Esco Buff

After two months of Wyatt going lame due to steroid medication, my vet said I should put Wyatt down. That is when I met Esco Buff. Esco came within days and applied the heartbar shoe along side of the very vet that suggested I put Wyatt down. Seven months later, Wyatt is being lunged at a walk and enjoys rolling in the arena. His hoof is growing nicely and in a few months, we will be riding again. 

My only wish was that I had found Esco sooner. Wyatt suffered terribly for three months. If I had Esco when we discovered the onset of laminitis, my horse would have never endured the suffering. Please understand, I believe Esco has found a procedure that will stop the laminitic downturn. He has established a procedure and has documented the statistical data. With Esco's procedure, no horse should have to suffer from founder as Wyatt did.

Every horse owner should demand that his or her vet and farrier are familiar with the heartbar shoe procedure. Esco Buff has been an advocate for horses and farriers. He has raised the bar in setting up and documenting proven procedures.

— Carrier Blamer

Our Farrier is amazing!

Our farrier is Esco Buff, PHD, APF, CF, Master Farrier, and recipient of numerous farrier awards and certificates. He is a teacher, lecturer, expert in his field and a true pioneer in regards to farriery and restoring soundness to the horses who have no hope with traditional allopathic vetting in regards to laminitis, founder, limb length disparity, navicular and the host of other maladies that horse owners fear, and that usually mean a death sentence for many of their horses.

Esco is the most humble of all people in regards to his level of expertise, especially in a world where status and competition reigns supreme. His clients are so high-level and high-powered that most of them are secretive and confidential, and even Esco won't mention who they are! He is awakened frequently by midnight calls from some of the most accomplished people in America and Canada, who send private jets to whisk him to their farms with little time to even change from his pajamas. Esco's team usually follows in a caravan, driving round the clock to meet up with him in far away places. That caravan carries his interns, other farriers who are avid about learning the art of saving the unsaveable horses, and his assistants, but most importantly, the machinery and tools that Esco forges into custom made shoes in different and unconventional shapes to treat each hoof individually and thus healing and aligning the entire body.

Esco's laptop is always with him and in it holds the scientific research to validate every word that he is espousing. Even the most die hard, stubborn and small-minded human, vet,  trainer, manager, groom and horse owner cannot argue with that research and scientific proof he carries on that laptop.

Esco has been doing this for so many years, that he is his own scientific research study! He has a 98% success rate in regards to healing from laminitis and founder! He has a 98% success rate of the horses returning to mobility! He has an 82% success rate of horses returning to full work! Awesome! No one in the field, vet colleges or clinics can come anywhere near those numbers. In fact, those numbers in reverse are what their rates are! , which is truly sad! It's unconscionable that standard treatment and practices are failing with little or no success ratio and yet continued to be taught and practiced by the most esteemed in the veterinarian community!

This leads to the next point about Esco Buff...he is a teacher, who TEACHES! He teaches and instructs anyone who will listen and is willing to learn what he does and why he does it. He is replicating himself and his pioneering art of shoeing, which he has perfected in farriers, one at a time, who then go out and save more horses and give more hope to horse owners.   In 2011, Esco worked on 187 laminitic horses, 158 returned to full work, 28 are pasture sound and 1 horse was euthanized! 

There was only one horse Esco lost in 2011...and it was our horse. Our magnificent racehorse turned polo horse that loved to run and outrun everything and anything. Our horse was laminitic and foundered, and she was kept in isolation at a clinic for diarrhea, not allowed to walk for 3 weeks, fed high sugar grain, high sugar hay, pumped with antibiotics, and even after the diarrhea was eliminated, she was kept there. She would try to push out through the door, basically climbing the walls, and yet she was given more drugs. Finally when her feet were hot, her coffin bones sunk, she was sent home to die. The clinic said there was no hope and the only thing was to bute her up and soak her feet in ice, which softened the hoof wall to putty, and let her go. Well then came OUR frantic midnight call to Esco!!! (A reference from our Equine dentist, Cheryl Cobb.) He hopped in his PurdyBilt and arrived the next day after driving all night. He applied his special heart bar shoes, showed us the research, everyone in the barn was a doubter and against any other treatment. Why? Who knows? But there was only Esco or the other option...so we chose Esco!!!

Well, 2 weeks later radiographs showed the sinking and founder was stabilized, that was in comparison to the 2 other sets of previously taken radiographs from intervals of 2 weeks/4 weeks prior. 2 weeks later radiographs confirmed not just stabilization but improvement. Elated cannot even describe the relief; our horse was on the mend. Knowing she was in the top percentile of success rates in relation to Esco’s other thousands of cases...and knowing that she was really mild in comparison to most his other cases...brought such joy!

Knowing this horse and the love outrunning the wind, feeling well and standing, she reared up one night and flew out of her stall. The impact of coming down on her newly healing hooves was too much, at 1,000-plus pounds. The impact on the cement floor broke her front hooves off. Esco was there, again a midnight call, and he stayed, cried and held her as she crossed the rainbow bridge. He had kept her alive for 3 months and did everything he said he would.

