The Annual Report: Wrapping up 2014 with a big blog bow

Happy New Year!

Last week, you read about the Hoof Blog's favorite stories based on numbers. Now, we’ll dissect the blog for you to highlight some stories you might like to bookmark or share, or maybe read for the first time, if you missed them.

Think of this as an index for future reference. You can refer back to it to find stories. Interspersed are some favorite images from the year, which

What You Like: Most Popular Hoof Blog Stories of 2014 Featured Clydesdales, Charley and Race/Show Horse Hooves

Some people watch parades and football games on New Year's Day. Not me, I want to crunch the numbers and see what stories resonated with readers over the year.

Today I found that there are definite trends in what brings large numbers of people to this blog, and that the way people read the blog has definitely evolved.




For 2014, one thing didn't change: people still love the

Hooves Get the White Glove Treatment from Best Shod Horse Judge at Burghley Horse Trials in England

Photo courtesy of Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials and Getty Images


You always hear about it, but rarely does anyone ever see it done. Sure, farriers get dressed up in suits and wear bowler hats and white gloves to inspect horse hooves. Sure they do.




"They" are the British farrier judges on the Worshipful Company of Farriers list who are trained in the fine art of recognizing the

Triple Crown Hindsight: California Chrome's Hoof Bulb Injury in Pictures

The dream is over, and that's horse racing. The champion is just a horse, after all. But a special one.
We don't know what California Chrome's excuse was for losing Saturday's Belmont Stakes--and with it, the much-anticipated Triple Crown. There's a list, but the one that probably interests you is the injury that probably occurred in the split second when the starting gate opened.

Up to that