Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Hoofcare at the Super Bowl: Have the Commercials Gone to the Dogs?


I have a feeling this will be my favorite commercial during the Super Bowl on Sunday. This is just a preview. Quigley is a French bulldog and he reminds me of an ad we ran in Hoofcare + Lameness years ago. Mustad's ad agency, Scott Inc. of Milwaukee, put red high-top Keds on a horse. It is possibly my all-time favorite hoof ad.

So far, I haven't seen any Super Bowl commercials with horses. But rumor is that the Budweiser Clydesdales are scheduled to have a brand new commercial, as has been the custom for many years.

If my sources are correct, this one from the Budweiser Super Bowl commercial archives should be a clue to what you'll see in the Clydesdale commercial this year:



Has the Super Bowl gone to the dogs? It seems like most of the ads either feature dogs or are about cars. Volkswagen probably wins there, by combining cars and dogs in the same commercials. They are sticking with the Star Wars theme introduced last year, but even the galactic empire has gone to the dogs this year.


Audi has a terrific spoof on vampires, which you might not get if you aren't a Twilight fan.  Do you have a favorite that you've seen previewed? Are you as interested in the commercials as you are in the game? Share your favorites!

 Watch a great preview of many of the Super Bowl commercials on Adweek's web site.

I'd like to see Quigley in the Budweiser hitch...photo links to Adweek Magazine.
© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use of content without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.  
Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Hoofcare University: Biomechanics of Racehorses' Lower Limbs and Track Surface Interface Video Lectures with the University of Guelph's Dr Jeff Thomason

Dr Jeff Thomason
Go get a cup of coffee or a sandwich or start popping the corn. Hoofcare + Lameness is happy to share a new video series with you from the University of Guelph's Jeff Thomason BA, MSc, PhD, professor of biomedical sciences at Guelph's Ontario Veterinary College.

Dr Thomason is widely known for his research, which currently looks both at the biomechanics of the horse's foot and distal limb as well as the mechanical properties of the track itself, and how they influence the function of the foot.

Recently, Dr. Thomas was part of a group of authors that created an extensive "white paper" reference document for the Grayson-Jockey Club Foundation's Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit on this type of dual research, which will ultimately benefit the safe travel of horses over optimal racing surfaces.

Plan to spend the next 15 (or so) minutes absorbing Dr. Thomason's lecture points, which have been broken down into bite-size videos.

Introduction:


How do you examine limb mechanics?


How do banked surfaces affect impact?


Can optimizing track surface reduce catastrophic injury:


Who will benefit from the racing surfaces 'white paper'?


What is the best track surface for racing?


How does climate affect track surfaces?


How does maintenance affect track surfaces?


To learn more:

Download the Grayson Jockey Club Foundation's Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit White Paper on Racing Surfaces, authored by Drs Mick Peterson, Lars Roepstorff, Jeff Thomason, Christie Mahaffey and Wayne McIlwraith.

Be sure to visit and subscribe to the University of Guelph's YouTube channel with complete "Report on Research" video series

The surest sign of an outstanding lecture is when you go back into the lecture hall half an hour later and the lecturer is still brainstorming with attendees and other speakers. Here's Dr Thomason two years ago at the University of Pennsylvania's  New Bolton Center farrier seminar. With him: Dr Bryan Fraley of Kentucky and farrier Jaye Perry of Georgia. (Hoofcare and Lameness fuzzy file photo)
Learn about web-based courses in equine anatomy taught by Dr Thomason

Read Mechanical Behavior and Quantitative Morphology of the Equine Laminar Junction by Dr. Thomason and researchers Heather McClinchy, Babak Faramarzi, and Jan Jofriet as published in Anatomical Record in 2005. (Free web paper)

Dr Lisa Lancaster, Michigan State University's Dr Robert Bowker and Hoofcare + Lameness teamed up to produce this award-winning anatomy chart. Order yours today!

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.  
Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal
Visit the Hoofcare + Lameness Facebook Page
 
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

War Horse Hoofcare: Learning to Shoe with the Old Guard


Who knew that the US military had a program to educate farriers? Private Lucau is one of two such lucky soldiers; he's learning farriery at the Old Guard unit (Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment, is also known as "The Old Guard").

The Old Guard Headquarters is located at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

The farrier candidates are hand-picked for the opportunity to learn to shoe. Their on-the-job training assists resident farrier Robert Brown with the 66 horses that need their hooves trimmed and their shoes re-applied. Wouldn't you love to have the contract that supplies borium to this forge! Do the shoes every wear out? Something I didn't know until today: you can adopt a war horse. The Old Guard's caisson horses need good homes when they're done with service. Giving one of them a good home for life seems like a noble thing to do.