Esco is entrusted with the care of all the horses at our farm. The Thoroughbred's, the rescues, the owner surrenders and pleasure horses. Some are barefoot, some are shod for polo, some are shod for special conditions like suspensory desmitis. Esco does it all, with kindness and true affection for the horses! His expertise is astounding, yet his gentleness with equine speaks even louder to the horse world. When Esco comes to the barn, the staff and the horses eagerly anticipate the day. 

— The Johnsons
East Gate Polo Barn & East Gate Equine Sanctuary
(Pawling, N.Y.)

My farrier, Esco Buff, has been with my horses and me for 12 years. I first heard of Esco when my horse, Leo, foundered. At the time we were new horses owners, unknowledgeable to say the least. We relied on the people who owned the barn where we boarded to inform us of problems, along with their farrier and our veterinarian. Several weeks after Leo took a bad fall, he was lame and would reach out to bite when you walked him, although we were told he would be fine on stall rest and walking him was part of his therapy. This continued for 2 more weeks when I insisted the vet come back to re-evaluate Leo’s condition, much to the dismay of the barn owners who acted as if their farrier was quite capable of recognizing real problems! The vet took one look at Leo as we attempted to walk him from the stall and informed us the horse was in great pain and suffered from laminitis. He suggested we call Esco, while the barn owners told us the horse would probably have to be put down.

Esco took radiographs to confirm the diagnosis and proceeded to save our horse, Leo, with heart-bar shoes, love and kindness. I was riding Leo within six weeks and romping through the fields again at 12 weeks.

Ten years later we found it necessary to sell our farm and find good homes for our four horses. To say this broke our hearts is a gross understatement, but it had to be done. My percheron-cross, Duchess, is beautiful and gentle, and we were fortunate to have her accepted at a nearby therapeutic riding school for disabled children and adults. We were thrilled! Once there she would receive all the care she needed from their vets, farriers, chiropractors, etc. It seemed like a perfect place for Duchess to live and work. Several months after arriving there we were informed she was having problems with her hind legs, which turned out to be pretty serious suspensory ligament injury requiring expensive shock wave treatments, anti-inflammatory medications and rest. The cause? Poor hoof balance resulting from inferior farrier work. Needless to say I called Esco immediately who came to evaluate and help Duchess to continue to be productive. Esco trimmed her and made custom shoes, which would help to properly balance her large frame once again. Unfortunately for me, shoeing and trimming a draft horse every six weeks is quite costly, but once again Esco has saved my horse. Duchess continues to perform her duties at the therapeutic riding school where everyone loves her!

— Jeanne Phillips (Rochester, N.Y.)

Dr. Esco Buff is so important to me and my horses. This was taken a few weeks ago when Esco was shoeing my PRE stallion. How many times do you see a stallion resting their head on the farrier's back while being shod? More than that - how many farriers are actually comfortable enough to let a stallion do this? This is an extra special picture because the stallion had a bad shoeing experience prior to this with another farrier which caused him to be quite anxious during subsequent shoeing sessions. However, at every visit, Esco takes the time to befriend the horses, does an outstanding job trimming/balancing/shoeing the horses, so he always leaves them feeling better than when he came. As you can see, all of the stallion's shoeing anxiety is now gone.

I'm not even sure where to begin or how to describe the important role Esco plays in my life and the life of my horses. Esco is a friend, mentor, and a truly exceptional farrier. He is generous with his time and knowledge, and he has a knowledge and understanding of horses and shoeing that is second to none. I have four horses now and he has been instrumental in troubleshooting and keeping them sound. Three of my horses foundered at different times for different reasons. Esco applied rigid steel heartbar shoes and each horse returned to complete soundness. Esco spent hours with me in person, on the phone, and through email explaining what was happening, what would happen, answering my endless questions, and providing positive emotional support through very difficult times.

I have a draft cross that had an intermittent slight lameness issue that various vets were unable to figure out. I asked Esco to take a look at it and using his extensive knowledge of the whole body of the horse and how a horse moves, he was able to identify an issue with the horse's hip alignment and address is through a shoeing change, which made the horse sound. Another one of my horses was lame for several months. After numerous vet visits, I called in a different vet who agreed to do a joint consultation with Esco to try to figure out the problem. The new vet and Esco were able to identify the problem and Esco was able to address the identified problem with a shoeing change and again — my horse finally went sound.

Esco has been there through thick and thin with all of my horses — he takes the same care with our elite stallion as he does with our "backyard," chronically lame horses. I continually learn from his experience and willingness to educate me, for which I am exceedingly grateful. I've worked with many farriers over the years in several different states and not one of them has been willing to take the same kind of time to make sure the horses are balanced, trimmed/shod, and happy, and to educate me and answer my questions like Esco does. There is no one more deserving of recognition in this industry than Esco is.

— Doreen Kula (Avon, N.Y.)