Horse owners and farriers are very aware that poor fitting horseshoes can cause discomfort and lameness in horses. Unfortunately, many do not realize that poor fitting saddles can cause lameness, gait faults, shoeing problems and even personality problems. Ways to assure a reasonable saddle fit to prevent complications with your horse will be presented during the College of Veterinary Medicine's Equine Seminar Series, on Tuesday, September 21, from 6 to 7 p.m. via Zoom.
Steve Kraus is an American Farriers Association, Certified Journeyman Farrier who has been the head of Farrier Services and a Sr. Lecturer of Large Animal Surgery, at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, and the instructor of the Farrier School there since 2010. Prior to that, he worked for over 40 years in his own farrier business in Central New York. He is known for troubleshooting lame, injured and underperforming horses and has shod horses of practically every breed and discipline. He has lectured to farriers, veterinarians and horse owners all over the US, Canada, South America and Europe. He has been a featured speaker at the International Hoof Care Summit, Laminitis Conference, Equine Affaire and the American Farriers Association Convention. Steve has written many articles published in the American Farriers Journal, The Horse Journal and The Professional Farrier. In 2016, he was inducted into the International Farriers Hall of Fame.
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The Cornell Equine Seminar Series is presented by the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine's Equine Hospital, the New York State 4-H Horse Program and Cornell Cooperative Extension. Held monthly, equine experts present on important equine health and management topics. The event is free and open to the public. Register here.
The third annual Thoroughbred Aftercare Summit on Tuesday, Oct. 12 will kick off a week of Thoroughbred-centered activities at the Retired Racehorse Project's Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium, presented by Thoroughbred Charities of America. The Thoroughbred Aftercare Summit is the joint effort of the Retired Racehorse Project (RRP), Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA), The Jockey Club Thoroughbred Incentive Program (T.I.P.), and Thoroughbred Charities of America (TCA), and is a conference focused on education and networking among those with a professional interest in the retraining and rehoming of Thoroughbreds after racing.
The Thoroughbred Aftercare Summit will consist of four panel discussion sessions: “Proper Financials and Reporting;” “Best Practices for Rehabbing and Marketing Horses Retired Due to Injury;” “How the Pandemic Has Changed the Face of Fundraising;” and “Navigating Common Challenges Aftercare Organizations Face.” The panels and discussions offer opportunities for individuals and organizations to discuss and idea-share on challenges unique to Thoroughbred aftercare.
“Each year we work to curate session topics pertinent to those with a professional interest in aftercare, whether that be on the nonprofit side or in the private sector,” said RRP executive director Jen Roytz. “This year's lineup of topics and speakers is a reflection of the current challenges many organizations and individuals are facing and will hopefully offer solutions and opportunities for meaningful dialogue.”
Confirmed panelists include Dr. Stuart Brown, DVM, Vice President of Equine Safety at Keeneland; Anna Ford, program director at New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program; Karen Gustin, executive director of Kentucky Equine Adoption Center; Beverly Strauss, co-founder and executive director of MidAtlantic Horse Rescue; and Matt Thacker, Finance and Data Manager at TAA. Panelists will be updated at TBMakeover.org/aftercare-summit.
The conference is a collaboration of the four presenting organizations in an effort to bring together the Thoroughbred aftercare community in what is already the largest gathering of both individuals and organizations who have a vested interest in Thoroughbreds after their racing days are over.
“The pandemic continues to influence how aftercare operates and constantly presents new challenges to these organizations,” said TCA executive director Erin Crady. “The focus of this year's Summit is intended to help organizations face not only the normal challenges of aftercare but the unique tests of working and fundraising during a pandemic.”
“The TAA is thrilled to once again participate in the Aftercare Summit,” said TAA operations consultant Stacie Clark. “Our newly acquired Finance and Data Manager Matt Thacker has been invaluable to the TAA and we are eager for him to share his insights during the summit. The advancement of aftercare governance and financing protocols is instrumental to the success of our collective mission to facilitate Thoroughbreds retiring from racing.”
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Registration is required, which can be done online at the link on the TBMakeover.org/aftercare-summit. The cost to participate is $10 per person, which will be collected as a donation and awarded as a 50-50 to a randomly selected aftercare organization in attendance. Registration will also include access to the live stream of the conference via Zoom so attendees can participate from anywhere in the world.
