Fran Jurga`s Hoof Blog: News from Hoofcare + Lameness Journal

Hoofcare University: Biomechanics of Racehorses' Lower Limbs and Track Surface Interface Video Lectures with the University of Guelph's Dr Jeff Thomason

2012-01-24T16:00:00.002-05:00

Dr Jeff Thomason Note: the videos on this post were temporarily unavailable. There are now functioning again--thanks very much for your patience! Go get a cup of coffee or a sandwich or start popping the corn. Hoofcare + Lameness is happy to share a new video series with you from the University of Guelph's Jeff Thomason BA, MSc, PhD, professor of biomedical sciences at Guelph's Ontario

War Horse Hoofcare: Learning to Shoe with the Old Guard

2012-01-17T15:17:00.000-05:00

Who knew that the US military had a program to educate farriers? Private Lucau is one of two such lucky soldiers; he's learning farriery at the Old Guard unit (Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment, is also known as "The Old Guard"). The Old Guard Headquarters is located at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The farrier candidates are

War Horse Farrier: Lights, Camera, Hoofcare! Who Shod Joey?

2012-01-14T21:17:00.001-05:00

Enjoy this Hoof Blog audio interview with War Horse location off-screen and on-screen farrier Brendan Murray, thanks to Samantha Clark and War Horse News. You might want to read the text before you watch the "video". Napoleon once said that an army moves on its stomach. But the cavalry moves on its hooves, and it took an army of farriers--called "shoeing smiths" by the British

Inside the Thoroughbred Racehorse: Just Watch This!

2012-01-07T01:53:00.000-05:00

Of course you have never taken the Thoroughbred athlete for granted, but after watching this 48-minute documentary, you'll be in even more awe of the complex biomechanics and physiology of the running Thoroughbred. Anyone who's squeamish in a dissection might want to skip over this, but you'll miss a lot! This documentary, part of the multiple award-winning Inside Nature's Giants series

Statistically Speaking: What Was the #1 Keyword on the Hoof Blog in 2011?

2012-01-04T17:30:00.004-05:00

The most-used terms on The Hoof Blog; you should be able to double-click on the image to see a larger size and read the small type. You might recognize a few words and names! All the statistics in the world won't show what 2011 meant to The Hoof Blog. It was another great year, and I hope you were either along for the ride, or that you'll take the time to look back at some of the year's

AAPF: Farrier Association Launches Along with the New Year

2012-01-02T17:48:00.000-05:00

While you were watching the Times Square ball drop on television Saturday night, you could have been experiencing the launch of a new farrier association if you'd had your iPad on. At midnight on the last day of the old year, someone somewhere flipped a switch and a new web site went live. Professionalfarriers.com snapped onto computer screens around the world. Professionalfarriers.com is

Happy New Year from the Hoof Blog!

2012-01-01T04:00:00.000-05:00

Just a note, as they say, to wish everyone a happy, healthy and harmonious new year with many new adventures, accomplishments and alliances. The only way I can get my own attention is to attach sticky notes to the screens of my computers, so I'm speaking to you in official Hoofcare office language. Thank you all very much for all your kindness, friendship and support in what turned out to

War Horse Hoofcare: Keep Your Eye on the Galloping Horseshoe Pouch

2011-12-31T01:23:00.006-05:00

It's hard to imagine anyone falling asleep while watching the film War Horse, but I guess it could happen. The sound track is loud enough to wake you periodically, however. If you need to trick yourself into staying awake, you can try to keep an eye on the farrier-related clues scattered through the story like a treasure hunt. And keep your eye on the bouncing horseshoe pouch. He's a

War Horse Hoofcare: Holy Horseshoeing

2011-12-27T13:01:00.001-05:00

Consenvoye is in the northeast corner of France near the Belgian border, in the region of Lorraine. This is where the famous Battle of the Meuse-Argonne was fought. The Meuse-Argonne battle was the largest frontline commitment of troops by the U.S. Army in World War I, and the final offensive of the war. Was this a German forge or a British forge or French or American? The shape of the anvil

War Horse Hoofcare: The Way It Was

2011-12-27T03:47:00.001-05:00

It's War Horse week on The Hoof Blog. We'll start off with a short and not very sweet video of the British Army farrier encampment somewhere in India.You can see the forges and the horses lined up, and you can also notice the division of labor between the Indians and the British. Who's pumping the bellows? The second part of the clip demonstrates what they are calling the Lightwark

Kauto Star's Horseshoes Are As Good as Gold: British Jump Champion Is a Golden Oldie in the Winner's Circle

2011-12-26T22:32:00.000-05:00

Eleven-year-old British National Hunt superstar Kauto Star, one of the racing world's biggest stars, now has golden shoes, thanks to farrier Michael Jones who was commissioned to forge the special shoes. (Betfair photo) You know you've made it in the world of sports when you look down and notice that your shoes are gold. Olympic gold medalist track star Michael Johnson started the gold

Nothing Says "Happy Holidays" Like a Horse (Or An Anvil) in the Snow

2011-12-24T01:50:00.000-05:00

What, you're not in the holiday spirit? The Hoof Blog has a cure for that. Just sit down and watch my collection of favorite Christmas television commercials. All but the last one have horses somewhere in them. If you don't have the ho-ho-ho's by the time you're finished watching these, try some egg nog and watch again. 1. First, a montage of Irish Christmas commercials, past and present,

British Equestrian Federation Medal of Honor to Farrier Haydn Price

2011-12-23T02:14:00.000-05:00

The British Equestrian Federation (BEF) has awarded its Medal of Honour to farrier Haydn Price of Monmouthshire, Wales. Haydn is consultant farrier to Team GBR--the British equestrian teams--and provides farrier services to the BEF's World Class Performance program, including caring for the dressage and show jumping teams for international competition. According to the organization's web

