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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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