Early American Hoof Boots: Lewis and Clark Needed Buffalo Hide Moccasins for Their Barefoot Horses in 1806

Once again, many trips to the library and late nights on the Internet yield evidence that ingenious and impromptu hoofcare--or perhaps untimely hoof problems--may have changed the course of history.

One of the most remarkable documents of American literature isn't anything like a Mark Twain novel or a Walt Whitman poem or an Arthur Miller play. It's the real thing, a day-by-day account of

Hallmarq Standing MRI and Chronic Equine Foot Lameness: What’s Going On Inside the Foot?

Sport horse lameness requires a diagnosis to pinpoint the injury site and a prognosis to predict when and if the horse might return to training. The veterinarian chooses from a set of alternative plans to gain recovery based on restricting the horse to stall rest, turning him out, or following a prescribed limited exercise program. The program is determined by the site of the injury and the

War Horse Hoofcare: Puncture Wounds Then and Now

While collecting photos of farriers during World War I, I passed over this photo several times without realizing how interesting it was. It took a magnifying glass to appreciate this one.

The sign reads, "'Kindness to animals, 500 horses lamed weekly by nails dropped on roads and horse lines by cookers carrying firewood with nails left in. Please remove nails."

As if the war horses didn't

Thanksgiving: Shoes for Turkeys? The Trot to Market Was Hard on Their Feet

Shoeing the Goose misericord carving photographed by Giles C. Watson

This blog post is an update on one of the most popular posts ever published on this blog. First published for Thanksgiving 2008, people from all over the world have remarked on this unusual bit of history, which is little known but can always fill in the gaps of a slow conversation with the relatives on a holiday afternoon.

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