Learn more: 
The Old Guard's militarystables.com website
Retired Old Guard farrier Pete Cote
Maj. Lisa Barden is the regimental veterinarian.
Susan Seligman explains how the Old Guard operates.
Darley Newman of the PBS television show Equitrekking visited the stables in 2010.

National Public Radio paid a visit to the stables and the farrier shop a few years ago.


Click on the image to see a larger image and easily place your order.



© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.  

Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal
Read this blog's headlines in your Facebook news feed when you "like" the Hoofcare + Lameness Facebook Page
 
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

War Horse Farrier: Lights, Camera, Hoofcare! Who Shod Joey?



Enjoy this Hoof Blog audio interview with War Horse location off-screen and on-screen 
farrier Brendan Murray, thanks to Samantha Clark and War Horse News. You might want to read 
the text before you watch the "video".

Napoleon once said that an army moves on its stomach. But the cavalry moves on its hooves, and it took an army of farriers--called "shoeing smiths" by the British military--to keep the horses moving in World War I.

But what about a film crew? And what about the production of Steven Spielberg's film War Horse in England in 2011?

Does Hollywood understand the role of the farrier in the big picture of horse moviemaking? Just try making a movie without one.

DreamWorks Pictures learned the importance of a farrier, especially when Roger, a plow-horse double for star horse Joey, kept stepping on (and thereby pulling off) his shoes in the furrow.

"Cut!" "Get the farrier up here!" "Where's the farrier?"

Stills from the farrier's forge scene are hard to find. Here you can see some horseshoes hanging on racks. It's interesting to note that there is very little mention of farriers in the original book except for Private Warren, a farrier apprentice who replaces Captain Nicholls in Joey's saddle. He's a bad rider which isn't good for a horse on a long march, but he takes very good care of him and knows more about horses than the others. The entire ending of the book features a veterinarian in a fantastic description of a horse hospital but the vet and all that went on in the hospital was deleted from the film. (DreamWorks photo)

In the case of this well-seasoned location farrier, he might have been in the makeup trailer, or having his apron smeared with mud to match the horse he'd be shoeing.

Or maybe he'd be explaining to the wardrobe mistress that split aprons designated an employee or apprentice farrier and that he'd prefer an unsplit master's apron with the customary fringed bottom to wipe the face of the anvil. He'd notice that she's taking notes for her next horse film.

You get the picture: not only did the farrier have to keep putting shoes back on in the midst of many shoots that were mired in mud, he had to step in front of the camera, too. Director Spielberg put location farrier Brendan Murray to work in the forge in the smoky shoeing scene; he and his apprentice are hard at work in the crucial background shots where Joey meets Topthorn while waiting to be shod.

You'll hear all about it in this interview with Great Britain's international eventing team farrier Brendan Murray, a seasoned veteran of both shoeing and riding for film productions!

Brendan was interviewed by Lexington, Kentucky's freelance equestrian media pro Samantha L. Clark of eventingnation.com and many other audio, video and web projects for the horse world.   

Brendan Murray
British eventing team farrier Brendan Murray "kitted out" for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. (Photo links to Brendan's Zimbio page)
About Brendan Murray 
Brendan has been associated as eventing team farrier with the British Equestrian Federation and Team GBR for many years. He has served at five Olympic Games, three World Equestrian Games, and many European championships. He was flag bearer for Great Britain and led his country into the arena in the opening ceremonies of the 2010 WEG in Kentucky, as chosen by the athletes.

Brendan is retired as a farrier in the British military's esteemed King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery; among his duties was serving as brakeman for the gun carriage loaded with the casket of Princess Diana at her funeral in 1997. Brendan's film on-screen credits include Gladiator, Robin Hood and 2012's Snow White and the Huntsman.

You might enjoy a video interview by Samantha Clark with Brendan at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky.


About Samantha Clark

Who is she? Then: eventer, NPR news anchor, and (most recently) co-host of the 2010 Radio Show about the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Now: armed with social media, camera, video and a smart phone, she knows no bounds. 


Samantha says of herself: "I'm thrilled to have my blog on EventingNation.com as an excuse to pursue an incurable curiosity about anything to do with horses (especially eventing), satisfy my wanderlust and aid in my determination to cling to my English roots. I'm often accompanied by two small children--sometimes helpful, sometimes a hindrance--and almost always by a beautiful, black Labrador who is perfect company!" 

