Future research is more likely to find a pharmacological cure for systemic laminitis than for overload weight-bearing laminitis, maintains equine veterinarian Larry Bramlage. The surgeon with Rood and Riddle in Lexington, Ky., defines systemic laminitis as a disease process that liberates enough mediators within the body to trigger the separation of the hoof wall.

In recent weeks, we’ve received a number of e-mail messages concerning the Model Veterinary Practices Act draft proposal that is currently being updated by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) in Schaumburg, Ill. Public comments on the proposal were being accepted through March 15.

 Working with donors, Texas A&M University equine researcher David Hood is organizing the Hoof Project Foundation to concentrate on funding new opportunities for education, rehabilitation and research of the foot. 

ONE OF THE FARRIER INDUSTRY’S original nipper makers, Dale Everett Sprout, passed away on April 22. In 1960, he went to work with Adam Eckerich and George Earnest at G.E. Tools, building nippers.