TECH SPOTLIGHT Inventor and farrier Charly Forstner couldn’t accept the current logic behind rigid metal horse shoes, so he developed a synthetic equine sneaker—the Megasus Horserunner.
No More Nails Farrier and innovator Charly Forstner thinks his Megasus Horserunners can take hoof care out of the Iron Age and into the 21st century. By A N N GL AVA N Photos Courtesy M EGA SUS HOR SERU N N ER S 24 JULY/AUGUST 2017
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t’s a trade as old as time—well, at least nearly as old as the recorded history of human and horse interaction. Since about 400 B.C., humans have been nailing metal shoes to hooves. Advances have been made in the types of metal and the finesse with which we apply shoes, but the basic components remain unchanged—until Austrian farrier and inventor Charly Forstner came along. Forstner started experimenting with new materials in shoeing when he was working as a farrier and animal welfare inspector in Austria about 25 years ago. In his work as an inspector, Forstner dealt with horses caught in tough
situations and was disheartened by how many issues and injuries he saw with hooves and legs that forced veterinarians to euthanize the horse. Forstner started researching the physiology of the hoof to better understand the issues. “I stumbled upon the one sentence that I would never forget,” Forstner said. “Science said that iron horse shoes are a necessary evil. But I’ve always been absolutely convinced that there must be a better way.” Forstner dedicated himself to furthering his understanding of hooves and hoof problems. In the early 1990s, he began conducting experiments at the University of Zurich to develop a synthetic hoof protection. He invented two products, Dynamix and Easy Walker, both of which came on the market in the early 2000s. They were shoes made from hard plastic and rubber that could be nailed on like a traditional steel shoe. “Both were first developed to be products that the blacksmith wanted to work with using familiar tools, while the needs of the horses remained secondary,” Forstner said. He wanted to take his invention a step further; he wanted a synthetic shoe that wasn’t nailed or even glued on. He wanted a removable shoe riders could put on for exercise and take off for turnout, allowing the horse to spend most of his time barefoot. “Our horses’ hooves are very
