Continuing Professional Development.

Discussion in 'General Discussions' started by david a hall, Jul 21, 2013.

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    david a hall Moderator

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    Weather it is for exam revision or for personnel learning the ability to find answers and retain info is hard enough. Some of the members on here are familiar with the procedures for research and reviewing literature, it will come as no surprise to know that because it is on the web it’s not always going to be true, so just reading from one source and agreeing its contents is going to cause you problems.
    There are basic areas of anatomy that we ought and need to know, the more our understanding of the basic anatomy and its function the more we will improve in our basic shoeing and our ability to correct basic hoof conditions. If we don’t understand the basic functions of the foot and limb then deciding shoe selection or appropriate rational (deciding what to do) will be difficult.
    So back to basics of learning theory, I give my apprentices various exercises in learning, and use the same principles myself. Most good books are set out in order of learning for example Hickman’s ( I will add the correct title later) start with the bones of the limb and the anatomy of the hoof and move on in later chapters to describe basic hoof and limb conditions. Other books that fall into reference category will list conditions in chapters that relate to the area or type of disease, this will be tricky to understand if you haven’t learned the basics. So Hickman’s is ideal for most farriers to start with. Within a month of working for me then they will have to know the bones of the forelimb and hind limb. For someone new to the trade even this small degree of learning is tricky, but it sets the trend for the next 4 years.
    So how do we learn, I quickly realised if I adapted my usual lifestyle then it would be better than trying to change my lifestyle. I will explain that, my formula for study was to switch on the lap top and load up bike forums, farriers forums and or face book if you use it. I would then look on the hour to see if any thing had been updated and spend the remaining 50 mins studying.
    That seemed to work for me anyway and made study more of a pleasure.

    I will add to this thread and hope to give people the teaching and learning tips I have developed over 30 years.
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    Platerforge Guest

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    make sure it can be down loaded; so everyone can get a hard copy to read.(y)
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    david a hall Moderator

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    How to pass an exam.
    I bring this in now because it helps a little with those who are studying to pass one, I have seen bright and capable people fail because they didn’t know how it works and more importantly how they work.
    Both theory and practical exams have a few things in common, they are designed to find out what you know, where your practical skills are and most importantly they involve the clock.
    It is debatable if the clock is a good thing or not but its there in all exams. I have read the syllabus required for the American exams and it seams to be the same.
    Let me start with the practical exam and take the English diploma exam, the student has 2 hours to complete the exam, that is a critical factor, If you break the exam down into sections then you can plan to your strength and weaknesses.
    The exam consists of two shoes on the feet in two hours to a standard set by examiners. That doesn’t sound too complicated, but if you take it at face value you will only get half the picture. The exam usually consists of a front and hind shoe, one to be plain stamped or fullered and one to be concave, EG a ¾ fullered front shoe and a riding style concave hind, or a concave front with a plain stamped hind or a ¾ fullered etc, or any connotations of either.
    In this exam you will be marked on your trim, your shoe, your fit and your nailing and finish. Each section is divided up, for instance the trim is marked on medio lateral balance, posterior anterior, solar shape and outline, level and solar and frog trim, wall length and shape, each of these is marked out of ten and added together to make up a mark out of 60. The reason for pointing this out is it is easy to score marks on each section. If you have an atrophied frog don’t waste ages trimming it, save time and make a better job of the other components of this section.
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    david a hall Moderator

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    I am doing it in a doc so it can be emailed if need be.
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    david a hall Moderator

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    The whole exam is made up of individual marking points, if you focus on to small an area you risk not giving your self the required time in other areas. So when preparing for an exam you can use your everyday work to assist you. If you have a two hour exam then you can break it down into the different parts, the trim the shoe making and the nail and finish.
    The trim for me is where people waste the most time, from six months before an exam I get apprentices to trim two feet to the exam standard in 15 mins on one or two horses a day. They struggle with that to start with but very quickly manage to accomplish this task.
    The shoe making should take an hour with practice. At any point in the process I can tell how long the remainder of the shoe will take to complete.
    Nailing and finish should take fifteen mins for the two shoes and a lot less if I need to. That leaves half an hour to cut metal measure and file and all importantly to have time to fix things that go wrong, and they do!
    So how does this help, if you practice for a 2 hour exam and it takes you all of the 2 hours and more then you run the risk of running out of time (as I have done in the past) if when you are marking each of the tasks you consistently score 6’s then if you have a bad day you will fail, if you practice and score 7’s or above and have a bad day you will pass.

    While initially I aim this at an exam type scenario which of us if we scored our own work wouldn’t improve.
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    david a hall Moderator

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    I enjoy theory and anatomy so that makes it easy for me. However teaching it requires patience and understanding and quite often developing strategies for people to learn it. In the UK the apprentices get tested regularly at college on the theory of shoeing, and anatomy. Apprentices will fail the course if they fail the theory, doesn’t matter how good they are at bending metal.
    So it falls to the student to study and recall it when examined. There arnt many shortcuts to that, however if you just rely on reading text then that isn’t going to work. I personally read something, make note on it to recall key words. I then read it somewhere else and look for different points made between different authors and even read it in a third place. Then I draw it and label it and hope that leave some of the subject matter ingrained in your brain.



