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ON THE (Dressage) CASE: Euro Rock ‘n Roll Horseshoe Evolves with Vet-Farrier Collaboration, California Style

Just As Successful Dressage Illustrates Synergy Between Horse and Rider, 

Successful Dressage Hoofcare Illustrates Synergy Between Vet and Farrier 
by Fran Jurga

Background: The Hoof Blog took a long look at the Euro “rock n roll” shoe this fall, with photos of the great Spanish PRE grand prix dressage horse Fuego, who wears them when he competes against the likes of Totilas and Parzival.

On The Road (Again) to the Breeders Cup: Champion Goldikova Arrives at Churchill Downs for Racing’s Biggest Test

The European horses have arrived at Churchill Downs for Friday and Saturday’s exciting Breeders Cup races. This little video shows you the convoy of horse vans bringing them to the track, and the grand dame herself, France’s Goldikova, stepping lightly onto the ramp and being settled in her stall. The post position draw puts Goldikova in the number-one inside stall in the starting gate for Saturday’s Breeders Cup Mile, which she will attempt to win for a record fourth consecutive time.

Both Hands on the Reins: Futility of Whipping Racehorses Wins Research Prize for University of Sydney Research McGreevy

For research underpinning the humane treatment of horses in sport, and the whipping of racehorses by jockeys during Thoroughbred races in particular, Professor Paul McGreevy and his team at the University of Sydney Faculty of Veterinary Science received the Australian Museum’s 2011 Eureka Prize for Scientific Research that Contributes to Animal Protection.

Riders Revealed: Big Hearts Exposed 365 Days a Year as Eventers Help a Friend’s Effort to Walk Again–And You Can Help, Too!

Eventers from around the world will launch a calendar fundraiser at the 2011 Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials. The goal? This project is specifically planned to raise money to get Claire Lomas, an event rider who was paralyzed from the chest down in a competition injury in 2007, walking again. The funds will help purchase her a Re-Walk Suit, an exoskeleton device designed for spinal cord injury patients. Lomas convinced 33 luminaries of the equestrian world to bare their chests, including Mary King, Geoff Billington, Mark Todd, Piggy French and Blyth Tait. Order at www.ridersrevealed.co.uk.

London Calling: A Neighborhood Native’s Insider View of the Olympic Equestrian Facilities in His Park

Journalist Darryl Chamberlain visited the site of the equestrian events for the 2012 Olympic Games, in London’s Greenwich Park, just before the start of the July 2011 Greenwich Park Eventing Invitational, or London 2012 Equestrian “Test Event” and provided the Jurga Report with a series of photos and details about the stables and arena.

Washington State University Vet School Hospital Closed by EHV Virus Related to Cutting Horse Show in Utah

The Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington is closed and has been placed under a voluntary quarantine following the admission of a cutting horse that had been at an event in Utah last weekend. Upon examination, the horse was found to be shedding Equine Herpes Virus Type 1, a highly contagious disease. One horse’s death in Colorado last week was directly attributed to the disease. Horses in other states are being tested.

EHV Linked to Cutting Horse Event, Multiple Western US States Alerted for Disease After Two Horses Euthanized

Horse deaths this week in California and Colorado have been linked to suspected exposure to the neurologic form of Equine Herpes Virus at a cutting horse event over Mother’s Day weekend in Utah. Animal health officials in at least three states are investigating, and cutting horse owners and trainers throughout the Western USA have been asked to monitor their horses’ temperatures and look for signs of the disease.

Second New Jersey Horse Farm Quarantined as Part of Equine Herpes Virus Investigation

A second farm in Colts Neck, New Jersey has been quarantined by state officials as part of an effort to protect horses in the state from an outbreak of the neurological form of Equine Herpes Virus, Type One.

All Clear! Quarantine Lifted at Cornell Vet School’s Equine Hospital

Two weeks ago, this blog reported the closure of the Equine Hospital at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, New York after a foal died and later tested positive for Equine Herpes Virus. A gelding at the hospital also became ill.

Cornell voluntarily closed its hospital doors on March 30 and worked with animal health authorities from the State of New York to

Kentucky Racetracks Implementing Equine Piroplasmosis Testing January 1

Say “equine piroplasmosis” to a horse owner and trainer and what response will you get back? “That’s a warm weather disease, right?” “Ticks.” “Isn’t it from South America or the Caribbean or Mexico or someplace like that?” “It’s usually in the Southwest, right?” “That disease affects Spanish-type horses, and Quarter horses, I think?”

