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Professional Farrier Organization Issues Warning To Horse
Owners
Strasser Hoof Trim Method Far Too Risky To Recommend,
Says Guild President Henry Heymering
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WASHINGTON DC-In response to an anti-traditional
hoofcare program advocated by German veterinarian Hiltrud Strasser, the Guild of
Professional Farriers, an organization of advanced-level professional full-time
farriers, is the first US horse health organization to caution horseowners about
this program for the well-being of their horses.
"Strasser hoofcare" is
currently being promoted in the United States and Canada through a network of
seminars and via Internet discussion groups.
Guild president Henry Heymering
issued a multiple-point statement in June outlining the potential dangers of the
Strasser program, which is built on a naturalistic approach to horse management,
but with unorthodox trimming of the feet.
Heymering was one of six
professional farriers and veterinarians selected to discuss her program with Dr.
Strasser at a formal presentation hosted by Tufts University College of
Veterinary Medicine in North Grafton, Massachusetts May 4-5, 2002. In
preparation for this, Heymering undertook a month-long investigation of the
Strasser system by reading her books, communicating with her followers, and
trying, in vain, to find sound useable horses that had benefited from her
methods. "I found some sound horses that were being trimmed with some of her
points selectively in mind," Heymering concluded, "I saw far more evidence of
failures than of successes."
The Strasser hoof trimming method has been
the subject of equine welfare warnings in Great Britain from organizations such
as the International League for the Protection of Horses, the Worshipful Company
of Farriers, the Farriers Registration Council, and the Laminitis Clinic. The
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals became involved in one
case where a horse was euthanized following unsuccessful trimming by a Strasser
follower.
Heymering agrees with several points of the Strasser program,
stating, "Barefoot is an ideal state for horses who can perform safely and
soundly without shoes. I also agree that maximum turnout time is desirable for
all horses. My disagreement with her method comes in the severity of the trim
and the radical intentional misaligning of the hoof capsule compared to current
professional farriery standards."
Heymering is most concerned that not
only may the extreme trimming technique be dangerous, but that it is made
considerably more dangerous when done by untrained owners or even
Strasser-certified trimmers, if they have less that three or four years of
experience applying the method.
The Guild president's assessment is
published in its entirety on the Internet. Anyone wishing to read the statement
may do so at the website www.horseshoes.com/theguild; click
on "press releases".
ABOUT HENRY
HEYMERING: Henry Heymering is a farrier with 29 years of experience trimming and
shoeing horses. He was the founder of the American Farriers Journal and is the
author of two books: On the Horse's Foot, a bibliography of farrier literature
from Roman times to the present, and Hoof Care for Horses. He attended Clark
University, is an American Farrier's Association certified journeyman farrier,
and also a Registered Master Farrier with the Guild of Professional Farriers.
Heymering has ridden horses for more than 40 years and currently rides and
trains horses in Frederick, Maryland, where he operates his full-time farrier
practice.
Article
Reprinted from equiworld Magazine www.equiworld.net
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Azteca Horse Registry of America, Inc.
January 2003