Out of necessity, cowboys became their own farriers in the American West, and they passed down their knowledge to the younger hands on the ranch. A dayworker could increase his pay substantially if he could shoe a few horses for the boss before the day was over. These days U.S. farrier schools are training farriers and social media has generated interest in a trade that goes along with a seemingly western way of life. The American horse culture is seen online in posts and streamed to every household by networks like EQUUSTV, and equine-loving YouTubers from seemingly every state, while reaching audiences of every age. Feed, supplements, grooming products, tack, equine sportswear, trucks, beer, and real estate promote with horses and sometimes farriers too. How often do you see a horseshoe in a logo or company/product branding campaign?

In racing, trainers choose their farrier in most cases. However, a skilled farrier may not be available or hard to find at some racetracks. If HISA requires that a specifically credentialed farrier must be hired for Thoroughbred racehorses, will this make hiring a farrier more difficult? Unintended consequences as they are, making it harder to find this HISA farrier is a very real possibility. Currently, there are fewer new farriers entering apprenticeships with racetrack farriers or coming out of farrier schools and looking to work at the racetrack.

Exercise‑induced pulmonary hemorrhage, EIPH or “bleeding”, has been recognized for centuries. The true cause of this disease was misunderstood until modern diagnostic tools revealed that bleeding actually comes from the lungs, not the nose. For much of its history, the condition was understood as the rare and dramatic episodes of nosebleeds (epistaxis) after intense work, and bleeding was seen as a one-off, colorful event in an otherwise healthy horse.

With the advent of the tools of endoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage (“lung wash”), it became clear that bleeding from the nose represents a relatively rare occurrence of a much more common lung condition. Today, EIPH is recognized as a widespread, seemingly silent feature of equine athletes, with studies finding it in up to 95% of Thoroughbred racehorses.

Injury is an unavoidable part of life and the ability to repair is one of the most vital characteristics of any living organism continually exposed to environmental harm. Regardless of the cause the body immediately attempts to restore tissue continuity.

Being prey animals as well as finely tuned athletes, Thoroughbreds can experience a wide range of injuries throughout their lives.The three main goals of healing are: to restore tissue continuity with the best possible quality of tissue, to do so in the shortest safest time and to prevent recurrence or breakdown of the repair.

The incidence of serious fractures in horses racing on the flat is low (around one case every one to two thousand starters); but when fractures occur the consequences are often severe for the horse and, sometimes, the jockey. Both the severity and the dramatic nature of these injuries cause a significant negative impact to everyone connected with the horse, as well as spectators. 

The International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) convened the Global Summit on Equine Safety and Technology at Woodbine Racecourse, Toronto, in June 2024, to focus on how current research into causes of racehorse fatalities on the course, including fractures, can be advanced and translated into action, to better understand the factors leading to fatalities and potentially mitigate them.

At the meeting there were two workshops where specialist veterinary clinicians, pathologists and researchers came together to focus on Exercise Associated Sudden Death incidents and fractures.

All horses are exposed to parasitic worms at some point in their lives. It is not possible to eradicate all worms from all horses, nor completely avoid the risk of worm-associated disease, so some level of parasite control is necessary in any environment where horses are kept.  

Traditionally, regular all-group wormer (anthelmintic) treatments were used to control these parasites, regardless of the management conditions. Increasing reports of wormer resistance over the last two decades [1] indicate this is no longer sustainable and will only act to worsen the situation, especially as no new wormers are coming to market any time soon. It is essential to take an approach that safeguards the effectiveness of anthelmintics.

As common equine worms are spread via grass (Fig. 1), and horses in training do not routinely graze for significant periods (so are at lower risk of infection), they represent ideal candidates for diagnostic-led programes.