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H & L Online News SPECIAL EDITION FOR HORSE OWNERS This informational e-letter is published and distributed periodically by Hoofcare Publishing, publishers of Hoofcare & Lameness, The Journal of Equine Foot Science, and the popular web site www.hoofcare.com IF you feel you were sent this newsletter in error, or if you are not interested in news about lameness problems in horses, please send a return email stating thus and your name will dutifully be deleted permanently from this list. My apologies for any inconvenience or intrusion this message may cause. In this issue: 1. News Items—Equine Sports Medicine Deluxe, Shoeless in Louisville, Nouveau Navicular, Fly Spray Warning, Tack Considerations, Black Walnut Alert, At the Movies, American Farriers Team 2. Continuing Education Opportunities—Cornell at Saratoga, Tufts Animal Expo, Rochester Equine Clinic Sports Medicine Seminar, IAATH Conference. 3. New Books—Physical Therapy by Denoix and Pailloux in a new edition! And lots more! Plus...web sites to visit and lots more! Should your horse be barefoot? What's the best way to transition a shod horse to barefoot? Hoofcare & Lameness Magazine's Summer Issue #75 features a guide to responsible barefoot transition for owners who want to work with their vets and farriers to continue the team approach to "sound shoelessness." (Owners may order a single issue for $15 or they are welcome to subscribe, too) I was fortunate to attend one day of a seminar with Dr Hiltrud Strasser of Germany this past week, and found that she has many great ideas in her barefoot program that might be adaptable for owners who can't undertake her rigorous natural-lifestyle requirements all at once. Several horse welfare and health organizations have recently published press releases on their positions relative to barefoot horse programs where the owners do their own hoofcare. Horse owners who want to jump on the barefoot bandwagon should read some of the pros and cons of radical barefoot therapy on our website's home page, www.hoofcare.com The "day spa" concept for sport horse therapy is taking off, with two new "clinics" opening here in New England. Hoofcare & Lameness visited the Equine Sports Therapy Clinic at Bear Spot Farm in Concord, MA last week and watched dressage horses shuttled between the dentist, saddle doctor, farrier, and veterinary acupuncturist. Therapist Holly McKellar wasn’t in, but she would have been right in the middle of things. I did get to visit with H&L subscribers Dr Mary Kahan, Tom Maker and John Blombach (Tom and John provide the on-site farrier care). Gary Severson (The Saddle Doctor) and Mark Perry, dentist, were hard at work. Director Jane Karol led a team consult and case review during lunch. These centers (others include Early Light Farm in Connecticut and Doug Hannum’s clinic in Pennsylvania) are a great resource for professionals when referring a problem case; the evaluation is led by the veterinarian, with the input of team of specialists, then any needed work is done on the horse, on site, with team members available for consultation. Owners bring their tack to see how it fits, the horse may be ridden, and a lot of attention is paid to the neck and back and mouth to determine their role in the horse's lameness. I was especially impressed by the involvement of the owners and the pros' willingness to discuss training problems as part of the overall picture of the horse’s soundness issues. SHOELESS IN LOUSVILLE: There were quite a few references to the shoe-free scene at Equitana USA in Kentucky two weeks ago. Several speeches centered on natural hoofcare, including farriers Gene Ovnicek and Keith LaPierre. I was interviewed for The Horse Show with Rick Lamb, a radio program, and was told ahead of time we’d discuss common summer hoof problems. Instead, the first question was "what’s this barefoot stuff all about?" NOUVEAU NAVICULAR: Shock wave therapy is gaining popularity this summer, as more and more vet clinics are purchasing the equipment and becoming trained in its uses. Of particular interest are using the waves for navicular pain, bucked shins, and splints. FLY SPRAY WARNING: Horse owners, please do not mix fly sprays, particularly when preparing a horse for a therapy or shoeing or veterinary care session. Some chemicals just don’t mix…and the fumes may cause a reaction in