Equine Podiatry: Gaining a Foothold

The reason for this is that equine podiatry is still in its infancy, and while there are a lot of very intelligent people working to better understand the horse’s foot, it’s still a very complex structure with no real analogue in the human physique,
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All horses benefit when veterinarians, researchers, and farriers meet to share information and learn from each others’ experiences. One of these notable meetings is the annual Bluegrass Laminitis Symposium, hosted in Louisville, Ky., by Ric Redden, DVM, and his wife Nancy, of the International Equine Podiatry Center in Versailles, Ky. The Symposium is held specifically for those equine hoof care professionals who live to improve the care of normal and problem horses’ feet.

The field of equine hoof care, or podiatry, is one steeped in long tradition from its roots in coal forges and one-stop blacksmith shops, and it is also one that benefits greatly from the newest hoof and podiatry research. While it might seem that tradition (i.e., time-honored practices) and continuing education (i.e., the latest and greatest) don’t have a lot in common, the two combine quite smoothly in the Symposium. The continuing education comes from the recent experiences and findings of dedicated equine podiatrists related in lectures, discussions, and demonstrations; the tradition lies in the consistently top-notch, practical information presented and the camaraderie and open information sharing among repeat attendees.

Events like this are needed to further the field of equine podiatry. One common complaint about the field is that there are no hard and fast rules for what is best for a horse, or what to do in a crisis. The reason for this is that equine podiatry is still in its infancy, and while there are a lot of very intelligent people working to better understand the horse’s foot, it’s still a very complex structure with no real analogue in the human physique, making it harder for us to comprehend its workings.

Add that to the fact that managing the equine foot involves treatment that varies with the practitioner, since treatments are often mechanical in nature and subject to more variation than, say, injecting a certain dose of a medication. Thus, studying treatments in typical standardized studies is difficult at best

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Written by:

Christy West has a BS in Equine Science from the University of Kentucky, and an MS in Agricultural Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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