Kentucky Derby 2012: Famous (and Fast) Thoroughbred Feet from Churchill Downs

The biggest day of the year is here. What's going on behind the scenes at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky? The Hoof Blog has assembled a gallery of images for you that you probably won't see anywhere else. Thanks to Dan Burke of Farrier Product Distribution for his shots of horses being shod this morning. Place your bets, sip your julip and take an intimate look at a few hooves!

Kentucky Oaks: Famous Fillies' Foot Fashions at Louisville's Churchill Downs

 For old times' sake: The Louisville Courier-Journal asked horseshoer Steve Norman 

what he thought about toe grabs a few years ago. This is what they heard.


It's Derby Week!  But before Churchill Downs rolls out the red-rose carpet for the Kentucky Derby, the track hosts the very special Oaks Day, an impressive card of stakes races topped by the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks.

The

Derby Day: Thoroughbreds Start Running Toward the Roses From the Day They Are Born--If They Can, That Is

The foals in this video from Juan Carlos Blazquez, farrier at the University of Madrid 

in Spain, may not be American Thoroughbreds but that hardly matters. "JC" is
someone who obviously enjoys the challenge of helping foals in need--and the reward 

they give him when they respond to treatment.


It happens every year: thousands of Thoroughbred colts and fillies hit the straw bedding of