Eliminating Severe Foot Pain Reduces Sedation Needs

A review of the records of 11 mature horses suffering from mild to moderate chronic lameness who initially needed sedation to control uncooperative or unsafe behavior around the farrier showed this concern could be improved. An analysis of data from the North Carolina State University equine podiatry and rehabilitation service by veterinarian Richard Mansmann indicated lameness issues improved with corrective trimming and shoeing. “The need for sedation stopped because therapeutic shoeing resolved the painful feet issues,” he says.

Fuel Price Concerns Growing Among Farriers

The ever-rising price of gasoline and diesel fuel was on the minds of numerous attendees during the early March American Farrier’s Association annual convention in Lexington, Ky. A number of farriers that American Farriers Journal editors talked with said $5 per gallon fuel would change the way they handle their work.

While Phil Fisher of Hastings, Neb., works out of his own farrier shop at a veterinary clinic, he’s concerned clients may not be willing to spend more dollars on fuel. “Some clients haul their horses 2 hours one-way for me to work on them,” he says. “If they have to make a 150-mile roundtrip and gas is $5 per gallon and they’re only getting 12 miles to the gallon pulling a trailer, that amounts to over $60 in fuel costs to make the trip.”

Human Bone Treatment May Work With Navicular Disease

Using core compression, a commonly used treatment to deal with human osteonercrosis (bone death caused by…