March, 2003

(Please note that only the articles from the Newsletter are presented here.)

President's Letter

The dates for the AFA Pre-certification Clinic with Mitch Taylor are Wednesday and Thursday, April 9 - 10th. If interested in attending, please send check for $175.00 made out to the AFA to:
Mitch Taylor
Kentucky School of Horseshoeing
PO Box 120 Highway 53
Mt. Eden, KY 40046-0120
(859) 233-1924 work (502) 738-5258 home

If you haven't paid MEFA dues since the October MEFA Clinic/Contest, you annual dues are due. Please use the membership form to renew your dues.

Not much to report this month. I spent last weekend in Virginia at a benefit clinic for Tim Puckett. He is a horseshoer in the Staunton, VA area who lost his home to a fire the week before Christmas. Gene Levines was the clinician and they raised over $2000.00 to help Tim out. It was a well presented one-day clinic on general horseshoeing practices and over 30 people attended.

I will be at the AFA Convention in Salt Lake City from February 25-March 2 and will let you know how that goes in the next newsletter.

I hope everyone is well and look forward to seeing you at the Equine Affair in April. There will be a hammer-in Saturday, April 12 at my house for anyone interested.

- Steve

From a farriers perspective, with the kind of weather we are having lately I find it difficult to get out of my nice warm bed in the morning. So anytime I get the opportunity to sit in a nice warm classroom for a few days and listen to a good lecture I jump all over it.

January twenty fifth and twenty sixth Joanne Spoth organized a great clinic at the Buckeye Ranch Equestrian Therapy Center in Grove City Ohio. The speakers were Noel Muller DVM, Scott Wade DC, and Randy Luikart CJF. The topic was diagnosis and management of lower back, stifle and rear suspensory problems in the performance horse. Dr. Muller using a outstanding power point presentation covered signalment of hind leg considerations, lameness exams, anatomical limitations, and medical management of hind limb problems. Dr. Wade discussed spinal alignment, lumbar sacral blocking, problems resulting from muscle fatigue on joint function. He also discussed evaluation techniques from a chiropractic standpoint. Randy Luikart gave a good presentation on mechanical considerations for ground reaction failure as well as support failures of the hind limb.

The best thing about this clinic, other than being well organized, is the hands on evaluations and group discussions by the participants. It's one thing to discuss these techniques in a classroom, but demonstrating on horses is the best way of teaching them. Understanding these techniques can be a valuable tool in our everyday practice.

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