My
Background and Casting
Here is a little history about my journey
in developing casting as a unique alternative for the treatment of hoof
lameness issues. The son of a gunsmith and an eye for art I served an
apprenticeship in firearms engraving at Paul Yeagers, in Pennsylvania to
"carry on the family business" after a few years in PA, I moved to
back to NH and worked in the family business as a firearms engraver. Having
always been interested in medicine and the outdoors I got involved in ski
patrol, mountain rescue as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). I owned a
small farm and decided to get two draft horses to work with on my farm, this
was a dream come true I had sense I was a kid. As luck would have it, a former
shoeing instructor from Michigan State University, Ed Grove, (semi-retired)
came over to shoe my draft horses. While Ed was shoeing my draft horses we
talked about our careers and after learning I was a gun engraver Ed asked if I
could teach him how to carve metal, that chance meeting, changed both our lives.
As we got to know each other I became fascinated in the art and science of
metalworking and shoeing, so for the next few years we exchanged ideas and
ultimately we switched careers. Ed retired from shoeing and continued his love
of forging steel and carving metal and I retired from engraving, much to the
disappointment of my family and the family business. After working as a
farrier, and seeing how I could incorporate my passion of art, medicine, and
horses into one career I was hooked. Skills that I developed as a firearms engraver
helped me develop an eye for detail that I could use in shoeing, add a
fascination of anatomy, physiology and physics gave me a unique approach to
shoeing. After working in NH with farriers, veterinarians and trainers for
about ten years, I thought I was ready to try the big league, a warmer climate
and a chance to work on Olympic quality horses, so in the fall of 1989 I moved
to Southern Pines, North Carolina. The timing was great and I was very
fortunate to be working with many upper level riders, coaches, trainers, and
horses showing at all levels and disciplines; from jumpers to dressage horses,
driving ponies to race horses I worked with owners that had one horse in their
back yard to trainers that may have 30 horses under their control, I was in
shoeing heaven, working with seasoned and accomplished trainers,
owners, veterinarians and farriers.
What soon became apparent was the level
of these horses and the need for more information to keep these athletes
competing at the highest levels, so I started attending clinics to improve my
shoeing skills. Back then one of the answers to many lameness issues was "hand made shoes", if one
could make wide web shoes, degree shoes, egg bars and heart bar shoes for
"extra support" these custom made shoes could help with certain types
of hoof problems, and some of theses “hand made shoes” did work. Unfortunately
for some lameness problems these hand made shoes did not seem to help. So the
next area was pads, there are all kinds of pads, maybe pads might be the answer
to many hoof lameness issues. After many tries and a few successful cases, pads might be the answer to some of these lameness cases. Then came the next problem,
they worked quite well in the beginning, but after awhile things began to fall
apart, lost shoes, shelly-walls and lower angles seemed to be happening on
quite a few horses with pads. So the search was back on! What's out here that
would add support to the whole hoof capsule?
The
Beginning of Equicast
In Early 1990 I watched Dr. Fred McCashin
of Southern Pines, North Carolina, apply casts on a severely foundered horse he
had at his clinic. Seeing this laminitis patient responded favorably
after casts were applied, followed by an uneventful and complete recovery I
realized that this just might be an answer to other hoof lameness issues. So for
the next few years I applied casts on many different kinds of lameness issues
and soon realized that many of these lameness cases directly related to the
quality and health of the hoof wall. By adding a temporary support system
(casts) to many of these cases seemed to reduce excessive stress on the
walls. Wall failure is clearly apparent in white line disease, long toe
low heel syndrome, toe and quarter cracks, these hoof wall failures were clearly contributing to
many lameness issues. The concept
of casting a hoof is very similar to humans needing temporary support (casts) when we have issues like sprains or breaks, so adding temporary support to hoof walls
just made sense, give the hoof a chance to (heal) grow stronger healthier
walls. Next we needed a cast that could standup to the forces that horses apply
on their feet, was strong yet dynamic, wear resistant and resistant to the
environmental changes. I needed to find a cast specialist, someone that has a
good understanding of cloth design and resin formulas. I found that in and
engineer that worked for a company that made human cast Eric Eskilson (now a
partner in Equicast) working together we developed a fiberglass poly-cloth
substrate and resin that is developed specifically for the equine hoof
needs.
Shortly after we started manufacturing
Equicast I met Dr. Michael Steward DVM Shawnee Animal Hospital in Oklahoma, the
inventor of the “Steward Clog” and as a team we developed EVA - EVA/Wood Shoes.
The combination of Equicast and EVA Shoes creates a paradigm of efficient
biomechanical movement with vertical integrity and lateral stability (dynamic
stabilization).
Any questions you have about casting or
EVA Shoes, comments about articles on this site, or cases you would like to
discuss, please send me an email: dave@equicast.com
Enjoy,
and be safe.
Dave
Richards
Equicast
Inc.