the horse, the handler, or the farrier/vet/therapist. A farrier friend was recently affected by such an incident; the hybrid mixture contained DMSO, making it all the more potent in penetrating his skin. TACK CONSIDERATIONS: Saddle-fitting continues to be a hot topic everywhere in the USA we travel. Dr Joyce Harman’s book ("Practical Saddle Fitting" features both English and Western tack) should be out soon, and she will hopefully have lots of new information to share. Joyce has a very interesting theory on what she calls Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, or RSD. She will be here in Boston next week doing a wet lab for the American Veterinary Medication Association. In the meantime, certainly saddles can be a problem, but how about improperly sized or fit training aids? As sales of draw and side reins skyrocketed, so did lameness associated with back and neck problems. Always check your training aids with a professional trainer, and understand that as the horse progresses through training, the topline and carriage changes that come with increased collection or getting off the forehand will necessitate constant adjustments in training gear. BLACK WALNUT ALERT: This may be another internet rumor, but apparently some farms in the Wisconsin area need to be concerned about black walnut trees that were inadvertently chipped into the shavings sold in that region. Black walnut is toxic to horses and a known cause of severe laminitis. Never order shavings from a sawmill that can’t verify its sources. AT THE MOVIES: Did everyone hear about the woman farrier/blacksmith character in the recent jousting-as-extreme-sport movie "A Knight’s Tale"? You’ve heard of chinks in armor…but how about seamless armor? Not since "The Search for El Dorado" and its horseshoe punch line have farriers had such a good reason to go to the movies! Watch for the DVD soon! (adjust volume of thundering hooves and rock music according to taste) LAMINITIS UPDATES: There's lots of new information in Hoofcare #75 about laminitis treatment and prevention. Some of the most interesting new information affects horses with low-grade chronic laminitis associated with obesity...sometimes called "Pre-Cushings" or "Easy Keeper Laminitis". Also, remember our advice about avoiding high-fructan concentrations when turning horses out for grazing at night instead of in the day hours, when fructan (starch) concentration is high. Also, if you must feed your laminitis-prone horse grain, check the starch content, and look for low-starch alternatives. Yeast or a commercial pro-biotic product (check catalogs like Chamisa Ridge to order) may help maintain a healthy gut that is challenged by high starch content of feed or green grass. 2. CONTINUING EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES Visit Hoofcare & Lameness’s mobile bookshop at the exciting "Cornell at Saratoga" veterinary conference held during the August race meet in Saratoga Springs, NY. Dates: August 13-15. Full programs on conformation and osteochondrosis. This is a wonderful educational event, see you there! Visit www.vet.cornell.edu/cornellatsaratoga. Rochester Equine Clinic in Rochester, NH is planning its third CAVM conference for late September 2001. Dr Judith Shoemaker will be among the speakers. For more details, email PAQEquine@aol.com. Hilary Clayton will present a full day of lectures on the biomechanics of dressage at the Tufts University College of Veterinary Medicine 2001 Tufts Animal Expo in Boston, October 10-13. Visit www.tuftsanimalexpo.com for details or call 1 800 642 9429. The 2001 IAATH conference for therapists is scheduled for November 1-4, 2001 in Portland, Oregon. Visit www.iaath.org for more details. Speakers will include Linda Tellington-Jones. Meet some of Hoofcare & Lameness's new advertisers: Coastal Bioresources, Ground Contact Horseshoes, Farriers Depot, MacKinnon First Ice, Cornell at Saratoga, Euro Farriers Conference, Epona Tech, Royer Biomedical; Welcome back to Equilox and Slypner! We have a landslide of new lameness products in our NEW MARKET section...Poor "Goldie", our four-hooved testing lab, is worn out from photo sessions, blinded by flashes, but still thinks it's easier being a model than a sport horse! What’s new inside the cover at Hoofcare & Lameness? Watch for an update on EPSM by Dr Beth Valentine….Issue 75, published this summer, contains a recap