BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Strasser, H.: "Gesunde Hufe ohne Beschlag."  Beate Danker Verlag, Friedberg, 1989

2. Strasser, H.: "Huforthopaedie - heilen ohne Beschlag."  Beate danker Verlag, Friedberg, 1992

3. Strasser, H. : "Die praktische Arbeit am unbeschlagenen Huf."  Beate danker Verlag, Friedberg, 1996

4. Strasser, H.: "Neu Aspecte zur Strahlbeinlahmheit." In "Tieraerztliche Umschau" 8/96, pg..478ff

5. Strasser, H.: "Neue Aspekte zur Entstehung von Laminitis bei Pferden unterschiedlicher Rassen." In "Tieraerztliche Umschau" 4/97, pg.190ff

6. Strasser, H and Kells, S.: "A Lifetime of Soundness: The Keys to Optimal Horse Health, Lameness Rehabilitation, and the High-Performance Barefoot Horse."  Third Edition (Revised).  Self-published, Sabine Kells, Qualicum Beach, BC, Canada, 1998

7. Strasser, H.: "Shoeing: A Necessary Evil?" Ed. & Trans. Sabine Kells, Self-published, Sabine Kells, Qualicum Beach, BC, Canada, 2000

OPINION:

I have been a veterinarian for nearly 50 years and am still active with research projects in my own field.  By way of establishing my credentials for putting forward this nomination, I attach a copy of my CV.  Briefly, I am an equine ear, nose and throat surgeon.  I have been on the faculty of veterinary schools in England, Kenya and the USA for most of my career.  I was in horse practice for the first several years and taught 'lameness in the horse' when at the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine.  More recently, at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, I held a dual appointment as Professor of Surgery and Professor of Anatomy.  In my anatomist's role, I took a special interest in demonstrating the complex anatomy of the horse's hoof.

I have long been puzzled by many contradictions and uncertainties in our traditional understanding of the horse's hoof.  The irrefutable answers to these puzzles were made abundantly clear to me when I read the two books cited above6,7.  Dr, Strasser has done the veterinary profession and all horse owners a great service by drawing our attention to ten centuries of error on the part of man in our dealings with the horse.  She is to be warmly commended for her major contribution to the horse's welfare, and for solving many serious problems.  The treatment and prevention of many diseases of the horse's hoof have, for too long, been poorly understood and inadequately managed.  Her achievement is the more remarkable in that she has satisfactorily explained the cause of two particularly intractable diseases, navicular disease and laminitis, both of which have been the bane of the horse for centuries.  Because their cause has not until now been correctly understood, treatment of these diseases has defied the best efforts of experienced clinicians throughout the world.  Yet using Strasser's recommendations, these diseases can be prevented, and even advanced cases of 'incurable' navicular disease and laminitis can be cured.  Strasser's therapeutic approach to these challenging cases has been tested and found successful not only by her, but also by others, an important criterion by which any new methods have to be judged.  The total number of horses with both these diseases that have been successfully treated in Europe and North America already runs into the thousands.

I am of the opinion that the two books she has already written are destined to become classics.  They should be in every horseman's library and should be required reading for any veterinary student who aspires to become an equine practitioner.  It would be no more than appropriate that Strasser should be acknowledged not only for her original research but also for the very considerable efforts she has already made to share her research findings with colleagues in the profession and with horse owners world-wide. 

200 years ago, Bracy Clark, an early graduate of the Royal Veterinary College, London, came to very similar conclusions with regard to shoeing that Hiltrud Strasser has arrived at more recently and, incidentally, quite independently.  Having already published her results, it came as something of a shock when she discovered that Bracy Clark had pre-dated many of her findings.  Greatly to Strasser's credit and her sense of professional integrity, she has added a generous appendix on Clark's work to subsequent editions of her first book.  This degree of honesty provides the reader with the reward of being able to see the way in which two original thinkers have both arrived at the same conclusions, each from slightly different routes.

Sadly, Clark's work, even though based on an excellent scientific approach, was received with mulish resistance, violent opposition and an unpleasant mixture of aggression born of ignorance and vested interest.  His peers conspired to suppress his findings by a process of ridicule and misrepresentation.  To his dismay, the institution that raised the greatest obstacle to the general acknowledgement and diffusion of his research was, in his own words, 'that very school (the Royal Veterinary College) founded for promoting horse knowledge'.  That his own veterinary colleagues should become his 'greatest persecutors was not to be believed'.  But what hurt him most, even after 20 years of labor, was that they condemned him 'unheard, and without examination'.  Persons in authority, who should have known better, 'thought they had their accounts from one who had read'. 

