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American Farriers Journal

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December 2020

Volume: 46
Edition: 8

American Farriers Journal is the “hands-on” magazine for professional farriers, equine veterinarians and horse care product and service buyers.

  • Table Of Contents

    Table Of Contents

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    Briefings: December 2020

    December 1, 2020 | Posted in Business Practices, Disciplines & Breeds
    Get Your Affairs in Order Regardless of your age or financial circumstances, everyone needs an estate plan. Dera L. Johnsen-Tracy, an estate planning attorney and co-founder of Horn & Johnsen SC in Madison, Wis., recommends that farriers having at least the following basic estate planning documents in place:
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    What's This? A Cool Discovery

    December 1, 2020 | Posted in Education
    Contributions Do you have a shoe or tool you would like to share or want more information about? Submit photos of your item as well as its history and how it was used to Kristen Kubisiak at kkubisiak@lessitermedia.com
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    Enhance Healing by Understanding the Mechanical Thought Process in Equine Podiatry

    Enhance healing by understanding the influences of trimming and shoeing for therapeutic purposes
    By Raul Bras posted on December 2, 2020 | Posted in Therapeutic Shoeing
    Foot-related lameness is one of the most frequently encountered problems in the equine industry. Therapeutic shoeing is a frequently-used preventative discipline for the treatment of many causes of lameness.1-3 The primary goal for therapeutic applications is to offset the mechanical limitations of the foot and enhance the healing environment.
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    Upper Body Straightness is Key to Jumper Success

    Wisconsin farrier relies on rockers and a two-plane approach to trim
    December 2, 2020 | Posted in Clients, Disciplines & Breeds, Equipment, Shoeing, Trimming
    What they can’t buy, talented farriers can custom build at the forge and anvil, or create from their own ingenuity using modern materials. As a result, it is tempting to look to shoes as the be-all-end-all answer to hoof-care problems. Blanchardville, Wis., farrier Martin Roche prefers to look to the horse.
    Read More
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    Suturing a Toe Crack After an Abscess

    Helping a horse with a severe toe crack relies on weighing decisions throughout the process
    By Jeremy McGovern posted on December 3, 2020 | Posted in Therapeutic Shoeing
    Every case presents farriers with variables that influence the decision on trimming and shoeing a horse. The impact of these factors are weighed, some more influential than others. Ignoring any of these may result in the failure of an otherwise reasonable decision.
    Read More
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    Farrier Influence on Movement has Show Ring Implications

    Farrier and competition judge explains the role of trim and shoe selection on performance outcomes for hunters and jumpers
    By Dean Moshier posted on December 3, 2020 | Posted in Disciplines & Breeds
    When providing hoof care for hunters and jumpers, a farrier is focused on the fundamentals of improving performance — but how does our work positively or negatively affect our clients’ chances in the show ring? I have been shoeing horses for more than 30 years, but I’ve also spent some time as a show judge. In that role, I’ve learned how the decisions we make as farriers can influence scores, what judges are looking for and what we can do to help our clients experience show ring success.
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    Industry on the March

    AFJ’s inception helped expand continuing education opportunities
    December 4, 2020
    Communication and interaction among farriers were foreign concepts when Henry Heymering mailed the first issue of American Farriers Journal in March 1975, which follows in the ensuing pages.
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    Tips for Identifying and Managing Compassion Fatigue

    Emotional highs and lows of caring for clients’ horses can take a toll
    By Katie Navarra posted on December 4, 2020 | Posted in Safety & Healthcare
    Missouri farrier Sydney Kotow remembers that one horse, that one case, above all others. Early in Kotow’s career, she was asked to work on Flash, a foundered horse. Kotow also holds a Bachelor of Science in equine nutrition and remembers thinking that through her nutrition and farrier expertise she could save the horse, or at least make it more comfortable.
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    Mail-In Exercise Going Ahead To Challenge You

    December 5, 2020 | Posted in Forging
    Although the International Hoof-Care will be virtual this year, the 2021 Summit Mail-In Forging Exercise is still here to challenge your skills and you have more time to enter. International Horseshoeing Hall of Fame farrier Craig Trnka of Edgewood, N.M., brings back concave for 2021 with the diamond toe hind shoe. This is a beneficial shoe for a horse that might grab a shoe on the diagonal, without taking foot length.
    Read More
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    Equine Reciprocating Systems

    Hoof Trim has Varied Effects on the Equine Forelimb

    Demonstrations and real-life examples challenge farriers to think about their approach to solving foot problems
    By Deb Bennett posted on December 5, 2020 | Posted in Anatomy, Education, Lamenesses, Shoeing, Therapeutic Shoeing, Trimming
    Throughout this series, I have illustrated the concept of systems anatomy. Veterinary education and that of traditional farriers are based on regional anatomy, which studies regions and the anatomical components of each. The perspective of systems anatomy is that bodies are organized hierarchically, i.e. building up from small functional units (for example, cells or single tissues) to subsystems (for example, organs), which work together to make up a major system such as the nervous, circulatory or musculoskeletal system.
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    Book Review

    The Farrier

    By Simon Curtis
    By Frank Lessiter posted on December 5, 2020
    In the 350 pages in his latest book, British farrier Simon Curtis offers you the opportunity to travel along as he spends a day or two with 60 farriers working in 21 countries around the world.
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    Research Journal: December 2020

    The information, ideas and opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the United States Department of Agriculture.
    By Albert Kane posted on December 6, 2020 | Posted in Business Practices, Clients, Disciplines & Breeds, Diseases, Lamenesses, Nutrition, Trimming
    Horseshoes and Heel Contraction Although there is little hard evidence to support the belief, horseshoes have long been implicated as a cause of contracted heels in horses. For this reason, researchers in Poland conducted a cross-sectional survey measuring the frogs of 114 horses in 22 stables and compared the results between shod and unshod horses.
    Read More
  • Featured Articles

    Featured Articles

    Open_Roche.jpg

    Upper Body Straightness is Key to Jumper Success

    Wisconsin farrier relies on rockers and a two-plane approach to trim
    December 2, 2020 | Posted in Clients, Disciplines & Breeds, Equipment, Shoeing, Trimming
    What they can’t buy, talented farriers can custom build at the forge and anvil, or create from their own ingenuity using modern materials. As a result, it is tempting to look to shoes as the be-all-end-all answer to hoof-care problems. Blanchardville, Wis., farrier Martin Roche prefers to look to the horse.
    Read More
    2049__SONY_VA_PA_CT_NY_JM_0920.jpg

    Suturing a Toe Crack After an Abscess

    Helping a horse with a severe toe crack relies on weighing decisions throughout the process
    By Jeremy McGovern posted on December 3, 2020 | Posted in Therapeutic Shoeing
    Every case presents farriers with variables that influence the decision on trimming and shoeing a horse. The impact of these factors are weighed, some more influential than others. Ignoring any of these may result in the failure of an otherwise reasonable decision.
    Read More
  • Digital Edition

    Digital Edition

  • Online Extras

    Online Extras

    Online Extras: December 2020

    December 12, 2020

    Web-exclusive content for this issue includes:

    • Shoeing the Upper Body Wisconsin farrier Martin Roche shares his shoeing philosophy and tips for talking about sedation with clients.
    • Clinic Highlights See hoof-care highlights from the September clinic held at Northeast Farrier Supply in Winstead, Conn.
    • How to Approach the Hind Feet Ohio farrier Kirk Underschultz demonstrates how he gets into the hind driving position in this video.
    • Review the Entire Series Deb Bennett, PhD, discusses the equine forelimb in this 9-part series

    Read More

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