A Horseshoe Pile Transformed to a Christmas Tree

2011-12-22T21:07:00.000-05:00

The Christmas tree outside the shoeing shop on the Kriz family farm in Bethany, Connecticut is decorated for the season. Notice the chain that encircles it leaves some room for expansion. (photo courtesy of Joe Kriz Jr.) What happens to old horseshoes when they're pulled off horses? Some farriers leave them behind for clients to dispose, some have a place to drop them off for recycling but

Sunday Humor: Strauss Feuerfest Anvil Steals the Show in Europe

2011-12-11T19:33:00.001-05:00

Possibly the only thing that can come close to Vienna, Austria's New Year's Day concert would be when Andre Rieu decided to stage a pageant-like concert outdoors on a summer's night in the courtyard at Schoenbrunn Palace--one of the most outstanding surviving examples of baroque architecture in the world, and a historic site protected by UNESCO. To make the evening special for Hoof

Educational Hoof Anatomy Gifts to Give and to Get from the Hoofcare Collection

2011-12-11T03:39:00.000-05:00

Let's make things perfectly clear...educational gifts go on giving! Click on the arrow in the lower right corner of the Scribd window to scroll between the pages of our new brochure about educational, creative and crystal-clear hoof anatomy specimen preserved by plastination. The "relief" or "plain" handheld specimen without acrylic $50 These specimen--or ones quite like them--are

A New Day in Farriery

2011-12-11T00:08:00.001-05:00

Sorry, this is a low-resolution file. The people shown at the end are farriers from the US and Canada. TO LEARN MORE Check back on January 1. Whether to give or to get: the greatest gift is education! 3-D animation guided tours, lectures, and explanations of the structures from knee to sole of the hoof and back again. Designed for vet school use, but also includes a user-controlled

Laminitis Treatment and Horse Welfare: Princess Anne and Pippa Funnell Respond to a Question of Ethics

2011-12-09T16:30:00.001-05:00

One of the main principles of animal welfare is to provide freedom from discomfort. What justification is there for the prolonged veterinary management of chronic painful conditions such as laminitis or very severe sporting injuries? At the recent annual conference of World Horse Welfare in London, a distinguished panel bravely took questions from the audience. When a woman rose and asked the

Farrier's Ax: A Museum Restores a Gruesome Tool of Mercy Designed to End the War for Horses

2011-12-08T00:53:00.001-05:00

Courtesy of National Army Museum, London As people in the US prepare to line up at movie theaters to see War Horse over the Christmas holiday, here's some farrier background about a tool you may even see in the movie. I am not sure when they stopped actually using this tool, but no one has stopped talking about it, that's for sure. It's the farrier's ax, and you'll see one close-up in

New from War Horse: Off-Screen Actors Speak on the Film (and the Horse)

2011-11-30T21:57:00.001-05:00

A new two-minute trailer from Dreamworks Pictures juxtaposes the off-screen stars of the new Steven Spielberg film War Horse with their on-screen characters. What do the actors have to say about the film, what it means, and what's at the heart of a horse's journey into the swirling maelstrom of war? The momentum is building for the premiere of this film in the USA on Christmas Day. To learn

Oklahoma Zebra with Foot Infection Loses the Battle

2011-11-29T15:41:00.000-05:00

This video is a window on the earlier treatment of Zephra, a Grevy's zebra with a serious hoof infection at the Oklahoma City Zoo; video courtesy of The Oklahoman. The video may take a little while to load. (sorry about the ad) For quite a while now, I've been following the travails of a Grevy's zebra at the Oklahoma City Zoo. Zephra

Spielberg's War Horse Movie Television Commercial: Here Comes a Great Film!

2011-11-23T17:44:00.001-05:00

It doesn't open in theaters until Christmas, but the television commercial is ready to roll. We all know Santa Claus is coming to town, but so is War Horse; Mr. Spielberg's epic story of what war looks like through the eyes of a horse opens on Christmas Day. Two tickets and a promise to buy the popcorn will make a great gift for anyone you know. Back to the commercial: Hoof Blog readers will

Thanksgiving: Shoes for Turkeys? The Trot to Market Was Hard on Their Feet

2011-11-23T15:24:00.001-05:00

Shoeing the Goose misericord carving photographed by Giles C. Watson For our non-USA readers: Thursday November 24 is Thanksgiving Day in the USA. The traditional meal stars a roast turkey. And that's just the beginning. This blog post is an update on one of the most popular posts ever published on this blog. First published for Thanksgiving 2008, people from all over the world have remarked on

AAEP Laminitis Research Project Launched: Phase One to Investigate Pasture or Endocrinopathy-Associated Laminitis with Help of Boehringer Ingelheim Prascend® Donation

2011-11-20T14:58:00.001-05:00

(This information is an edited press release that was originally provided by the AAEP Foundation) On Saturday, the American Association of Equine Practitioners Foundation announced the launch of an aggressive $1 million campaign for laminitis research and the start of the first of multiple studies that will occur to help unravel the mysteries of this disease. Also announced at the AAEP’s

Equine Lameness Investigator Peter Clegg Receives British Scientific Achievement Award

2011-11-20T13:49:00.001-05:00

Peter Clegg, Professor of Musculoskeletal Biology at Great Britain's University of Liverpool School of Veterinary Science, has been awarded the inaugural LitoVet Scientific Award from the Animal Health Trust (AHT). The award recognizes the person or group whose clinical or scientific work has made a substantial difference to the equine veterinary world. Professor Clegg was announced as this