Thanks to a further 20 years of labor by Dr. Hiltrud Strasser, the veterinary profession is now being given a second chance.  Veterinary historians in the future will not judge us kindly if we repeat the same mistake as our predecessors and fail to recognize the value and significance of this work.  New ideas can be painful to man but we should be prepared to examine the evidence that Strasser submits with an open mind and serious attention. 

The American Farrier's Journal is to be congratulated on their initiative in establishing a Hall of Fame specifically 'to recognize veterinarians who have contributed to knowledge (with regard to) proper hoof care for horses'.  This provides a tailor-made opportunity to set the record straight and to immeasurably improve the welfare of the horse.  If we fail to acknowledge Strasser's achievement and do not make use of her work, the horse will continue to suffer.  And we, the farriers and the veterinary profession, will not only be the losers but we will be seen to have failed in our duty to do everything in our power to improve the welfare of the horse.  The horse has already waited 200 years for this advance in knowledge to be implemented.  Let it not be said that our generation has been responsible for yet further delay.

I urge every member of the nomination committee not to condemn Dr. Strasser 'unheard' but to read both of her excellent books before they vote.   Actually, all I need do is to recommend that members read the opening page of either one.  For I am confident if they do that they will not be able to stop reading.  Their duty to promote the relief of suffering in horses by honoring an outstanding veterinarian will be self-evident.

Signed:
Robert Cook

Dear Colleagues, 

Dr. Hiltrud Strasser of T?ingen, Germany has studied the horse's hoof for the last twenty years. Through her clinical work and publications she has demonstrated that the horseshoe is an unnecessary evil. Prior to July of this year, I had known of this research through her two remarkable books, published in English (Strasser and Kells, 1998, Strasser, 1999). These alone were sufficient to convince me that her work represented a major contribution to equine welfare and veterinary medicine. Accordingly, I had no hesitation in nominating her, last year, to the American Farrier's Journal, 'International Veterinarian's Hall of Fame.' 

However, as Ernst Mach observed in 1897, "no one disturbs his fellow men with a new view unpunished." By and large, the veterinary profession appears not to have noticed her work, judging by the lack of citations in podiatric papers. Nevertheless, this very paucity of comment actually tells us something important. Had her revolutionary findings been false, there is little doubt that one or more authors would by now have published a refutation. Yet no such publication has appeared. An inability to falsify a hypothesis constitutes powerful evidence in favor of its validity. 

During July 2001, Strasser gave a series of seminars in North America, at sites from Ontario to Florida. Having now had an opportunity to meet Strasser and audit one day of her three-day seminars in Pennsylvania, I am more convinced than ever that her outstanding research merits the most careful attention by all equine veterinarians. 

As there is considerable misunderstanding of her work and objectives, I would like to provide a description of the seminar I witnessed. The seminar was fully subscribed and attended by one veterinarian, several farriers and about 30 horse owners. The participants were well-informed, intelligent, caring people, and their open-mindedness was refreshing. 

The first day of the three-day seminar comprised a lecture format. In this time, Strasser covered the anatomical fundamentals and physiological requirements of the horse's hoof. She also explained why these requirements were transgressed by shoeing and by traditional styles of horse management. I did not hear these lectures, but, having studied her books, I am sure that she emphasized the needs of a horse for the herd, and the needs of its feet for movement, moisture and a terrain appropriate to the breed. 

The second day, which was the day I audited, consisted of lectures, demonstrations and a practical session. The morning session was a lecture format, in which Strasser covered the basics of a physiological hoof trim. Her approach followed an anatomical progression and differed from that which is taught in conventional farrier's courses. In addition, she outlined what occurs during the transitional and rehabilitation period of the lame or shod horse that is to become a high-performance barefoot horse. The lectures were followed, after a short lunch break, by a commentary on some videotapes. Using a cadaver specimen, Strasser then gave a practical demonstration of trimming. Her preference during these introductory-level seminars is to demonstrate on a normal hoof. However, this was not possible and the reason provided a stark reminder of the currently unacceptable standard of hoof care. In preparation for the course, 140 cadaver legs (from 35 horses) had been collected from a slaughterhouse. From this extensive collection, Strasser was unable to find a normal hoof! As a result she had to start by giving a critique of the deformed hoof she was about to work on. I found this to be quite fascinating and, for me, a particularly interesting part of the demonstration. Finally, the participants gained hands-on practice, trimming cadaver hooves under supervision. 

