The Laminitis Conference: 2011 Program and Speakers Announced

Dr. Chris Pollitt used thermography to capture the ebb and flow of temperature change in a foot during the onset of acute laminitis over 48 hours (note numbers in the frames) during a research trial at the Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit. Dr. Pollitt returns to West Palm Beach to speak at his sixth consecutive conference;

Research: Clayton and Bowker's “Effects of Barefoot Trimming on Hoof Morphology” Focuses on Incremental Heel Recovery

"Lights, cameras, heel angles..." Dr. Hilary Clayton uses the most
advanced data collection and analysis systems in the world to track how
horses move, grow, stand or even sway. Her electronics matched with Dr
Robert Bowker's anatomy studies have placed Michigan State University at
the epicenter of global hoof research. Since both Clayton and Bowker
espouse the advantages of barefoot

Get well, Jessie Ward!

It's hard to keep a good farrier down, as the staff at a Tennessee hospital are learning.


We interrupt this blog to send out a heartfelt and hearty "Get Well!" wish to our friend Jessie Ward of Martinsville, Virginia. Jessie needs no introduction in the farrier world, but others might like to know that she's a creative dynamo--a veteran farrier, a blacksmithing instructor and an extremely

The Unshod Racehorse: Racing Commissioners Table Model Rule on Barefoot Racehorses

When the Association of Racing Commissioners International (RCI) met at the Holiday Inn in Saratoga Springs, New York on Tuesday, the state regulators had Lasix on their minds. But after lunch, the meeting turned to the model rules that had been proposed for 2011. 

Model Rule 5 proposed allowing horses to race without shoes. It has a proviso attached to it, however: a horse that runs in a race

Favorite Photo: Proof That Elephants Are Smarter Than Horses When It's Time for Hoofcare

Why won't a horse do this for its farrier? An elephant offers its foot to a handler for cleaning at Taronga Wesern Plains Zoo in Dubbo, New South Wales, Australia. Giraffes are also being taught to cooperate willingly for preventative footcare inspections and trimming at zoos around the world. The Hoof Blog has a series of zoo photos of hooved mammals being trimmed or treated that we'll be

Calgary Stampede: Steven Beane Three-peats as World Champion

Steven Beane of North Allerton in Yorkshire, England captured his third consecutive global title at the Calgary Stampede’s 32nd Annual World Championship Blacksmiths’ Competition on Sunday. Beane is the first competitor to win back-to-back-to-back world crowns at Calgary since Welshman Grant Moon snared his fifth straight WCBC title back in 1992.

And Beane’s competition in Sunday’s

Calgary Stampede: Farriers at the World Champion Blacksmiths Competition

They call it the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth. There's no event quite like Canada's Calgary Stampede, held each July in Calgary, Alberta. It's the world's biggest rodeo melded into the world's biggest country fair and a world cultural fair, to boot. You can learn a lot, or just have fun. It has to be one of the world's largest volunteer-run events of any kind. The World Championship

Calgary Stampede World Championship Blacksmiths: View the Live Video Feed on the Hoof Blog

(videostream disabled because event is over)
There is some sort of a scoring problem and, as of Saturday night, the top ten for the live shoeing had not been announced. The competitors don't even know how they're doing!
England's Steven Beane, World Champion of 2009 and 2010 was off to a good start, winning two of the first three classes and finishing second in the other, before the scoring

Shoes of the Stars: CHIO Aachen Creates a Walk Paved with History and Hoofwear

CHIO Aachen Show Director Frank Kemperman stands in the show's new starwalk
CHIO Aachen now has its own “Walk of Fame”. And just as the stars put their hand prints in the concrete on Hollywood Boulevard, it would have to be the horses who leave an imprint at CHIO Aachen, site of the World Equestrian Festival and what is widely regarded as the largest--and grandest--horse event in the world.

Olympic Test Event: London 2012 Will Bring a Country Sport to the City

Some images in this story are hosted from a remote site; please allow time for images to load.



London's preparing! The host city for the 2012 Olympics is running an equestrian "test event" over the inner-city park that will be home to all the equestrian events next summer during the Games. Photo by Ollie O'Brien.
The Olympics began this week in London. Not really, it was just the test event to

On the Case with Austin Edens: Engineering Prevention of Support Limb Laminitis with a Removable Clog Screwed to a Shoe

The plywood "clog" shoe used to treat laminitis can be a tool in itself or it can be a component of a limb extension and support package, as illustrated in this article about a removable clog used as part of a plan to prevent support limb laminitis. The system was designed by Texas farrier Austin Edens.

The Steward Clog was developed by Dr. Mike Steward in Shawnee, Oklahoma as an economical way

Laminitis Research: Australian Breakthrough on Insulin Function in Equine Foot

(Text published as provided)

Researchers funded by the US-based Animal Health Foundation announced June 15, 2011, that they have made a major breakthrough in understanding how the insulin form of laminitis occurs.

Drs. Melody de Laat and Chris Pollitt of the Australian Equine Laminitis Research Unit at the University of Queensland have discovered that receptors designed to receive