The Thoroughbred Aftercare Summit will be held in the TCA Covered Arena Lounge at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky on Tuesday, October 12 from 1:00 to 4:00 PM. It is held in conjunction with the TCA Thoroughbred Makeover, a training competition for horses in their first year of retraining after retirement from racing. This year's edition also features competition for horses from the postponed 2020 event which have had up to two years of retraining, competing separately. Over 500 horses between both competition years are expected to attend and compete across ten disciplines, including barrel racing, competitive trail, dressage, eventing, field hunter, freestyle, polo, ranch work, show hunter and show jumper. The full schedule of events can be found at TBMakeover.org.
Though it's intuitive to think that cooler weather would slow the battle against flying insects, this isn't the case with wasps, reports EQUUS magazine. During spring months, wasps are focused on collecting protein-rich food for their larvae and don't spend much time bothering humans, unless their nest is in danger.
However, once the larvae mature in late summer or early fall, all the wasps begin seeking food solely for themselves – and the competition can get fierce. The wasps seek out sugary foods, and become more aggressive and resolute in their quest. Wasp stings to both horses and humans are more common in the fall.
If riders come upon aggressive wasps while trail riding, leaving the area as quickly as possible can minimize the stings. If the group is large, splitting into two groups, one that has passed the wasps and those not yet to the danger area. Horses that are stung tend to buck, so the possibility of being unseated and landing in the middle of the swarm is real.
Once all riders are safely away from the wasps, check over both horses and riders for stings. If a horse has been stung, he may have localized swelling at the site of the sting, and some may break out in hives. If hives appear, the horse's veterinarian may prescribe anti-inflammatories or steroids. Few horses develop systemic anaphylaxis to wasp venom, but if the stung horse is having trouble breathing, a call to the vet is in order.
Farriers practicing their craft on the racetrack backstretches of America — sometimes derogatorily termed “platers” — are often considered to be less effective than their sporthorse counterparts on the other side of the stable gate.
The reasons for this misconception are twofold, explained journeyman farrier Pat Broadus.
First, racehorses coming off the track are usually at the end of their shoeing cycle, or even overdue, so those individuals tasked with taking over the horses' care do not see the feet at their best. That image of long-toed, uneven hooves is then perceived to be the fault of the farrier at the track, when in reality the horses' feet may have simply overgrown the shoes due to the time it takes to find retiring racehorses a new home.
Second, the lack of a standardized test to acquire a racetrack farrier's license has been a growing problem for several decades. As it stands in most states, all it takes to be licensed to shoe racehorses is a currently licensed farrier to vouch for the newcomer. The pitfalls of this system are easy to see, with unqualified individuals able to acquire licenses and begin caring for racehorses' feet without the necessary education to do so safely and successfully.
Licensing for racetrack farriers hasn't always been that way.
The Journeyman Horseshoers Union, founded in 1874 as one of the oldest labor unions in the United States, initially helped farriers collaborate with the Teamsters, those driving teams of horses over long distances. The JHU developed tests for farriers, including forging custom shoes as well as exams on equine anatomy and physiology.
When the Teamsters switched from horsepower to engines, the JHU found a new home on the backstretch of the racetrack. In its heyday, the JHU required a five-year apprenticeship with a veteran racetrack farrier in order to be eligible to take the licensing exam.
The difficulty of the test and strict requirements of the JHU meant that racetrack farriers were considered to be at the very top of their profession from the 1940s through the 1960s.
By the 1970s however, the power of the JHU had started to decline as right-to-work laws began to grow in number. The apprenticeship requirement was decreased to three years, and continued complaining about the testing, as well as a lack of qualified examiners, eventually helped wipe out the exam altogether.
The American Farrier's Association, established in 1971, has since moved to the forefront of farriery qualifications. The AFA has developed four levels of testing for farriers, with “journeyman” the highest qualification, and in the minds of many, that has helped sporthorse farriers shift to the forefront as the “best” of their profession.
The most unique aspect of the AFA testing is the written portion of the exam, which tests a farrier's knowledge of anatomy, structure, how shoeing affects a horse's motion and stride, and different lameness issues.