Samantha's blog is a must-read on the web and she is equally a must-follow on Twitter: @samanthalclark for great horse tweets from Kentucky and the eventing world.

More about Samantha Clark



Story, video and audio © Hoofcare Publishing, all rights reserved. 
Still images in video © DreamWorks Pictures and Disney Studios.


© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.  
Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal
Read this blog's headlines in your Facebook news feed when you "like" the Hoofcare + Lameness Facebook Page
 
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Saturday, January 07, 2012

Inside the Thoroughbred Racehorse: Just Watch This!


Of course you have never taken the Thoroughbred athlete for granted, but after watching this 48-minute documentary, you'll be in even more awe of the complex biomechanics and physiology of the running Thoroughbred. Anyone who's squeamish in a dissection might want to skip over this, but you'll miss a lot!

This documentary, part of the multiple award-winning Inside Nature's Giants series broadcast on Britain's Channel 4 over the past three years, is hosted by veterinarian Mark Evans. Hoofcare + Lameness readers may recognize contributors Renate Weller and Alan Wilson, two leading veterinary researchers at the Royal Veterinary College in England.

Farrier Billy McQueen has a few minutes on screen.

There are several sections of the documentary that focus on the racehorse foot. This clip (below) details the function of the flexor tendons in moving the limb and hoof forward, not the anatomy of the foot itself, but it has some great animation and a startling demonstration by Alan Wilson and a scalpel.



You might not agree with the way that everything is presented on this video. Students of equine evolution may be surprised at the way presenter Richard Dawkins (6:06 in the full video) describes the progression of the hoof from multi- to single-toed (the way that everyone was taught in Pony Club). It must be easier to explain it to a television audience as if the horse just kept dropping toes to run more efficiently. Weightbearing theories that include the horse employing more than just the hoof wall are not mentioned, either. But the producers had the task of explaining a running horse in 48 minutes to a universal audience, so this is pretty general information in some parts.

You'll have to watch the entire documentary to see all the information on the foot. But it's all connected. Don't miss a minute of this documentary, even if you're sure you know it all. You just might see it presented in a new way.

Are you a professional who works with horses--a farrier, trimmer, veterinarian, vet tech, gait analyst, or bodyworker? Or an educator? This video is highly recommended to explain to anyone who doesn't "get it", why you do what you do: because the athletic horse is simply the most amazing creature on earth.

Note: the video team made a stop at the breeding barn at Coolmore Stud in Ireland, so if you are sensitive to what goes on there, or have children or students who might be, you might want to skip over that part.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.  
Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal
Read this blog's headlines in your Facebook news feed when you "like" the Hoofcare + Lameness Facebook Page
 
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Statistically Speaking: What Was the #1 Keyword on the Hoof Blog in 2011?

The most-used terms on The Hoof Blog; you should be able to double-click on the image to see a larger size  and read the small type. You might recognize a few words and names!

All the statistics in the world won't show what 2011 meant to The Hoof Blog. It was another great year, and I hope you were either along for the ride, or that you'll take the time to look back at some of the year's 172 stories.

The economy may be down but blog
readership is at an all-time high.
October and Decemeber 2011 were two of the highest visitor months ever in the history of the blog.

The Hoof Blog has grown in scope a bit--somewhat unintentionally. While this blog has always been a way for Hoofcare + Lameness to stay in touch with subscribers and supporters, some stories in this year's arsenal just wouldn't stay in the hoofcare world.

They went far and wide, and brought in a lot of new people who were interested in glue-on shoes for US racehorses, 3-D Italian roller motion shoes for dressage horses, historical insights to some of the hoofish customs displayed in the British Royal Wedding, and news about research and technical developments, particularly in the area of hoof function and barefoot trimming.

Gift-horses like assisting The New York Times with an article on glue-on shoes during the Triple Crown should not be looked in the mouth. The traffic that links like that one brought just kept coming--whoever those people were.

One article about Molly the Pony 
brought over 100,000 people 
to the Hoof Blog in 2008
If you're interested in what gets read on the Hoof Blog, this post is for you. If you're not, a new post will come along soon.

Of particular interest, besides the overall growth of the blog's visitor stats, was the list of most-read articles published in 2011.

