Olympic Farriers Honored with Medal Ceremony by Worshipful Company of Farriers

The podium was crowded at the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery Barracks in Woolwich, London on the summer night of July 29th. The Olympics had begun a few days before. The world had arrived in London. At nearby Greenwich Park, the eventing was in full swing.

A team medal ceremony was in order; even though they represented different nations' teams, they were all from the same tribe: Team Farrier, indeed, in more ways than one.

Anyone who has ever said, "That farrier deserves a medal" had their wishes come true that night.

The farriers standing together for the official photo represented countries from as far away as Australia.

They were the guests of the famed Worshipful Company of Farriers.

Each farrier was presented with a certificate and engraved silver medal by the Master of the Company, Mr Stephen Scott.

"The Company decided to hold a reception to mark the contribution made by the team farriers, both from the UK and overseas, to the success of the London 2012 Olympics," Mrs Clifford told the Hoof Blog via email.

"We were very fortunate to be able to hold it at Woolwich Barracks, thanks to the Commanding Officer and staff of the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery, which made it easy to transport the farriers to and from Greenwich Park.

Farriers, dignitaries and hosts at medal ceremony: Captain Richard Todd, Troop Captain, King's Troop; Robert McIntosh (UK); Ben Benson (UK); Major Mark Edward, Commanding Officer, King's Troop; Lee Collins (UK); WCF Upper Warden, Major General Sir Evelyn Webb-Carter; Nicholas Deacon (UK); Marcus Thorne (UK); Sandy Parker (Australia); James Goddard (UK); WCF Master, Mr. Stephen Scott; Ian Hughes (UK); Paul Armstrong (UK); Jim Blurton (UK); Jay Tovey (UK); David Le Corre (France); Per Christofferson (Denmark); William Mulqueen (UK); Simon Persse (UK); WCF Middle Warden, Mr Simon Fleet; WCF Renter Warden, Mr Wayne Upton. (Farriers are listed by name only; dignitaries and hosts by name and title.) Photo provided by Gillian Harris, Forge Magazine.

 The evening began with a champagne reception, followed by a two-course buffet dinner.

"Each farrier was presented with a certificate and engraved silver medal by the Master of the Company, Mr Stephen Scott; sadly and inevitably, not every eligible farrier was able to attend, as some had to be on duty that evening, but those who couldn't get there will receive their certificates and medals in due course."

The silver farrier medal carries the Company's coat of arms. The reverse of each has the individual farrier's name engraved on it. The Company's motto, Vi et Virtute ('By strength and by virtue') is at the bottom.

Invited official team farriers (listed alphabetically by last name of farrier) who could not attend were:

• Rene Biella (Colombia),
• Gerardus de Crom (Holland), 
  
• Guillaume Duhamel (Chile),
• Yves Joosen (Saudi Arabia),
• Dieter Kroehnert (Germany),
• Todd Meister (USA),
• Brendan Murray (UK),
• Andrew Nickalls (UK resident, looking after the New Zealand team), 
• Randall Pawlak (Canada), 
  
• Nigel Perrott (UK resident, looking after the Ireland team), 
• Sergio Pinto (Portugal),
• Haydn Price (UK), 
• Damien Rotkopf (Portugal), 
  
• Mark Skippon (UK),
• Stephen Teichman (USA),
• Gaelle Terranova (Portugal), 
• David Watson (Thailand)

The Clerk said that those team farriers were either obliged to work at that time, or had not yet arrived.

The group included a team of British farriers working under London Olympics Lead Farrier Jim Blurton; they provided services to countries that were not staffed with a team farrier. They were also stationed at each arena and warmup ring, as well as staffing the Olympic forge at Greenwich Park. They were highly visible on the telecast of the equestrian events, as one farrier was stationed at the out gate of the main arena, where one of the BBC/NBC cameras was pointed for each dressage rider and showjumper.

Mrs. Clifford continued, "We have received very positive feedback from those who were there, and the event achieved its aim of recognizing the commitment made by the farriers to the well being of the horses involved and to the success of the Games overall."

Woolwich Barracks, home of the King's Troop, Royal Artillery was the site of shooting events for the Olympics, and hosted the farrier reception. (michaelpead.co.uk photo)

About the King's Troop: The Royal Artillery Barracks at Woolwich in the Royal Borough of Greenwich in London, was built in the late 1700s as the home of the Royal Artillery. The King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery moved from the St John's Wood Barracks to their new quarters and stables on the Woolwich site in 2012, bringing with them a complement of 75 or thereabouts horses, historic gun carriages and artillery pieces used for their display. The Barracks are the site of shooting events at the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

About the Company: The records of the City of London Corporation show that on 27th March 1356, in the 30th year of the reign of Edward III, the Mayor, Henry Pykard, summoned before him all the farriers of the City to deal with the many offenses and damages which had been committed by "people not wise therein" who kept forges in the City and meddled with practices which they did not understand, to the greater detriment of the horse. The Mayor ordered the choosing of two Wardens who were given full power to oversee and govern the trade and to deal with any default.

It may be 650 or so years later, but the Worshipful Company of Farriers is still overseeing the trade--in London and throughout the United Kingdom. Farriery in Britain is regulated by an Act of Parliament which requires that only professional farriers in possession of the Company's Diploma can shoe horses.

Hoofcare and Lameness thanks Mrs Charlotte Clifford, Clerk of the Company, and Gillian Harris of Forge Magazine for their kind assistance with this article. 

Click to read more about (and order) the #1 reference book for hoof anatomy in the world!

© 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.  

Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal

Read this blog's headlines on the Hoofcare + Lameness Facebook Page

 

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.

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.  

Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal

Read this blog's headlines on the Hoofcare + Lameness Facebook Page

 

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.

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!

© 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.  

Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal

Read this blog's headlines on the Hoofcare + Lameness Facebook Page

 

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.

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

© 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.  

Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal

Read this blog's headlines on the Hoofcare + Lameness Facebook Page

 

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.

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.

© 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.  

Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal

Read this blog's headlines on the Hoofcare + Lameness Facebook Page

 

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.

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!

© 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.  

Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal

Read this blog's headlines on the Hoofcare + Lameness Facebook Page

 

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.