Horseshoe Biomechanics by Dr. Jenny Hagen for Werkman: Side-Wedge Shoe for Medial-Lateral Imbalance

Click on the triangular "play" icon (bottom left) to start Dr. Hagen's video.

The Hoof Blog is pleased to share with you the next video from the research of Dr. Jenny Hagen at the University of Leipzig in Germany. Today we share the biomechanics of the "side wedge" shoe, used to correct medial-lateral hoof imbalance, especially as identified and measured in radiographs. Dr. Hagen's video is sponsored by Werkman Horseshoes of The Netherlands.

This video picks up from the previous videos from Dr. Hagen and Werkman (biomechanics of egg bar, heart bar, wide toe, wide-branch (asymmetric), and open toe shoes) posted in October and January.

Grayson-Jockey Club Foundation and Starlight Racing Reach $150,000 Laminitis Research Goal

News release:

Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation (GJCRF) announced today that it had reached the target in fund raising prompted by Starlight Stable’s challenge to raise $75,000 for laminitis research. Starlight issued the challenge last year in memory of Intense Holiday, a stakes-winning colt that seemed headed for additional success until he suffered a condylar fracture.

Following one of the most frustrating scenarios associated with laminitis, expert veterinary care was able to deal with Intense Holiday’s injury, but the added pressure on the opposing limb brought on laminitis and the horse could not be saved.

Pythagoras at the Anvil: How Did an Ancient Mathematician Use Hammer Strikes on an Anvil to Decode Music?

Music was born in a forge. The Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras decoded, or invented, the musical scale. He came up with it after discerning the relative musical tones of different blacksmiths' hammers, based on each hammer's relative weight.

Polyflex Horseshoes Hosts Informational Farrier Session with VEPG Chair Mark Silverman at Palm Beach Farrier Supply

On Saturday, January 31, Polyflex Horseshoes hosted an informational session for farriers with Mark Silverman, MS, DVM, owner of Sport Horse Veterinary Services in Rancho Santa Fe, California. He is also a partner in Southern California Equine Podiatry with farrier Ernest Woodward.

Mark Silverman is chair of the new Veterinary Equine Podiatry Group (VEPG), Inc., an initiative by a group of veterinarians who would like to see a veterinary specialization established for equine podiatry. The group is just beginning on this effort and is probably years from establishing a recognized and credentialed program.

Blacksmith Buddy Junior: The New Hoofcare Education Tool for Teaching, Practice, and Demonstrations

                             Sponsored Post from Blacksmith Buddy                                       

Practice makes perfect...sense, when a new student practices on a Blacksmith Buddy or Buddy Junior. Even an experienced vet or farrier can benefit from experimenting with a trimming or shoeing technique or even a crack repair using a plastic hoof before trying it on a living horse. The lightweight new Buddy Junior fits on a standard Hoof Jack and is portable for travel.

There’s a new kid in town. Kind of a little guy, but he fits right in. He hangs out with one of the most popular pillars of the hoofcare world, and the two of them work together like a couple of old pros. He’s a chip off the block, a new age version of his old man, The Original.

The Barbaro Effect: How One Horse Changed the Face of Laminitis Awareness--and Google Search Statistics--Forever

A racehorse named Barbaro won the Kentucky Derby in 2006. He fractured his right hind leg in the Preakness, two weeks later, and suffered from laminitis during his complex recovery from surgery to repair the limb that summer. The world watched him struggle to recover. Eight months after his injury, he was euthanized. Laminitis was given as the reason for ending his life. The world--not just the horse world--was stunned that his life couldn't be saved. What was this disease, they wanted to know? Barbaro showed them what it was, in the most tragic possible way. His name became synonymous with laminitis awareness and research. And Google has proof of that.

Barbaro died on January 29, 2007. Where were you, eight years ago today? More importantly, where was your awareness and knowledge of the disease of laminitis? And where are you--and your laminitis awareness and knowledge--now?