of research developments of the past year. …and it’s fully referenced, with web sites notated for further reading. Our new product news is overflowing! Check out all the new lameness therapy devices! To subscribe, visit www.hoofcare.com or send check/money order for $59 in the USA to Hoofcare, PO Box 6600, Gloucester MA 01930. Pssst! Want to try something neat? Do you have a PC (not a Mac)? With every book ordered in the month of July, Hoofcare & Lameness will send with it a free trial disk of the new Metron hoof-mapping software to plot changes in hoof angles, radiographs, hairlines, etc. The disk will work for 30 days from date of installation, then you'll need to register with the manufacturer and purchase the "real" program. Most horse people never know what it’s like to lie on the beach with a bestseller in July…we’re all too busy with horses! Forget Sue Grafton and Danielle Steele and Scott Turow, we have Denoix, Clayton, and Brennan! But books are important: They keep us up-to-date on new theories and techniques…reinforce (or challenge) our own theories and practices…and provide a handy, portable aid for client education. Some of the books we are featuring are not strictly lameness books; they cross over into therapy and nutrition…because lameness does too. With so many new products and ideas floating around our vet clinics and training stables, we all have to stay up to date on new paradigms for understanding lameness… Here are a few of the new ones currently being offered by Hoofcare & Lameness’s mail order book service; call today to order your summer reading! New Second Edition! Physical Therapy and Massage for the
Horse
The Equine Distal Limb
Complete Holistic Care and Healing for Horses:
The Organic Horse:
Natural Management of Horses Explained Founder: Prevention and Cure the Natural Way
Equine Locomotion The Horse’s Foot
And don’t forget the classics: Coming in any day:
Draft Horses: An Owner’s Manual Also (my favorite):
Barefoot Hearted
Coming in the (hopefully near) future: To order any book listed, simply fax or email your order with Visa/MC information or mail checks and money orders. Allow three weeks for delivery (though they usually don’t take that long). Books and videotapes are not returnable unless defective. Phone orders accepted most afternoons at 978 281 3222 or leave full order information on voice mail. Mailing address: Hoofcare Online Hoofcare Publishing PO Box 6600 Gloucester MA 01930 tel 978 281 3222 fax 978 283 8775 email webinquiry@hoofcare.com web site www.hoofcare.com Have time to do some web exploring? Check out these interesting sites: Are wild horses really all perfect examples of soundness? Well, no....A herd of feral horses in the Bahamas has a fascinating site of its own—and plenty of hoof problems, with photos: http://www.equiworld.net/uk/horsecare/Breeds/abaco/index.htm Some of the best horse health links on the web, especially for sites dedicated to laminitis, are collected at our friend Al Guden’s Dutch Warmblood site: www.hyperionfarm.com Visit Dr Hilary Clayton’s McPhail Equine Performance Center at Michigan State vet school; Hilary has just acquired three Andalusians in Spain and will be training them to pull the Spartan chariot at MSU football games this fall. That’s when she’s not teaching, doing research, traveling to lecture, writing her new book, or fundraising for her center. http://www.cvm.msu.edu/dressage/ Do you have suggestions for topics you’d like to see covered in these email editions? Send your ideas to: Fran@hoofcare.com Thanks to all our friends out there who share information with Hoofcare & Lameness and use our web site for research, and who refer friends to the web site for reading about lameness. Keep up the great work, everyone, in providing the best possible care for your horses. One of these summers, we’ll all get to the beach....but probably on horseback! Fran Jurga Publisher Hoofcare & Lameness Magazine Hoofcareonline@earthlink.net Hoofcare Online is a news service provided free of charge to the farrier profession by the publishers of Hoofcare & Lameness, The Journal of Equine Foot Science. For free signup to receive e-announcements of interest to farriers, please visit www.hoofcare.com To subscribe to the "real" printed journal Hoofcare & Lameness ($59 per year in USA), please use the secure server on the web site. All the best, © 2001 Hoofcare & Lameness |