What Century Is It? Scotland's Royal Highland Show Clydesdale Shoeing Competition Keeps Tradition in Sharp Focus

Royal Highland Show 2011 Clydesdale Shoeing by David McCrone
Sometimes a great photo just jumps up out of the Internet and begs to be featured on the Hoof Blog. Of all the millions of photos in the world, why do these very special ones find their ways here? I don't know, but I'm glad they do.

You're looking at a Clydesdale, the great national horse of Scotland. Each year the famed Royal

Nicholas Frank, Noted Laminitis Researcher, Will Chair Tufts University's Cummings Vet School Department of Clinical Sciences

(Edited from press release)

Nicholas Frank, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, an equine clinician and researcher with expertise in laminitis, metabolic syndrome and endocrinology, has been named the chair of the Department of Clinical Sciences at Tufts University’s Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.

As chair of the veterinary school’s largest department, Frank will lead a group of nearly 50

War Horse: The Movie! Trailer of Spielberg's Film Premieres; Meet His Equine Artistic Adviser

War Horse. Steven Spielberg. Dreamworks. Disney. Get ready to put it all together! Watch for the Disney/Dreamworks Hollywood film version of the hit London and Broadway stage play. You'll be able to see it in about six months; the tentative release date is December 28 in the United States.
The War Horse story took on another dimension today, with the release of the first trailer promoting the

Video: Fix My Crooked Foal! Reality Time for Horse Breeders, Skill Time for Surgeons and Farriers

It's that time of year. The 2011 foal crop is here and breeders are looking at them under magnifying glasses. What have they bred? Will this foal make it as an athlete in the long run?

In the short run, will he or she sell at a yearling sale?

Making a foal look and move like a future athlete is a controversial part of horse production. Many foals are born with problems, so corrections are

Foot Photos: Totilas Used His Shoes at German Dressage Championships at Balve Today, Set New German High-Score Record

German rider Matthias Alexander Rath riding Totilas competes in the Grand Prix Dressage Competition at the German Championships in the western city of Balve June 17, 2011 REUTERS/Ina Fassbender (GERMANY - Tags: SPORT EQUESTRIANISM)

New rider, new trainer, new stable, new vet, new farrier...Dressage World Champion Totilas seems to be putting it all together and, with luck, hit a new kind of

Grazing Muzzles Reduce Pasture Consumption by 80 Percent in Grazing Ponies, According to New Study

"It's not funny!" this horse seems to be saying and there's no question that most horses are less than amused at the prospect of wearing muzzles. Would it be different if all the horses in the pasture had to wear them? This expressive photo is by the talented animal photographer Judith Whelan.

New research, presented at the Equine Science Society (ESS) Symposium in Nashville, Tennessee last

Silent Anvil: Buster Conklin, Retired Cornell Vet School Farrier, Has Died

Say good-bye to Marshall "Buster" Conklin of Horseheads, New York, one of the great faces and spirits of late-20th century horseshoeing in America.

Buster was the longtime farrier instructor and resident farrier at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine but he will be remembered much more for his character and his passion for his profession than for any job he held. After all, no

It's International Helmet Awareness Day! Helmets Are Handy Out of the Saddle, Too--Just Ask This Farrier!

Farrier trimming feet a photo by World Horse Welfare on Flickr.
Today is International Helmet Awareness Day, part of a worldwide campaign to urge more riders to protect their heads while on horseback. But it occurred to me that there are times when helmets come in handy on the ground too. World Horse Welfare recently published this series of photos, which I thought would be appropriate for today.

USA TODAY Laminitis Video: Penn Vet's New Bolton Center and the Legacy of Barbaro

USA Today had a terrific article yesterday about the laminitis work being done at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine's New Bolton Center. At the rural campus outside Philadelphia, 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was a patient for about seven months while he struggled to both recover from a fractured leg suffered in the 2006 Preakness Stakes and, even more

For Want of a Nail...Queen's Colt Loses Epsom Derby (and a Shoe)

If you look closely at this photo by David Davies/PA mirrored from The Guardian newspaper in England, you can see Carlton House's shoe landing on the grass of the Epsom Racecourse as he was charging home in the 2011 Epsom Derby last weekend. Carlton House (red sleeves) was favored to win, and his victory would have brought great joy to his owner, Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth, who is now 85

Farrier Jim Quick's Colorado Shop and Equipment Destroyed by Fire, Explosion

Fire and an explosion destroyed farrier Jim Quick's workshop in Niwot, Colorado on Sunday, June 5, 2011. This is all that remained.  (Jim Quick photo)

 Jim Quick is a lucky man. He has a good sense of timing, too.

He took a break from working on some tools Sunday morning. The well-known farrier clinician and competitor left his farrier shop in Niwot, Colorado to step onto his patio and

Racehorse Fetlock Screening Via Standing MRI Could Identify Horses at Risk for Condylar Fractures of the Fetlock

If there is one thing that we all learned by watching the Kentucky Derby this year, it was the term "condylar fracture". Watching first Battle of Hastings and then Archarcharch load into the horse ambulance was the low point of the day.

Are you one of the people who just shrugs and says, "That's racing!" or are you one of the people who asks, "Why? Why? Why?"

Maybe this article will raise