The third day consisted of continued practice in the trimming of cadaver hooves, together with a trimming demonstration on a live horse (the horse was owned by the attending veterinarian and volunteered by her for this purpose). It was explained in the course brochure "Horse owners who have made the necessary prior arrangements may trim their own horses in the afternoon under the supervision of a Certified Strasser Hoof Care Specialist." However, Strasser did not undertake to diagnose or treat lame horses, and, throughout the clinic, she constantly referred participants to their veterinarians over such matters. In spite of some unfamiliarity with the language, Strasser was an effective, credible, and confident lecturer. She spoke quietly and handled probing questions with ease and pleasantness. There was no defensiveness in her answers. She simply explained the basic science that supported her reasoning and drew effectively on her extensive knowledge and practical experience. 

I came away with a much better understanding of Strasser's logical approach to trimming and of the sound criteria on which this approach was based. It was a red-letter day for me and I only wished that I had had access to this information 50 years ago. The spirit of Bracy Clark, a veterinarian who had tried to tell his colleagues some of these same truths 200 years ago, was alive and well in Hiltrud Strasser! I was proud to claim Clark as an alumnus of my own school, the Royal Veterinary College, London. But I was also rather ashamed that my school had failed to give him the support he deserved and had even tried to suppress his findings. As human nature has not changed in the last two centuries, I fear that the veterinary profession may fail, once again, to take advantage of the second chance that Strasser is now offering. In fact, her work does not threaten anyone. It provides equine practitioners with valuable solutions to previously intractable problems and it actually increases the amount of work for farriers.

 Strasser's message, in essence, is disarmingly simple. First, keep the horse in an environment that bears a similarity to its natural environment (something that is within the capability of most horse keepers today and should be as obligatory as the provision of food and water). Secondly, allow the foot to be the shape and consistency that nature intended. The first requirement means that a horse must not be confined to a stall for 23 hours out of 24 each day. The second requires that millions of years of hoof evolution should be allowed to do the job it has evolved to do. At the risk of oversimplification, the message is "no shoe, no stall, and no stagnation." 

Currently, horse owners are showing a greater readiness to study and adopt Strasser's recommendations on hoof care than either veterinarians or farriers. Because of this, both veterinarians and farriers may soon find themselves in the embarrassing situation of being faced with owners who have a better understanding of the truth about the hoof than they do. Unfortunately, this could lead to veterinarians becoming increasingly sidelined on the topic of hoof care. Nevertheless, the present position is that most owners would still much prefer that veterinarians advised them on the Strasser principles relating, for example, to the treatment of navicular disease and laminitis. But if they are unable to find veterinarians who have made themselves familiar with these principles, they will undoubtedly seek advice from the increasing numbers of Strasser certified hoof care specialists. Similarly, most owners of young, unshod horses with healthy hooves would also much prefer that farriers carried out the Strasser trim for them. But if they are unable to locate a farrier who has studied this work and can apply its principles, responsible owners are sufficiently motivated to seek the help of Strasser-certified hoof care specialists or even to learn how to do it for themselves. For the good of the horse it is vital that members of faculty at veterinary schools worldwide should become familiar with this evolution of knowledge. If veterinary students currently being trained are not introduced to these new concepts they will, in my opinion, have legitimate reasons for complaining about the quality of their instruction in this section of the curriculum. 

Further information about Strasser's work and the barefoot movement in general is now available on an increasing number of websites. Before long there will be an official Strasser website at http://www.strasserhoofcare.com and also a comprehensive veterinary textbook authored by Hiltrud Strasser and Sabine Kells. In the meantime, websites that present and discuss her work include but are not limited to: 
http://www.hufklinik.de
http://www.thehorseshoof.com http://members.screenz.com/gretchenfathauer http://www.ibem.org.uk 
http://www.TribeEquus.com http://www.unitedhorsemanship.com

If one considers the history of the horse since its domestication about five or six thousand years ago, the horseshoe can be classified as a relatively recent invention. It is only within the last 1000 years that it has come to be believed that shoes are necessary 'to protect the hoof.' Yet, the horses of the Greek and Roman armies were barefoot, as were the cavalry of the Mongolian horsemen and all domestic horses since the 4th Century BC. 