“They're getting $350 to $400 to shoe show horses, so what's happened is the talent level at the racetrack has decreased,” explained Pat Broadus, who added that racetrack farriers may shoe horses for $200-$250 apiece. “The people that come out of school or have a lot of talent are drawn to show horses because they make more money. It's a better lifestyle with weekends off and you don't have to travel as much, so we're really losing a lot of talent in the younger people coming up.”
Since racetrack licensing boards do not require AFA certification for farriers seeking a license, and licensing is contingent upon the validation of other working farriers, it's been hard for racetracks to strike the right balance between ensuring a high level of competency, fulfilling the demand for horseshoers, and avoiding right-to-work lawsuits.
In 2016, The Jockey Club attempted to refine a standardized farrier's test that it hoped would be adopted nationwide, much like model rules for other aspects of racing. The standardized farrier's test was developed by the Shoeing & Hoof Care Committee of the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit, chaired by prominent owner Bill Casner.
However, debate amongst trainers and currently-licensed farriers about the test's format and who the examiners would be kept the project from getting off the ground.
“For the most part, racetrack shoers stay quiet and stay in the background,” explained Pat Broadus. “Most of these guys have businesses built, and they help bring somebody else along.
“Still, a lot of racetrackers were looking for something to validate themselves, to prove they could get things done on the big stage. It was up to them, because the test had been gone; you couldn't take a test and be validated anymore.”
Tired of hearing that racetrack farriers were not as good as their sporthorse counterparts, Broadus decided to pursue the AFA's top-level journeyman certification. In April of 2021 he became the first racetrack farrier to earn that distinction in nearly 40 years.
Eric Gillaland was the lead examiner for several parts of Broadus' testing.
“For him, coming from the racehorse background, is a little different from the majority of the AFA,” Gillaland said. “For the journeyman test, you have to make a bar shoe to fit a pattern. The first time he did it, he did it in aluminum, and we weren't sure about that. Everybody else does it in steel. But he did a beautiful job. He's talented enough that the second time, he just did it in steel.
“His method was also very different on his live horseshoeing. We use plain stamp shoes, which are definitely not a racehorse thing, because there's no traction at all in those. He made templates, then walked to the truck and didn't have to walk back and forth to the horse 10 times to see if it fit. Watching him go through stuff, the efficiency that he has, most of the racetrackers probably have to be efficient to get so many young, excitable horses done each day.”
Broadus has now inspired other racetrack farriers to pursue their AFA certifications, spending multiple hours of his own time each week helping them study.
“I was a farrier for 28 years before I took the test, and I'm a much better farrier now than I was then,” Broadus said. “But at the end of the day, it's not about me. I stepped up and did it first, but if no one else does it, it doesn't mean anything. That's the reason I'm so proud of these guys going up there; they're leading the way.”
Broadus' father, Sonny, was the president of the Arkansas branch of the JHU, and was an examiner for some of the final JHU exams given in that state.
“We had a lot more quality horseshoers back then,” Sonny Broadus said. “There was no such thing as a superstar. There were just craftsmen, and everybody kind of followed their lead.
“The trainers knew a lot more, too. Trainers would walk around the barn area while you were shoeing a horse. He might stand there for 30 minutes, talking to someone else while he watched you shoe a horse, and you might see him three or four times in a week. If he liked what he saw, he'd come back and ask you if you had room to add his horses to your schedule, and you'd work something out.”
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The elder Broadus is extremely proud of his son's passion to help improve not only his own craft, but that of those around him. He hopes Pat's dedication to continuing education helps show today's trainers the importance of testing farriers.
“Every trainer should want his farrier to at least be qualified, and that's what the journeyman's test with the JHU stood for,” said Sonny Broadus. “It told you he was qualified; he's not a genius, but he's not going to hurt you, either.”
Gillaland agreed that trainers should want their farriers to be able to pass the competency exam, but acknowledged that the AFA hasn't been as proactive as it could be about educating trainers and horse owners about the certification process.
“The AFA is an excellent organization, but the downfall is it's run by volunteer farriers, and the reason we get into this is we're hands-on people,” Gillaland said. “We're not sit-downers, so to do other stuff to promote the certification, it doesn't really fall into the realm of understanding.
“It really comes down to, I think, the majority of people are not that involved in certification because their owners don't ask for it. Whoever their farrier is, that's who they think is best.”
“If these trainers knew what was involved in studying for and taking the test, they'd start asking their farriers whether or not they were certified,” Gillaland summarized.
