Friday, February 10, 2023

PETA vs the Budweiser Clydesdales: A match worthy of Super Bowl weekend


You might have heard that the Budweiser Clydesdales will be missing from your television screens at Super Bowl LVII this Sunday in Arizona. The St Louis brewer will not run its traditional, expensive, and hugely popular ad featuring America's favorite team. (Yes, a hitch of giant Clydesdales are more beloved than either the Chiefs or the Eagles will ever be.) 

But there will be a Budweiser Clydesdale commercial, you can be sure of that. It just might not be one that Budweiser wants America to see.

Friday, September 02, 2022

Swedish barefoot vs shod showjumper comparative research preview at FEI World Championships

Swedish barefoot vs shod showjumper research

The world watched Swedish barefoot show jumpers sweep the individual and team gold medals at the FEI World Championships in August in Herning, Denmark. At the same event, the media received a preview of a comprehensive hoof science study that hopes to explain why they won. 

The Hoof Blog offers this exclusive report.

Saturday, August 27, 2022

Barefoot show jumpers make history at 2022 FEI World Championships--and beyond

Swedish show jumper Henrik von Eckermann and King Edward barefoot world champions

History was made at the FEI 2022 World Championships in Herning, Denmark in August. After the first two rounds of jumping, three of the top four horses on the scoreboard were shoeless. And at the end of the full event, the world champion individual horse was barefoot, as were half the winning gold medal team.

Some may think that barefoot grand prix jumpers leaping, landing, and turning on groomed-to-perfection arena footing aren't news anymore, after the brilliant Swedish gold team and silver individual medals at the Tokyo Olympics last year, but this was the FEI World Championship. 

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Prevent laminitis: Wellness Ready stallside insulin tests accelerate Equine Metabolic Syndrome diagnostics


We all know horse owners who can recite entire pedigrees, race records, or a lifetime of judges' scores. But veterinarians and farriers would prefer that owners have the history of their horses’ insulin test results on the tips of their tongues. 

A new stallside diagnostics tool called Wellness Ready provides real-time equine insulin levels from a simple blood test kit; it is now available to veterinarians around the world. With its growing use for horses of all breeds and ages, laminitis prevention is taking a big stride forward.

Farriers at the Herning 2022 FEI World Championships: Who was minding the forge?



Last week's ECCO FEI World Championships in Herning, Denmark, made farrier history when the event entered into an agreement with Mustad Hoofcare Group, who became the FEI's first  "Official Farrier Service Partner" by providing a crew of its own farriers for Herning2022. With more than 1,000 horses on the grounds, farriers were a priority service.

Monday, May 23, 2022

Badminton Farriers Prize 2022: In Search of the Best Shod Horse

Badminton Horse Trials Farriers Prize

Badminton Farriers Prize 2022: Jim Blurton breaks records

The Badminton Horse Trials, presented by Mars Equestrian, is one of only seven five-star three-day events in the world, and the only one that awards a coveted "Farriers Prize". After two consecutive years of cancellation for coronavirus, the world was coming close to banging on the gates by early May, demanding to enjoy one of the most iconic and unrivaled horse competitions of any kind, anywhere in the world. 
And in 2022, just like all the years before, we wanted to know who won the Farriers Prize. As usual that assignment was just a jumping off point to a bigger story. There may be just one winner, but the story is bigger and better, although most people at the event never even knew it was going on.
Congratulations to Welsh farrier Jim Blurton.