Strasser has shown us that shoes do not protect the hoof. On the contrary, their effect is quite the reverse. Shoes are a primary cause of reduced performance, much incurable lameness and a shortened lifespan. It is a matter for rejoicing that we can at last correct this long-standing error in horse management and eliminate the suffering and wastage we have caused by nailing iron clamps on the toenails of our one-toed grazers. A good hypothesis is a bold hypothesis, as the bolder it is the more vulnerable to falsification. Strasser's hypothesis that shoes are harmful to the health of the horse is, undeniably, a bold hypothesis. She has had the courage to question 1000 years of accepted methodology and put forward a better alternative. Furthermore, as a scientist with integrity, having advanced such a scandalous idea, she has been the first to try and validate it. With this in mind, she has tested the hypothesis on many types of horses, over a long period of years, and under a wide variety of conditions. The hypothesis has withstood her own attempts to falsify it, for the results have satisfied not only her, but also countless numbers of horse owners. In accordance with the rules of science she has also taken pains to publish the protocols of her experiment and even to train others, so that they can repeat the experiment and test it for themselves. Once again, when others carry out the experiment based on her hypothesis, it withstands the acid test of repeatability, as similar results can be achieved. It is my belief that Strasser's work has already met the most stringent criteria of science and that the next step is up to us, her colleagues in the veterinary profession. The least we can do is to study her work, to listen and learn. It is my sincere hope that Dr. Hiltrud Strasser will soon be deluged with invitations to speak at equine veterinary conferences around the world.

 W.Robert Cook FRCVS., PhD.
Professor of Surgery Emeritus 
Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine 
200 Westborough Road North Grafton, MA 01536 USA [Contact address: 206, Birch Run Road, Chestertown, MD 21620 USA.] 
Tel: (410) 778 9005 E-mail: drwrcook@aol.com 

References: 

STRASSER, H and KELLS, S (1998) "A Lifetime of Soundness." Sabine Kells, PO Box 44, Qualicum Beach, BC Canada V9K 1S7 

STRASSER, H and KELLS, S (1999) "Shoeing: A necessary Evil?" Sabine Kells, PO Box 44, Qualicum Beach, BC Canada V9K 1S7 

To purchase, contact editor@thehorseshoof.com  

"The Hoofcare Specialist's Handbook: Hoof Orthopedics and Holistic Lameness Rehabilitation." 

Curriculum vitae available at www.bitlessbridle.com 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Strasser, H.: "Gesunde Hufe ohne Beschlag."  Beate Danker Verlag, Friedberg, 1989

2. Strasser, H.: "Huforthopaedie - heilen ohne Beschlag."  Beate danker Verlag, Friedberg, 1992

3. Strasser, H. : "Die praktische Arbeit am unbeschlagenen Huf."  Beate danker Verlag, Friedberg, 1996

4. Strasser, H.: "Neu Aspecte zur Strahlbeinlahmheit." In "Tieraerztliche Umschau" 8/96, pg..478ff

5. Strasser, H.: "Neue Aspekte zur Entstehung von Laminitis bei Pferden unterschiedlicher Rassen." In "Tieraerztliche Umschau" 4/97, pg.190ff

6. Strasser, H and Kells, S.: "A Lifetime of Soundness: The Keys to Optimal Horse Health, Lameness Rehabilitation, and the High-Performance Barefoot Horse."  Third Edition (Revised).  Self-published, Sabine Kells, Qualicum Beach, BC, Canada, 1998

7. Strasser, H.: "Shoeing: A Necessary Evil?" Ed. & Trans. Sabine Kells, Self-published, Sabine Kells, Qualicum Beach, BC, Canada, 2000

OPINION:

I have been a veterinarian for nearly 50 years and am still active with research projects in my own field.  By way of establishing my credentials for putting forward this nomination, I attach a copy of my CV.  Briefly, I am an equine ear, nose and throat surgeon.  I have been on the faculty of veterinary schools in England, Kenya and the USA for most of my career.  I was in horse practice for the first several years and taught 'lameness in the horse' when at the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine.  More recently, at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, I held a dual appointment as Professor of Surgery and Professor of Anatomy.  In my anatomist's role, I took a special interest in demonstrating the complex anatomy of the horse's hoof.

