Over the last years, the role of the horse in many societies has evolved from a predominantly working relationship to that of a valued companion in sport and leisure. Strengthening of the human-animal bond and heightened awareness for animal welfare have not only led to significant changes in equine husbandry, but also resulted in an increasing demand for highly skilled and knowledgeable equine professionals.

Both farriers and vets play a pivotal part in the equine health system and much depends on a good level of communication and cooperation between the two professions. To emphasise farriers’ status as an equine health professional rather than a metal working professional, farrier education in Switzerland was recently reorganised to focus more on the equine knowledge aspects of training. In the course of this reform, a completely new educational aid was developed by the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Zürich and the Swiss Farriers Association in an attempt to combine the following goals:

• to provide farriery trainees and vet students with a state of the art learning aid covering many aspects of general equine knowledge and anatomy
• to provide a detailed source of reference and a combined base of knowledge for students and fully fledged equine professionals wishing to expand their knowledge.

The considerable amount of information and multi-media resources that have been combined to produce e-hoof.com has resulted in a tool that will also appeal to any other equine professionals and any individuals who wish to further their understanding of the horse.

The tool’s fundamental aim is to promote a high standard of knowledge, care and workmanship within the equine industry; because we are convinced that sound knowledge forms the basis of good equine welfare practice.

e-hoof.com is a state-of-the-art, interactive web platform dedicated to the horse and the hoof. Vets, farriers or anyone else with an interest in the horse will find knowledge and information contributed by specialists in their fields, divided into discrete topics and many small chapters. Its modular, user-friendly structure allows users to customise their content according to their specific requirements: e-hoof.com is suitable for use as a teaching aid for individuals at the outset of their training as well as being a source of information for established equine professionals wishing to develop their knowledge.

• General Equine Knowledge provides all the essential background knowledge on the horse. Includes chapters on evolution, behaviour, handling, conformation and hoof evaluation and many more.
• Anatomy forms the basis of any profession closely involved in keeping a horse sound. Includes detailed chapters on the musculoskeletal system and the hoof, basic information on organ systems and a section on biomechanics.
• Horseshoeing covers everything from the materials and equipment used, through extensive video footage of forging techniques to routine hoof care and remedial shoeing.
• Disorders of the hoof provides detailed information on a wide range of disorders of the hoof and the distal limb, combined with chapters on orthopaedic examination and diagnostic imaging.

• More than 100 chapters
• Easy-to-use website navigation features with search function
• More than 3’000 photos and illustrations, over 50 interactive figures
• More than 300 training videos
• Comprehensive anatomy atlas including interactive 3D models of the distal limb and hoof
• Glossary with over 1’000 terms relating to the horse, hoof and horseshoeing
• Extensive list of literature references linked to the Medline PubMed database
• Full printable manuscripts of the learning material

Content is labelled as basic or in-depth making it easier for trainees to focus on the content suited to their level of training, while still providing the detail necessary for users engaged in continuing professional development (CPD).

For students or practising professional farriers or equine veterinary surgeons, or for concerned horse owners, trainers or grooms, e-hoof.com provides well presented, up-to-date information wherever it is required.

e-hoof.com is not an end-product. Being a web-based tool both content and features will be continually updated and expanded. This will allow us to accommodate new or improved material, additional media to illustrate the content, peer-reviewed articles on timely topics or additional features such as self-assessment modules, case studies or specific CPD courses.

Not everyone is online anytime, anywhere. But as we hope e-hoof.com is the sort of tool you’ll want to be able to access anytime and anywhere, we’re working hard to get an offline version ready as soon as possible. The whole of e-hoof will be on a data-stick which will automatically update any new content every time the user is connected to the internet. Watch this space for more news.

Every penny of the profits will be reinvested in continuing this project, so by buying a license you will help us make e-hoof.com even more informative and enjoyable for users in every area of the horse’s world.