The all-time leader is still the announcement of Molly the Pony, a book about an amputee pony who survived Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The post was published in April 2008 and someone (I still don't know whom--was it you?) forwarded the post. The email went viral, and over 100,000 people clicked into the blog.

Chaos ensued. Molly's post still garners a huge number of visitors every month, but taking Molly out of the mix, here are the runners-up.

Maybe Totilas beat Fuego in the World
Equestrian Games, but the Spanish
horse ruled on The Hoof Blog, thanks to
Hans Castilijn's intriguing shoes.
(Erin Ryder photo)
Top Hoof Blog Stories of 2011

1. Dressage, Fuego-Style: It's What's Underneath That...
2. Totilas: Heart Bar Shoes for the Dressage Champion...
3. Foot Photos: Totilas Used His Shoes at German Dres...
4. Why Is That Guy Following Prince William and Kate ...
5. Laminitis in a Moose? Vermont's "Pete the Moose"
6. Shackleford's Preakness is First Triple Crown Win ...
7. Polydactyl People and Ponies: A Gallery of Extra D...
8. British Racehorse's Story Touches a Nerve

These statistics are totals of visits by people who came to the Hoof Blog by following a specific link to a specific story. They did not type in the web address of the Blog or visit from a browser bookmark.

Most of these people were visiting only to read that one story and had little interest in hoofcare, but more in dressage, racing, the Royal Wedding or, in the case of polydactyl people and ponies, kinky anatomy.

Top referring outside web sites
1. Chronicle of the Horse (and its forum)
2. Equisearch and the AIM Equine Network of horse magazines
3. Eurodressage.com
4. Horse and Hound (Great Britain)
5. Eventing Nation


These web sites linked to specific stories on the Hoof Blog and brought in a lot of the casual one-time visitors who inflated the statistics for specific stories. These horse-related site links were unsolicited and completely voluntary. Links from farrier, veterinary and natural hoofcare sites also resulted in plenty of incoming traffic, but in smaller numbers than the large equestrian-related sites generate with a single mention. Many also came from Google (overall, the biggest source of traffic), Bing, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, although those referrals are calculated separately.

Top search keywords

After every possible spelling of Fran Jurga's name and "Hoof Blog" and "Hoofcare and Lameness"--there were some very creative misspellings of all--came some surprises.

Totilas and Fuego, the two dressage horses whose choice of hoofwear dominated the drop-in visits, were nowhere to be found.

The #1 horse searched for: Zenyatta. Back in January 2011, The Hoof Blog chronicled how the great American champion racehorse Zenyatta had been reunited with the horseshoer of her youth, John Collins, when she returned to Kentucky's Lane's End Farm to begin her life as a broodmare. People searched for anything and everything about Zenyatta and her hooves, and found a big archive of articles here.

Top 10 countries


Where in the world are you reading this?
1 United States
2 United Kingdom
3 Canada
4 Australia
5 Germany
6 Slovenia
7 Netherlands
8 France
9 Russia
10 Spain

This is quite a big change this year. Russia was never on the list before. It worries me that Japan is no longer on the list at all. I can't explain Slovenia but I think a good will tour there is in order. Bring on the Lipizzaners...

Browsers and Operating Systems

Internet Explorer is still the #1 browser used, but then it gets interesting. Explorer's share has dropped precipitously. It is followed by Firefox, Safari and Chrome.

Looking a little closer, iPads account for 4% of visits and 10% of visits to the Hoof Blog are on an iPhone, Android (catching up to iPhone!), Blackberry or Nokia mobile systems. Only 68% of visitors used Windows; 17% were on the Macintosh OS. There's also a loyal clan of Linux, iPod and Ubuntu users.

The Hoof Blog seems to be trending mobile...just like the rest of the world. I hope everyone knows that there is an iPhone app-type version of The Hoof Blog that works on all smart phones and displays the blog in a single narrow column. The icon shows up on your phone's desktop once you favorite it.

Top search people

Most searched for farrier: Rob Renirie
And two farriers' names were in the top ten: The leading search term was for Dutch farrier Rob Renirie, who has been featured many times on The Hoof Blog.

In 2011, however, the blog featured a little video of him shoeing the great dressage star Totilas, before the world champion was sold to Germany. People couldn't get enough of that video; it was part of the #2 most-read story of the year, about the switch to heart-bar shoes on the horse under his new flag--and, as a result, new farrier--in Germany.

