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What is the new and exciting Equine Podiatry Education Foundation?
Richard A. Mansmann, VMD, PhD, hon. DACVIM-LA
February 17, 2019
California based Equine Podiatry Educational Foundation (EPEF) founders, Dr. Dave Jensen and farrier, Pete Healey have partnered with five experienced North Carolina practicing veterinarians interested in the total body of equine sports medicine. The published group of 7 are represented by 4 AVMA approved veterinary medical boards and successful regional riding competitors including a 2019 WEG participant. Each person is and have been active participants, promoters and organizers of equine sports medicine and podiatry professional level educational meetings for years.
The goal of this group is to advance the overall welfare of the horse by blending the current emphasis on highly individualized modern equine diagnostic imaging and treatments to data driven farriery, preventive and rehabilitation training and the role of rider contributions to horse health and welfare. In the current day of potentially every equine practice needing this expensive equipment, maybe the future emphasis should evolve to any equine caregiver in practice or at a teaching institute should be a skilled horse person who understands fully the benefit of data driven farriery, physical therapy and training connected to equine veterinary medicine.
All of this process to success could happen in a few ways:
- Develop an ongoing annual regional and potentially national professional sports medicine and rehabilitation meeting. The meeting would generate its own sponsors to fund the meeting and be an international marketing tool for the EPEF. With the partnering of the above 7 this already exists with the 3rd Annual meeting being June 29 & 30, 2019 in Chapel Hill/Pittsboro, North Carolina. The 4th annual meeting will be held in 2020 in central California.
- Encouragement of other established equine health published caregivers to help develop an oversight committee(s) within the EPEF for grant review and distribution and other creative educational ideas. Their goal would be to encourage private and corporate donors to be involved with the EPEF. The EPEF already has its first corporate donor, Soft Ride, Inc who has been a supporter of this equine health philosophy since the company’s inception.
- Develop an active donor base that would help fund the initial granting ideas as well as needed infrastructure to make a strong, growing EPEF. Some ideas could be:
- A part time Executive Director to oversee timely responses to inquiries, list manage, and web site development.
- Small prize monies like $1000 that could be given to various state-wide high school science fairs to equine oriented student projects that would encourage young horse skilled individuals to horse caregiver sciences. This would be another way to market the EPEF and its goals.
- Small seed grants of $10 to $20,000 given to reviewed potential researcher projects to fund data collection with possibly DVM/VMD, farrier or PT student assistants and/or use of a professional grant or paper writer.
Please help support the Equine Podiatry Education Foundation with your tax-deductible donation.
Your Horses Feet Blog
By: Pete Healey
Pete Healey learned how to shoe from his uncle Bill Wallace, ranch foreman for Vail and Vickers on Santa Rosa Island. In 1979 at age 17 Pete went to work cowboying on the Island full time. The next nine years were spent on the Island and a mainland ranch. During this time Pete spent two years studying Animal Science at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo where he rode colts, shod horses and day worked. Pete started his shoeing in 1988 in Santa Barbara. Pete and his wife Karen have lived in the Santa Ynez Valley with their son, Charlie.
Pete has worked as a farrier for Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center in Los Olivos, California since 2001. Balanced Break-Over Management is an accumulation of what Pete has learned from other farriers and his experience at the clinic. Pete is constantly studying the equine foot as well as consulting professionals in the industry to improve his knowledge.