To honor their remarkable careers in hoof care, Virginia farrier, Paul Goodness, who passed away in 2020, and California-based equine veterinarian Babak Faramarzi were voted into the American Farriers Journal Halls of Fame.
Paul Goodness, chief of Farrier Services at Virginia Tech’s Equine Medical Center in Leesburg, Va., says there are many therapeutic farrier options that can be employed, as well as different types of shoes that might help if conformation of the hoof is not good.
Novice horse owners may not realize that older horses — and even some horses in their prime — often develop arthritis, or joint inflammation. Painful, stiff joints can be managed to keep most of these horses comfortable enough to continue performing.
Often a new client is a first-time horse owner and doesn’t know much about hoof care. By educating new owners more about hoof care, the farrier can encourage them to take an active role in the health of the horse’s feet.
With performance horses and racehorses, suspensory ligament injuries are often a significant cause of lameness. Most importantly, the constant stress placed on these ligaments after an injury occurs can be a major concern during the healing process.
Breakover. Enhancing breakover. Easing breakover. Changing breakover. It's one of the most frequently used terms in the farrier vocabulary. Everyone seems to have thoughts and opinions and - surprise, surprise - they often aren't the same.
Therapeutic shoeing has made great advances in the past few decades, partly because there’s more interest in this specialty, and also because of the development of better methods for dealing with therapeutic situations.
Therapeutic shoeing refers to the various ways and methods that can be utilized to help a hoof recover from a medical problem, injury or some kind of functional impairment.
The World Championship Blacksmiths group recently held their national finals in Wilcox, Ariz. Named as the national individual champion for the year was Travis Koons of Romoland, Calif.
Greg Martin, CJF, of Boerne, Texas, takes the unique approach of marketing his hoof-care practice with a Christmas parade float in Boerne and Comfort, Texas. The award-winning float boasts a variety of surprising features.
Life Data Labs Inc. is a dedicated product manufacturer committed to producing premium quality animal nutrition and health products through continuous product improvement and new product development. First-class ingredients, fresh products, consistent high quality and scientifically proven effectiveness are the principal features of Life Data Labs animal health products. And that's why they've produced the #1 recommended hoof supplement by farriers for 12 consecutive years.
Kawell develops and produces copper alloy horseshoes and inserts, giving horses the care that they need to fight issues associated with white line disease, seedy toe and thrush.
From the feed room to the tack room, SmartPak offers innovative solutions to help riders take great care of their horses. SmartPak was founded in 1999 with the introduction of the patented SmartPak™ supplement feeding system. The revolutionary, daily dose SmartPaks are custom-made for your horse, individually labeled and sealed for freshness.