The Beauty of Equithane

Equithane-a beautiful thing. I am repeating the title, yes, but dammit the stuff is great! By equithane I am referring to equithane superfast. Superfast is a urethane based adhesive that sets hard in about 30 seconds. It allows you to customize or rebuild the hoof to how you want it, and is truly a bloody handy addition to any farrier's tool kit.

Let's go through a few of equithane's superfasts uses, so you know what is possible for your horses hoof care. Number one-don't you hate it when your horse pulls a shoe? Don't you hate it when this event is accompanied with a large dislodgement of the horses hoof which is ripped away with the thrown shoe? In some cases there is so much hoof torn away, especially in weak, shelly footed horses, that nailing the shoe back on can be next to impossible without risking pricking the horse. In comes our friend equithane. Just apply it to the diminished hoof, wiping it around, filling the deficiency and building up the side of the hoof in artificial wonder. Allow it to cure and harden and viola! You now have foot to nail to.


Now with problem feet, whether inherited or acquired, you can rebuild the hoof to the ideal. A clubfoot can have additional toe and side mass to improve balance and give something more substantial to nail to. And look like a normal foot for the aesthetically minded.

Many problem-footed horses have especially thin walls and are sensitive to nails, so equithane can be used to glue the shoe to the foot. Simply trim up the foot, apply it to the foot and to the shoe, apply pressure and hold until set. It is good to also layer the side walls with equithane, so you can drive nails into that, as it will help hold the shoe so much better. There you will have a shoe on the foot with no nails actually penetrating the hoof, but where as the horse may have performed abysmally before, it will now be pain-free and be better able to reach it's full potential.

Also, when a horse’s hoof is imbalanced, and there is just no more you can safely take off to achieve balance, equithane can be used to fill the deficiencies and safely achieve a level and balanced hoof.

Now when using Equithane, dry the hoof with a heat gun, then rasp the foot, leaving it fairly rough. Some use the smooth side of the rasp and sandpaper to really get the hoof surface smooth, but I found that the equithane did not stay on very long like this. I find it far more effective to prepare the hoof surface rough, even rasping light grooves into the hoof. This gives the equithane far more surface area of the hoof to bond to, and it stays on remarkably longer like this. Now Equithane will harden in 30 secs, but will take a few minutes to reach maximum strength. Also don’t fill any infections in the foot with equithane, as this will seal the infection and the lack of oxygen will only help it to thrive. Sterilizing the infection for several days before the application of equithane will fix the problem.

There are also other hoof-filling acrylics like bond-n-flex and equilox, and these work great. Anyway, I'm off to sleep once again. As this reaches you, hope things are as beautiful for you as equithane is to me. Too corny? I thought it tied in nicely...