 |
H
& L Online News
From: Hoofcare & Lameness Magazine Note: This newsletter is posted on the web site some time after it has been emailed to H&L's key list of veterinarians, farriers, therapists, and farm managers. If you would like to have these newsletters emailed to you (about once a month, sometimes twice a month), send an email to webinquiry@hoofcare.com and ask to have your address put on the newsletter email network. Contents of this newsletter
Hello, friends--Stop by the H&L booth when you are at the American Farrier's Association Convention (Albuquerque, New Mexico February 26-March 1) and say hello! We'll have news from online services and the Internet, and probably, like you, will be interested to meet some of the faces and personalities behind the screen names! We'll also have a "Sign In" book as we are collecting people's email addresses to expand the mailing list for these newsletters. So send your friends over! While you're at the booth, check out some of the great new reference books we have in stock now (or order yours NOW so we won't run out). Here's a sample of new titles: Navicular Syndrome in the Horse by David Ramey DVM (at $15 +$3 postage, this is a real bargain, plus it will give your clients plenty to read while you work on their horses) All About Laminitis by Karen Coumbe MRCVS (Another $15 bargain--great color photos of foundered horses and their feet, perfect client education aid, but British--we need an American book!) Sunday on the Farm by Bruce Daniels (ok so it's not new, but if you don't have a signed copy, we'll take care of that for you! A great present for a farrier friend who couldn't make the convention!) I spoke with Bruce today and he will be at the H&L booth to sign copies, probably on Thursday night. Don't miss it! Illustrated Atlas of Clinical Anatomy of the Horse's Musculoskeletal System by Rieger DVM (what a mouthful...but a great big all-color illustrated guide to every disorder of the foot and leg. Lies flat when open, vinyl-like cover,wipes off the dirt and sweat...$80 + $6 postage) And new videos by Roy Bloom and Dave Farley...."clinic on a cassette"...good quality information, no hype. They're about $30 each, and there are three in the set. Excellent for farrier groups and your own continuing education.
I'm sure there's lots more, but that's a start. The winter issue of H&L is almost done; we had to dedicate almost the entire issue to the goings on at the recent Bluegrass Laminitis Symposium. At last count, I had 45 photos that I "had" to include, so watch for a highly visual survey of foundered feet to arrive in your mailbox in March! Highlights of the laminitis treatments in the new issue: --nitroglycerine patches--"Advance cushion support" under heart bars for moldable frog support--hoof trimming with electric grinders--styrofoam foot platforms for foundered horses--screwing shoes on foundered horses--double nail pads for founder--toe-only hospital plates--Henry Heymering's rationale for the chondrocoronal ligament's role in weightbearing when p3 isn't doing the job--Dr Bill Moyer's comments on soft tissue injuries--Ric Redden on the four point trim--Dave Ferguson on coronary grooving....well, there's a lot more than that; call us today if you don't subscribe and we'll make sure you get the new issue! If you've worked on any foundered horses that were treated with the nitroglycerine patches, I'd be interested in interviewing you. I'm collecting comments for an article. Also, do you have any innovative uses for the newly popular Huf Grip pads, the "bubble rim" pads in plastic and rubber used to keep snow from balling up? Anything you like or dislike about these products? Please let me know.... Some people have called or emailed or faxed and asked about proposed legislation "against" farriers in some states. We have information on file from a gentleman who says he represents a group called Equine Consumer Ltd. in South Carolina. At this point they seem to be "testing the waters" and investigating public (i.e. horseowner) support for such proposals. No one knows where this will go; this is not the first such effort, nor will it be the last. What these tests are, however, are tremendous opportunities for national farrier groups to speak on behalf of their members and present the farrier profession in the best possible light, which often means explaining that shoeing horses IS a profession. Whether farrier groups are officially for or against regulating farriery on a state or national level, the farrier profession needs good public relations, good spokespeople, and lots of money to make their voices heard, because whether the effort fails or succeeds, it will have "exposed" farriery's weaknesses and strengths to many more people,and it will never be the same again. And, whether lots of independent farriers like it or not, one of the chief weaknesses may be that only a small percentage of farriers are represented by national or even state farrier groups. I fear that the public or governmental perception of farriery may be that it is a weak, disunited trade in need of "regulation"; those of us in it know that farriery is a profession with an incredible "organic" network from coast to coast and that the fierce independence that may be perceived as its weakness can also be its great strength. Furthermore, farriery is a key, vital service; without it, our domesticated show and race horses could not perform! Horse owners are acutely aware of that and can often be quite defensive on behalf of their farriers. The last time we had an issue like this was about ten years ago, when a company published articles and ads saying that farriers were obsolete, that horseshoe nails were killing horses, and that horses didn't really need shoes. Bruce Daniels was president of