Welcome to five of the most common preconceptions about the

No "Big Event" to Lure Euro Dressage Stars to Florida in 2011? World Dressage Masters Hints at a Plan B

In my dreams? I thought I might see the Spanish superstar of WEG,  Fuego XII,  this winter at the World Dressage Masters in Florida. Is there hope? This stunning image of Fuego XII is being sold online as a greeting card by the publishers of Stephen Clarke’s book, Dressage Dreams. I vote for a poster. Or a mural.

If you’re like me, your heart sank this morning when you saw the news that the

Rex Peterson’s White Thoroughbred Dream Comes True in Kentucky: Hollywood Horse Trainer’s Rare Racehorse Bound for Potential Stardom

Rex Peterson’s name needs no introduction to horse movie fans. The trainer has been behind the scenes on many of the great horse movies we all know and love. Most recently, he worked on
Secretariat for Disney. Many of us are old enough to remember that he worked on Robert Redford’s The Horse Whisperer,too, back when Scarlett Johansson was cast as a pre-teen girl and dressed in bib overalls.

Vascular Plastination Casts of Equine Feet Ready for Shipping from Hoofcare Publishing

A plastinated “corrosion cast” of the blood supply in a horse’s foot is created from the foot of a cadaver. Plastic is injected into the veins and, after removing the hoof capsule and processing away any non-vascular tissue, what is left is virtually a three-dimensional venogram. Hoofcare and Lameness is offering several of these for sale on a special order basis beginning on November 26, 2010.

Thoroughbred Stakes Winner Sweetnorthernsaint Can Give Thanks This Thanksgiving

Didn’t Black Beauty end this way? Stakes-winning speedster gelding Sweetnorthernsaint may have been trucked off the racetrack, but the destination was not an auction pen. He found a new home at Maryland’s Black Fox Farm, where he’ll be trained to follow the Iron Bridge Hounds.

Racing fans will remember Sweetnorthernsaint. He was the unsuccessful favorite in the 2006 Kentucky Derby, left in the

EHV in New York: State Health Official Confirms Disease Diagnosed at Racetrack

Late Tuesday afternoon, officials in New York State confirmed by phone that a stable at Finger Lakes Racetrack in the western part of the state has been placed under quarantine after a horse that had been stabled there was diagnosed with Equine Herpes virus.

Dr. David Smith, director of the Division of Animal Industry of the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets said that the

Edward Gal Tells German Press He’d Change Nations to Ride Totilas Again

World Champion dressage rider Edward Gal of The Netherlands rode his 11-year-old mare Sisther de Jeu to third place finishes in the grand prix and grand prix special at the 26th German Masters at Stuttgart, Germany this weekend.  He is shown here in the Grand Prix Special earlier today. Photo: ©Uwe Anspach, used with permission, licensed to Fran Jurga.

Two German sports media are

India Equestrian Team’s Horses Denied Entry to China for Asian Games

photo © 2010 U.S. Department of Agriculture | more info (via: Wylio)

When it comes to the international transport of horses, you’d better read the fine print.

And then you’d better read it again. And have everyone in a position to second-guess you read it, too.

And do this long before the event.

Just ask the Indian Equestrian Team. They watched the Asian Games on television at home this

Can You Explain the World War I Veteran’s Hand-Forged, Mysterious Monument to His Military Service?

How did a veteran commemorate his service after the war was over? Surviving World War I was not easy and one can only imagine the emotions that the troops felt when they returned home. I’ve written a lot about farriers who served in World War I and how they took care of the horses, but I honestly don’t know much about what happened when they returned home to their families and forges.

This

Can You Name Five Breeders Cup Champions Who Died Because of Laminitis? Can You Name Ten?

Video produced by StudioTEN Creative Group; Producer, Eileen Matthewsfor the 5th International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot.
Narrated by Glenn Close (who also lost a horse to laminitis)
It’s Breeders Cup weekend and Hoofcare Publishing hopes you are enjoying the spectacle at Churchill Downs, as the world’s best racehorses compete for fame and glory and riches

Landslide Victory for HRH Princess Haya; Current President Re-elected to Lead FEI

HRH Princess Haya was re-elected President of the FEI today with a strong show of support.
(The following text is a press release and is not an original article written by The Jurga Report)
HRH Princess Haya Al Hussein (JOR) was today re-elected as President of the FEI at the Federation’s General Assembly in Taipei in a landslide victory in the first round of voting. Princess Haya, who was