I have long been puzzled by many contradictions and uncertainties in our traditional understanding of the horse's hoof.  The irrefutable answers to these puzzles were made abundantly clear to me when I read the two books cited above6,7.  Dr, Strasser has done the veterinary profession and all horse owners a great service by drawing our attention to ten centuries of error on the part of man in our dealings with the horse.  She is to be warmly commended for her major contribution to the horse's welfare, and for solving many serious problems.  The treatment and prevention of many diseases of the horse's hoof have, for too long, been poorly understood and inadequately managed.  Her achievement is the more remarkable in that she has satisfactorily explained the cause of two particularly intractable diseases, navicular disease and laminitis, both of which have been the bane of the horse for centuries.  Because their cause has not until now been correctly understood, treatment of these diseases has defied the best efforts of experienced clinicians throughout the world.  Yet using Strasser's recommendations, these diseases can be prevented, and even advanced cases of 'incurable' navicular disease and laminitis can be cured.  Strasser's therapeutic approach to these challenging cases has been tested and found successful not only by her, but also by others, an important criterion by which any new methods have to be judged.  The total number of horses with both these diseases that have been successfully treated in Europe and North America already runs into the thousands.

I am of the opinion that the two books she has already written are destined to become classics.  They should be in every horseman's library and should be required reading for any veterinary student who aspires to become an equine practitioner.  It would be no more than appropriate that Strasser should be acknowledged not only for her original research but also for the very considerable efforts she has already made to share her research findings with colleagues in the profession and with horse owners world-wide. 

200 years ago, Bracy Clark, an early graduate of the Royal Veterinary College, London, came to very similar conclusions with regard to shoeing that Hiltrud Strasser has arrived at more recently and, incidentally, quite independently.  Having already published her results, it came as something of a shock when she discovered that Bracy Clark had pre-dated many of her findings.  Greatly to Strasser's credit and her sense of professional integrity, she has added a generous appendix on Clark's work to subsequent editions of her first book.  This degree of honesty provides the reader with the reward of being able to see the way in which two original thinkers have both arrived at the same conclusions, each from slightly different routes.

Sadly, Clark's work, even though based on an excellent scientific approach, was received with mulish resistance, violent opposition and an unpleasant mixture of aggression born of ignorance and vested interest.  His peers conspired to suppress his findings by a process of ridicule and misrepresentation.  To his dismay, the institution that raised the greatest obstacle to the general acknowledgement and diffusion of his research was, in his own words, 'that very school (the Royal Veterinary College) founded for promoting horse knowledge'.  That his own veterinary colleagues should become his 'greatest persecutors was not to be believed'.  But what hurt him most, even after 20 years of labor, was that they condemned him 'unheard, and without examination'.  Persons in authority, who should have known better, 'thought they had their accounts from one who had read'. 

Thanks to a further 20 years of labor by Dr. Hiltrud Strasser, the veterinary profession is now being given a second chance.  Veterinary historians in the future will not judge us kindly if we repeat the same mistake as our predecessors and fail to recognize the value and significance of this work.  New ideas can be painful to man but we should be prepared to examine the evidence that Strasser submits with an open mind and serious attention. 

The American Farrier's Journal is to be congratulated on their initiative in establishing a Hall of Fame specifically 'to recognize veterinarians who have contributed to knowledge (with regard to) proper hoof care for horses'.  This provides a tailor-made opportunity to set the record straight and to immeasurably improve the welfare of the horse.  If we fail to acknowledge Strasser's achievement and do not make use of her work, the horse will continue to suffer.  And we, the farriers and the veterinary profession, will not only be the losers but we will be seen to have failed in our duty to do everything in our power to improve the welfare of the horse.  The horse has already waited 200 years for this advance in knowledge to be implemented.  Let it not be said that our generation has been responsible for yet further delay.

I urge every member of the nomination committee not to condemn Dr. Strasser 'unheard' but to read both of her excellent books before they vote.   Actually, all I need do is to recommend that members read the opening page of either one.  For I am confident if they do that they will not be able to stop reading.  Their duty to promote the relief of suffering in horses by honoring an outstanding veterinarian will be self-evident.

Signed:
Robert Cook