Most immortal farier: Jack Miller
There was another farrier searched for in the top 10; perhaps our search box goes to another level in the spiritual realm. The Hoof Blog has published many obituaries but none come close--or show up in the search box--like the one for the late American farrier Jack Miller, who is still being searched for more than a year after his death. Jack Miller will live forever on the Hoof Blog.

Statistics are just statistics, in the end. What matters is that you keep reading and sharing and forwarding and emailing and tweeting and Facebooking the information that you find here.

The hoof world is changing around us, and you'll read about it through Hoofcare Publishing. Maybe The Hoof Blog can't always explain it, but we'll make sure you'll know about it, and you can decide what it means to you and what to do with or about a new development.

And as the statistics show, there's a good chance The Hoof Blog will report on that, too!

Click on the ad to order your copy of this award-winning educational reference poster!

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.  
Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal
Read this blog's headlines in your Facebook news feed when you "like" the Hoofcare + Lameness Facebook Page
 
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Monday, January 02, 2012

AAPF: Farrier Association Launches Along with the New Year




While you were watching the Times Square ball drop on television Saturday night, you could have been experiencing the launch of a new farrier association if you'd had your iPad on.

At midnight on the last day of the old year, someone somewhere flipped a switch and a new web site went live. Professionalfarriers.com snapped onto computer screens around the world.

Professionalfarriers.com is the home page for the new American Association of Professional Farriers (AAPF), an association that was "soft-launched" in December via a series of dramatic smoke-filled, drop-graphic videos on YouTube.

The message of the videos was that a new day in farriery was coming on January 1, 2012.

AAPF was launched on January 1 by ten well-known US and Canadian farriers, most of whom have been involved in governance and policy making in other farrier organizations. They see an opportunity to stimulate interest in continuing professional development for farriers by giving credentials that must eventually be maintained by proving attendance at farrier education events, albeit events created by other organizations and hosts.

The founding members and board of directors are:
  • Royden Bloom APF CJF (Drummond, Wisconsin) 
  • David Dawson APF (Uxbridge, Ontario)
  • David Farley APF CF (Coshocton, Ohio)
  • Jennifer Horn APF CJF (Dafter, Michigan)
  • Scott Lampert APF (Lake Elmo, Minnesota)
  • Bob Pethick APF CJF (Califon, New Jersey)
  • Steve Prescott APF CJF (Hardeeville, South Carolina)
  • Ed Reardon APF CJF (Lone Jack, Missouri)
  • Jeff Ridley APF CJF TE (Leighton, Iowa)
  • Doug Workman APF CJF (Cleveland, Georgia).
Officers are:
  • President - Jeff Ridley APF CJF TE 
  • Vice President - Dave Farley APF CF
  • Treasurer - Ed Reardon APF CJF
AAPF President Jeff Ridley of Iowa
Farriers and veterinarians who join may call themselves APFs: Accredited Professional Farriers. Membership costs $200 per year.

The mission statement on the association's by-laws states: The American Association of Professional Farriers will promote the integrity of the farrier industry by strengthening the knowledge and skills of its members through continuing education and support at the state, national and international levels while improving overall equine health through collaboration with other industry professionals.

Regular membership in the AAPF is open to any full-time or part-time farrier or veterinarian.

The AAPF hired Bryan Quinsey, former executive director of the American Farrier's Association, to serve as its first executive director. Most recently, Quinsey was a Customer Service and Marketing staff member at Farrier Product Distribution (FPD) in Shelbyville, Kentucky.  

The new association added ten new members--seven American, two Canadian and one German farrier--in its first two days of existence.  The early signups mean that the association begins with 11 regular life members, one associate life member, 66 regular members (now 76 with the additions in 2012), and one associate member, according to the web site.



© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.  
Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal
Read this blog's headlines in your Facebook news feed when you "like" the Hoofcare + Lameness Facebook Page
 
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Sunday, January 01, 2012

Happy New Year from the Hoof Blog!


Just a note, as they say, to wish everyone a happy, healthy and harmonious new year with many new adventures, accomplishments and alliances. The only way I can get my own attention is to attach sticky notes to the screens of my computers, so I'm speaking to you in official Hoofcare office language. 

Thank you all very much for all your kindness, friendship and support in what turned out to be a difficult 2011. 

What you're doing for and with horses will always amaze and inspire me enough to keep sticky notes on my computer screens, refrigerator door, car windshield and bathroom mirror forever. 

I'm sticking with you in 2012 and wishing you the very best that life can bring. Thanks for reading, thanks for being out there, thanks for moving forward and (most of all) thanks for letting me tag along.