. Or maybe the weight of the water would slow them down in their hunting--or fleeing from being hunted.

It's a shame the study doesn't include an analysis of horses shaking. I think they do more of a whole-body shudder than a rotational loose-skin shake like a dog or other mammals. Maybe it has something to do with the way they can involuntarily twitch their skin to get rid of a fly. Their shake is powerful but unique, I think.

And horses shake off dust as well as water. Shaking is all part of rolling.

This weekend, media like CNN aired segments with commentator Jeannie Moos plugging humor into the research, including an interview with Dr. Hu at Georgia Tech via Skype, who was previously featured on ABC's Good Morning America:

Read the abstract of Dr. Hu's paper. Visit the web site for Dr. Hu's lab at Georgia Tech. Before he became fascinated with shaking dogs, he researched how mosquitoes fly in the rain.

Click to go to easy ordering page; this poster can soon be hanging on your wall!

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Hoof Blog Fun: Animated Anatomy Models of the Imagination

It's Sunday, so let's have some Hoof Blog fun.

As you can imagine, the walls here at Hoofcare Publishing are plastered with new and old anatomy posters and gait diagrams.

This one needs a stud girth and over-reach boots.

One day I started wondering about the horses who model for anatomy diagrams. Were they chosen for their ideal conformation--or did they even exist at all? Are there such ideal horses out there?

I like to think that when I turn out the lights in the office at night, the fun begins. Books open and close on their own. Trophy hammers hit on trophy shoes (but never leave a mark). Rasps rise up and sing a duet.

But until I saw this video, I hadn't considered what might happen with the anatomy posters and the gait charts. Maybe they have fun too and those horses that stand still so perfectly all day on the wall suddenly rear up and take off.

Michael Mansfield, who animated the anatomy models in this video, obviously has a great sense of humor, as well as a lot of patience to have animated all these still images.

What's wrong with this picture?

Obvious too is that Mike Mansfield's anatomy model horses never attended a Hilary Clayton lecture on equine locomotion.

I like to think that when I turn out the lights tonight, all those perfect standing models will give the gallop a try.

Thanks to Mike Mansfield, for inspiring me to think that anatomy diagrams might have a secret life!

Let's just hope they gallop more like this horse, used in an equine locomotion research project at the Royal Veterinary College in England:

Hoof and lower limb anatomy like you've never seen--and you control it! Click to orde

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Saturday, August 18, 2012

Heavy Hooves: Farrier Work Transformed with Tony Golding's Artistic Vision

No words are needed for this video, and none were supplied. This is the work of one of my favorite British photographers, Tony Golding, who normally is photographing British heavy horses in all their glory.

But this time he turned to the bottom of those same horses' feet and zoomed in on the hands of the farriers at a shoeing contest at one of the big shows in England. He got very close and followed a couple of the contestants through to nailing on.

It's nine minutes of sweet jazz riffs and very tight closeups, artistic transitions, fades and dissolves.

Click on the little "HD" icon at the bottom to initiate High Definition mode if your monitor will allow it. Then go to "full screen" mode by clicking of the four-arrowed box next to "HD". Sit back and enjoy it.

And if you do, click on the little "like" heart at the top right of the screen and let Tony know.

Watch more Tony Golding video slide shows of heavy horses.

Need a copy? If you want to understand lame horses, you do. Call 978 281 3222 to order.

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Friday, August 10, 2012

Cornell Vet School Adds iPads for Portable Radiograph Display

Cornell's Dr. Cheetham shows a client his horse's radiograph right in the farrier shop!

Cornell University Hospital for Animals is excited to share that they have initiated the use of iPads in both the small and large animal hospitals to provide a convenient way to show clients high resolution medical images.

The new Retina display is very good on the iPad 3--possibly better than most of the computer monitors around the vet school's hospitals!

Also, with 64GB storage, these iPads will become a mobile reference library for each hospital section.

Cornell technology also allows a clinician to monitor a horse's heart rate with an iPhone. The iPhone ECG uses AliveCor's technology and displays highly accurate readings without attaching any leads to the animal. The results are uploaded to the "cloud" where the data can be converted to a PDF, printed, emailed and shared with the owner, vet and trainers.

The 22 iPads were made possible by a grateful client's charitable annuity, which specified that the gift be used for educational purposes. Cornell is excited to use this technology towards the advancement of education and service!

Thanks to Cornell Veterinary Medical Equine Performance Clinic.

You can have a lot of fun with an iPad...image by (T)imothep

Call 978 281 3222 or email books@hoofcare.com to order your copy. Supply is limited!

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Laminitis Trust's Eustace Welcomes Owner-Sourced Research Donation from Feed Company Spillers

Robert Eustace, founder of the Laminitis Trust, receives a cheque from Rachel Austin of SPILLERS®

The British feed company Spillers® has donated GB£12,000 (approximately US$20,000) to the Laminitis Trust, to help fund important research on the devastating condition of laminitis in horses.

The funds were raised as the result of a special campaign run by Spillers®, which involved the feed company donating 20p (about 30 cents in US currency) to the Laminitis Trust from every bag of Spillers Happy Hoof®, sold during the months of April and May 2012.

Happy Hoof is one of two high-fiber products Spillers makes for laminitis-risk horses.

The Laminitis Trust, founded in 1998, is the only registered charity in Great Britain dedicated exclusively to supporting research into equine laminitis.

Clare Barfoot, RNutr, the research and development manager at Spillers®, said: “The Laminitis Trust is at the forefront of essential work to discover the causes of this painful and debilitating condition and we are proud to be able to support their endeavors.”

Robert Eustace, founder of the Laminitis Trust continued: “We are extremely grateful to Spillers® for this generous donation. All the money will be used to help fund our laminitis research projects. Horse owners should select feeds carrying the Laminitis Trust Feed Approval Mark logo to help them keep their animals at the correct body weight and reduce the risk of laminitis.”

Information for this article was received in the form of a press release from Spillers.

Click for more info and easy online ordering via PayPal

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