    Improving out anatomy will improve our ability to be a farrier, converse with clients, vets and fellow practitioners, but that is an easy thing to say, reading understanding and retaining the terminology isn’t that easy, we can go for months without having to think of a certain condition and then require too be an expert on the subject. Very few people I know are able to repeat the text book exactly to the letter when faced with a hoof condition but regular study does give you an ability to be well versed enough to decide a course of action based on the clinical signs in front of you.

    But there is a big difference between books and real life, there is no shame identifying a condition and going home and researching a subject and returning to the horse later.
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    chris bunting Well-Known Member

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    to all watching this thread , you are all in a very unique position to ask two men who I know have probably done more intensive theoretical and practical study than the rest of us put together , why have you all gone quiet ?
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    chris bunting Well-Known Member

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    i need a cup of tea tomorrow lunchtime , how yoy fixed Gary
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    david a hall Moderator

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    Here is a question I set an apprentice, he had to use 3 places of reference and the question was worth 20 marks. The numbers are how I marked it so he got 17 out of 20.

    2.) write an essay on side bone including a description of the condition, what are the clinical consequences for the affected horse and how can a farrier assist in treating it?



    Side bone is the ossification or calcification of the hoof cartilages1. The collateral cartilages are found on the medial and lateral aspect of the foot and can be palpitated just above the coronary band2. the hoof cartilages are act as important shock absorbers for the foot and allow the foot they allow the foot to deform during the weight bearing period and then allow the foot to return to its normal shape when not underweight bearing3 . When the cartilages have ossified the amount of shock the cartilages can absorb is massively reduced due to the loss of flection in them4. Side bone probably occurs as a result of increased loading or movement of the heels of the foot and may be natures attempt to strengthen the foot to carry loads better5. ( page 338 of the principals of farriery).side bone is believed to be hereditary and direct blow and concussion are accepted causes6. (Page 217 of Hickman’s). The sighs that the a horse may be suffering from a side bone are shoes being more warn on the side affected by the side bone from the quarter to the heel7. Side bone is more commonly found in front feet than hind feet due to the amount of weight bearing in the front limb8.



    Side bone can occur from many different things such as poor foot balance medial lateral balance being poor so the horse is weight bearing more on one side which is going to put a greater strain on the hoof cartilages. Poor limb conformation which put more strain on the hoof cartilages9. Direct trauma to the hoof cartilages may cause the cartilages to ossify10. Working horses on uneven ground or hard ground could also be a part in a side bone forming11. Lameness, primarily associated with side bone, is rarely seen and if lameness occurs it is usually caused by complicating features, e.g. when the ossification becomes advanced and the growing side bone press on adjacent sensitive hoof structures and deform the foot12. http://www.clydevetgroup.co.uk/

    Farriers can assist in treating side bone by correct foot dressing make sure that you have the foot medially and laterally balanced13. You would fit a wide webbed shoe to the foot to allow the foot to expand.14 You would not want to put nails any further back the widest point you could roll the toe of the shoe so that it helps the horse’s foot break over faster15. You fit a unilateral side bone shoe the affected foot which is a shoe that is thinned down on the affected branch to imitate the wear on the shoe and the branch also gets wider from the toe to the heel to support the hoof capsule16. And you would only place 2 nails at the toe. You would advise the owner to have the horse shod on a 5 week shoeing cycle17.
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    chris bunting Well-Known Member

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    how would a wide web shoe allow the foot to "expand"
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    david a hall Moderator

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    I'll dock him a point!!!!
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    chris bunting Well-Known Member

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    gary evans old and slow

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    Thanks David. That was a good refresher...
    Can we do ringbone next?
    :)
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    Shannon Eggel Member

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    Im new im asking WHY . What shoe would you use ? How would you Correct it if you were doing it ? thank you .
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    chris bunting Well-Known Member

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    i would use the exact same shoe as David says , my question was how would the wide web let the foot "expand "
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    david a hall Moderator

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    Shannon Chris is right it wouldnt. The reason for a wide webbed shoe would be to be able to put a more symmetrical shoe onto a distorted capsule. The hole in the middle of the shoe is smaller so contracted parts of the foot can sit on the inside of the web and the expanded side sits on the outside of web. Thus restoring some symmetry on the ground surface.
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    chris bunting Well-Known Member

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    cheers David , you are far more articulate than i could ever wish to be
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    david a hall Moderator

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    Garry why dont you do the ring bone for me. You have to get the info from three places and include twenty points or ten points with expanded knowledge around each point. :D
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    chris bunting Well-Known Member

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    i would like to say David that the reason only two nails are placed in the toe quarter of the sidebone shoe is that no pressure is placed upon the affected lateral cartiledge , a lot of shoes made and posted on the forum whilst being very well forged have little technical details wrong
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    Marc Jerram FdSc AWCF www.thefarrier.co.uk

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    Sorry guys just picked this up! When answering these questions its easier to break down into categories:

    Definition
    Clinical Symptoms
    Conformation deficiencies that are associated
    Causes
    Pathogenesis
    Veterinary diagnosis/treatment
    Farriery treatment
    Prognosis

    Answer those in that order for any pathology along with a couple of diagrams and you wont be far away from top marks

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