Hoof Explorer: Discover and Interact with the Horse's Foot in Three Beautiful Dimensions, Online

Hoof Explorer is a new interactive 3-D anatomy education tool that is in four languages and has almost infinite capacity for displaying the anatomy of the distal limb.

It's official: 2013 is the year of 3-D hoof anatomy on the web. 

St Nicholas Abbey Update: Champion "Struggling to Overcome Laminitis", Maggot Therapy in Use

Laminitis may be manifest in many ways. It can be a simple detachment of a portion of the "laminae", which are linking fibers that attach the main bone of the foot to the hoof capsule. It can also be a complex combination of mechanical failures that includes a complete detachment of the bone, resulting in a collapse known as "sinking". In this sample tissue plastination prepared by Dr. Christoph von Horst, you see a detached, sinking bony column that has descended from its normal position inside the hoof capsule. This is a sample image, and is not meant to accurately represent St Nicholas Abbey's current condition

Coolmore Stud issued the following update on champion Irish racehorse St Nicholas Abbey. The 2012 Breeders Cup Turf winner suffered a pastern fracture during training on July 23 and later developed what is probably a form of support limb laminitis in his "good" foot. The colt has been hospitalized at Fethard Equine Hospital in Tipperary, Ireland since the initial fracture.

The announcement reads:

3D Printed Horseshoe Update: No Purple Titanium Horseshoes on Hooves (Yet)

Australian national CSIRO research laboratory engineer Chad Henry has gone back to the drawing board to perfect his titanium horseshoe produced via 3-D printing. (CSIRO photo)

Do you remember the flashy purple horseshoes from the Australian laboratory that were destined to crush racetrack records? The story--along with examples of the way that 3-D printing is used in the hoofcare world--was popular on the Hoof Blog last month. 

The Hoof Blog contacted the horse's trainer to see how it was doing with the special new shoes and he kindly responded. Apparently the rest of the media in the world re-published the story without checking on the result.

Netherlands National Equestrian Training Center Closes Farrier School and All Equine Professional Education Programs

Is the worldwide economic slowdown in danger of jeopardizing educational opportunities for young people who would like to become farriers? Or does it depend on where they live? The Netherlands is the latest country to report a kink in the farrier educational system. (Photo of a farrier working in Dubai by Yousif Al Mulla, used with permission)

Congressional Hearing on Walking Horse Soring LIVESTREAM (Archived Video for Replay)

Please watch this taped archive of today's Congressional hearing on the PAST Act to amend the Horse Protection Act. You should read yesterday's Hoof Blog article on this hearing, and the commentary below.

British Government Opens Consultation Period for Reforms to Farriers Registration Act

Today the Farriers Registration Council in Great Britain announced that that country's governmental Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), jointly with parallel teams in the Scottish and Welsh Governments, have opened a period of consultation for regulatory reform of the Farriers (Registration) Act (of) 1975.