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

Have a Heart: Hoofcare's Plastinated Valentine to the World

2012-02-14T00:58:00.000-05:00

Today's a big day for hearts. Whenever I think of hearts, I think of that racehorse champion of days gone by, Phar Lap. He's always associated with Australia, but the truth is that he was foaled in New Zealand. Next month will be the 80th anniversary of his tragic death at the heigh of his racing career. When Phar Lap died, his heart and his hide went to two museums in Australia, and his

Deformity in Motion: Neglected Hooves Respond in Ireland

2012-02-12T16:01:00.000-05:00

Johnny and James are two otherwise anonymous donkeys in Ireland who have been lucky enough to be rescued and find some kind people at The Donkey Sanctuary there. Horses and ponies and donkeys with overgrown hooves are not uncommon to find. We routinely see photos of them when they are rescued by agencies or brought to farriers and vets for care. But Johnny and James are different because

AVMA: Horseshoeing Is No Longer an Excluded Profession in the New Model Veterinary Practice Act (But Farriery Is)

2012-02-10T02:34:00.003-05:00

What's in a name? If you are a non-veterinarian who goes by any number of job titles to define your work with horses' hooves, you might start to wonder. Perhaps you thought you were practicing blacksmithing, plating, hoof care, trimming, horseshoeing or podiatry. While those job titles seem to evoke a definitive impression of what the person does for a job, the more archaic and woefully

War Horse Hoofcare: Puncture Wounds Then and Now

2012-02-06T14:48:00.001-05:00

While collecting photos of farriers during World War I, I passed over this photo several times without realizing how interesting it was. It took a magnifying glass to appreciate this one. The sign reads, "'Kindness to animals, 500 horses lamed weekly by nails dropped on roads and horse lines by cookers carrying firewood with nails left in. Please remove nails." As if the war horses didn't

Foal Defomity: SPANA's Video Postcard from a Developing World Clinic

2012-02-06T13:41:00.001-05:00

This video is provided to give you an idea of the type of challenges that a charity like SPANA faces at its clinics. We do not have medical records or radiographs of this foal to document the severity of the injury. We all know that this type of deformity would be a challenge to any veterinary practice, and yet the treatment seems very simple and straightforward and the effect was almost

War Horse Hoofcare: Don't Come Between a Farrier and His Horse

2012-02-03T14:06:00.000-05:00

Photographers talk about the "point of infinity" in an image. There's a horizon or a focal point that draws your eye to the defined distance. Or lack of a defined distance. This photo of farriers at work at a British horse stables in France during World War I is a study in efficiency, 1915-style. You see one man (on far left) in charge of the bellows for the little portable forge. One

War Horse on Your Coffee Table: A Beautiful Book About the Film from Hoofcare Books

2012-02-01T21:57:00.000-05:00

Scroll down to the bottom of this article to initiate your order and proceed to PayPal. Every once in a while, a book comes along that belongs not in your office, not in your barn, not in your truck. No, this book belongs on your coffee table, or maybe in the waiting room of a vet clinic or farrier shop. Over the years, this blog has championed the story of War Horse, from the very time

Hoofcare at the Super Bowl: Have the Commercials Gone to the Dogs?

2012-01-31T14:47:00.002-05:00

I have a feeling this will be my favorite commercial during the Super Bowl on Sunday. This is just a preview. Quigley is a French bulldog and he reminds me of an ad we ran in Hoofcare + Lameness years ago. Mustad's ad agency, Scott Inc. of Milwaukee, put red high-top Keds on a horse. It is possibly my all-time favorite hoof ad. So far, I haven't seen any Super Bowl commercials with horses.

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 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 Veterinary College. Dr Thomason is widely known for his research, which currently looks both at the biomechanics of the horse's foot

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