Donna Meyer, a veteran Illinois farrier helps spread hoof-care knowledge among young horse owners by coordinating a limb dissection program for 4-H Club members.

Sandy Kucharski described the most recent program in the February/March,  2005, issue of Sentinel, a Midwestern horse industry publication.

According to the article, Meyer has been offering the program for young horse folk for 20 years. In addition to her farrier background, she’s a 4-H volunteer herself and a coach in “Horse Bowl,” an organized team-quiz competition for 4-H members that’s held in many states.

This year’s clinic took place at Fox Valley Saddle Association in Hampshire, Ill., with more than a dozen attendees from three counties taking part. The dead limbs for dissection were donated by Cavel International, a DeKalb, Ill., slaughterhouse.

Meyer led the 4-H members through a dissection aimed at giving them a better understanding of the anatomy of the horse’s leg and hoof. Part of the presentation includes a “puppet game” that Meyer has developed which she uses to  demonstrate how tendons extend and contract to control hoof action.

This hands-on experience will not only help these 4-H members in their Horse Bowl competitions, but should go a long way toward teaching them the importance of good footcare. There’s nothing like getting the idea planted when an owner is young!

Indiana Farrier Passes On

Tim Byrne Sr., 54, past-president of the Indiana Farrier’s Association, passed away on March 26, from complications associated with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease.)

Byrne was also a U.S…