the AFA then and he and I organized a mass publicity campaign to every horse magazine in America establishing the position of the AFA on this issue, and pointing out the positive effects of regular farrier care. We called editors and talked to them; by the time we were done, they knew what the AFA was, what organized farriery could do, and where,when, and why Bruce had drawn the line on allowing others to badmouth our profession in front of our clients. Neither the AFA nor any other organization (that I know of) has done much since Bruce's initiative to reinforce how important a farrier is to a horse's overall health and care. We assume that people understand it, but sometimes we find out differently...when it's too late. In closing, a sad note: farrier Jack Reynolds of Missouri died recently. The dean of racetrack shoers in the east, Jack was a true gentleman and a master of the trade. He was honored by Ric Redden at a Laminitis Symposium a few years ago for his contribution to the industry (along with Jackie Thompson of Kentucky). Jack R. was a quarter crack expert and worked on the great Triple Crown winner Spectacular Bid, plus many, many more top stakes horses. He was a "flying farrier" when the rest of us were still in grade school. He was an inspiration to me; I still have the business card he gave me,and treasure the photos I took of him. It means so much to meet people, particularly those who have been in the business for so long and have such kind, generous natures, as Jack Reynolds did. Collecting memories of meeting people like that are a great investment in anyone's personal growth, no matter how old you are. The great thing about the farrier business has been that there is a true equality across the trade. You could walk up to somebody like Jack Reynolds (or the late JohnnyKriz, for that matter) and say, "I'm a horseshoer" and he'd hold out his hand in a second and say "Me too!" I hope it is always that way! Check out Delta Horseshoe Co.'s new site: http://www.DeltaHorseshoe.com For a little fun (and information) farriers should register on the Worldwide Farrier Directory. You can get to it from www.hoofcare.com's home page by clicking on "links" and then clicking on "farrier directory" at the top of the links page. Standardbred shoer Steve Rosen has created a combination scrapbook/directory where farriers from around the world sign in...and leave their mark! Curiously, a lot of horse owners are writing about their farriers on this site. Some of them are really touching to read. Anyway, you can ask to see all the farrier listings state by state, or country by country. I always ask to see the "world" and just scroll through them all to see who's added themselves since my last visit. Many have sent in photos or logos--this site is really fun! You can be in it too! And it's all horseshoers! And it's all FREE! (I love this stuff, can you tell?) If you have an America On Line account (I know, a sore subject right now!), check out the Dressage forum in the Grandstand area. To get there, you can use the keyword system, in Macintosh it is "command-K". Just type in "dressage" when the box appears. Once you are at the forum, click on message boards. There's a lot to read here. These people are really up on hoof stuff and the discussions are a little more advanced than on AOL's pet care horse board's farrier board....although the farriers there are really very knowledgable and patient with the less educated horse owners. Hats off to them! If you have to fly somewhere, you'll want to check out "Flifo" at the big "Yahoo" site. You can be your own travel agent! Go to http://www.yahoo.com. Scroll down to "travel" and click there. Then ask for itineraries/schedules. When they prompt you, all you do is type in the name of the city (and state) you want to fly out of and the city (and state) you want to fly into, the date and the time of day, and you get up to 10 alternative itineraries and routes on all the major airlines. You pick the one that suits your needs; (I always click on "choose on cost basis") and it will tell you what that flight costs, plus tell you which others are in the same price range. Then, if you want to book it, you can either print out the itinerary and call the airline (or your travel agent) or you can click right there and they send you the ticket and bill it to your credit card. This really saves time! I'm sure that there are other services like this on the 'Net but I rarely leave the horse pages so I'm new to this! That's it for now; if you like this newsletter, and want to send along ideas or encouragement, that would be wonderful. You have no idea how isolated it feels here sometimes... If you know any farriers, vets, or serious hoof fans who might enjoy receiving this newsletter, feel free to photocopy it or give me their email addresses and I'll send one along. This newsletter can also be printed out from www.hoofcare.com. However, the contents of this newsletter are strictly protected by international copyright law and this newsletter, nor any part of it, may not be reproduced by any mechanical or electronic means under any other title or by any other medium by any publisher in any format. (I mean it; all you have to do is ask.) All best wishes, (By the way, you can subscribe to Hoofcare & Lameness (the "real" print magazine) or renew your subscription by sending a check or money order for $50 in the USA ($55 Canada, $70 overseas) to: H&L Subscriptions, PO Box 6600, Gloucester, MA 01930 USA; fax credit card info to 508.283.8775. Note: Contents of this newsletter are for the personal use of recipients and may not be reproduced or distributed in any mechanical or electronic form without the express written consent of the publisher. Fran Jurga, Publisher © 1997
Hoofcare & Lameness |