I never intended to go into the horse business.It just happened by accident about 19 years ago when I purchased my first horse after finishing college.Although Smirnoff successfully passed his veterinarian pre-purchase exam, he started to have chronic lameness issues practically from the beginning.
Smirnoff shod in Metal in the Old Days
Smirnoff’s lameness problem was odd since it was not really random. It showed up almost always into the third week of shoeing.His behavior was also strange.Smirnoff has always been a very reasonable stallion but going into the third week of shoeing, he become very sensitive to the girth and would start bucking under saddle.Smirnoff seemed to be chronically sore in his right pectoral muscle.It also seemed to me that his right front hoof seemed to get more twisted towards the lateral side after this period of time.
Monique Craig with Rescued Horse
His right accessory ligament to the deep digital flexor tendon started to show signs of stress (swelling) into week 3 of shoeing.All this was very puzzling and frustrating to me.After two years of running the gambit through different shoeing methods and different veterinarian opinions, I was not left with many options, other than keeping my horse as a pasture ornament.This was not a satisfactory option.Smirnoff was checked and doubled checked and no one could find anything seriously wrong.Most experts recommended that I should sell the horse and get a new one.
Monique and Smirnoff rigged for Strain Gauge Experiments
I felt that it was my responsibility to help this horse and I took it upon myself to learn as much as I could about the hoof.I started my quest for answers by attending farrier conventions and lectures on the hoof.I went to the library and researched articles on the hoof and equine biomechanics.I bought books on any topics that were related or could help with understanding the hoof -books on evolution, biomaterials, biomechanics, cell biology, etc.Any type of learning process is marred by trial and error. It is unavoidable. I did try a lot of ideas, made some mistakes, but finally evolved my own theory on trimming and shoeing. The following is a brief tour through the early influences on my though process.
The Dave Duckett Phase: 1992 to 1994
I met Dave in 1992 at the AFA convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I had just started to have a disciple of Dave’s trimming and shoeing Smirnoff according to Dave’s principles. His methods seem to give some help to Smirnoff’s chronic lameness. I was curious to learn about his theories so I managed to meet him during the AFA convention.
Dave Duckett shoes Smirnoff in 1994
I eventually invited him to give a lecture in California. In 1994, Dave came to our ranch and spent a weekend with us and shod some of our horses. We had a lot of interesting discussions. Dave was the first person to make me think about the asymmetry of the hoof, and the importance of leaving sole and bars.
Dave Duckett and Monique Craig
During our discussions, while he was trimming my horses, he mentioned something that struck a cord with me. He eluded to the fact that he could most help a horse by trimming only, and using the horn to keep the shape of the hoof together. Hum, trimming was indeed the most important ingredient in this equation! Dave was not fond of manipulating gaits through weird shoes. I was definitely captivated and intrigued. Dave was also the first person to make me realize how antiquated the farriery industry was. He encouraged me to do my own research and advised me not to attend regular farrier schools… he thought that it would pollute my mind. At that time, I was only toying with the idea learning to shoe horses.
My Semi-Recluse Phase: 1995 to 1997
In the Spring of 1995, after some new lameness issues induced by improper shoe placement, I decided to keep my horses barefoot and try to figure out the hoof on my own for a while.I put rubber shaving in my arena, I put rubber mats over my decomposite granite paddocks and started to keep my horses barefoot. The trim I did on my horses was what we called in Europe ‘un parrage de compagne’. This trim is achieved by loading the frog. I had Dave Duckett’s education to remind me of the importance of the sole and bars, so I was very Zen with the sole. I took pictures of my work and had radiographs done every so often to check that we were doing ok. In the beginning, I only trimmed my own horses.
Strain Gauge Experiments
In one experiment in 1996, I put strain gauges on the hoof. These gauges measure the stress in the hoof wall, and they were connected to an on-board computer to collect the data.My horses’ hooves had had a year to recover from being shod, so the hoof was closer to the natural, unshod state. I was not against metal shoes but it seemed logical that a metal shod capsule would not behave like an unshod one. I took material science classes in college, I knew already then that metal is miles away from possessing the same mechanical properties as the hoof’s keratin. I did not want to warp my data from the strain gauges by adding an extra constraint.The strain gauge data and the documentation on the hooves started to make me question the effect that metal shoes had on the function of the hoof capsule. A hoof geek was born!
Mike Savoldi, hoof researcher, friend, and neighbor
Note that at that time, I was blissfully unaware of the bourgeoning barefoot movement. I went to investigate if someone had done some work on capsular deformities. This is how I met Mike Savoldi. Mike came to my ranch in the Fall 1996. He brought a couple of cadaver limbs and we dissected hooves. He also explained his theories about the arch and the sole shape. His research helped ‘gel’ some of the things I had noticed. Mike became my neighbor as I moved to Paso Robles in late 1999. We have been working on and off together on various hoof research projects since then. It was during my loner phase that I started to define my three dimensional trimming approach. This is also during this time that I started to trim horses professionally.
Monique and Dr. Bowker discuss the Hoof as if both Insane.
The Gene Ovnicek Phase: 1997 – 2000.
I was curious to find someone who had worked with barefoot horses and Mustangs. I listened to my first Gene Ovnicek lecture in 1997. Gene’s trim at that time was basically very similar to that of Dave Duckett but Gene brought a better understanding of the feral/wild hoof.He also re-enforced my beliefs and personal experiments that the sole bears weight not just the walls.I kept following his lectures when later Dr. Bowker used to lecture with Gene on a regular basis. At that time, Dr. Bowker’s research was regarded as controversial. I never understood why.
The Epona Phase: EponaTech and EponaShoe: 1999 - ?.
When I moved away from my ranch in the Bay Area, I had to put metal shoes back on my horses for a period of six months. After that, I decided to not use metal shoes on my horses or any other horses. It seemed too impossible to keep hooves healthy. I had already played with different composite shoes, boots, glue but nothing really worked consistently. Other composite shoes I tried needed lots of grinding and rasping to fit, they wouldn’t quite stay on, and had other issues.Again out of exasperation, I decided to design my own composite shoe.
The EponaShoe
My years of research went into formulating a composite shoe that is easy to apply, is flexible (both physically and in its application and use), and allows the hoof to function as intended. It took two years of trial and error to finally get to a shoe that could perform to my specifications. I sometimes refer to my shoes as an extension of the hoof. I have been using composite shoes exclusively since 2000.
Steffen Peters on Lombardi is National Champion in Grand Prix Dressage on EponaShoes
My clients’ horses range from rescue horses to Olympic horses.I have worked on miniature horses to draft horses.I have also specialized in therapeutic shoeing (founder, navicular, etc.) I always documented everything I did when I worked on horses, with photographs and later radiographs. I started to create my own software program to help me with keeping track of what I was seeing at the hoof. This is how the software called Metron and the company EponaTech were originated.As others became interested in the shoes I had developed, I launched the EponaShoe company.
The research and products I developed were started first to help my horses and never intended at the start to be a commercial venture.All in all it took me 16 years of research to arrive where I am now.None of this work would have been done if it were not for Smirnoff.This horse has had a profound impact on my life.He really made me a better person by prompting me to be creative and brave.
