A molding technique developed in the last 6 months by South African farrier Derek Poupard is gaining attention among shoers in the Middle East. Injecting large amounts of Vettec’s Adhere or Super Fast into a latex mold results in the creation of a perfectly fit, highly flexible urethane shoe.

“I use it extensively as a therapeutic tool,” says Poupard who has spent the past 3 ½ years working in the royal farrier shop at Zabeel Stables that is owned by the ruler of Dubai. The technique has been used in recent months with Thoroughbreds and endurance, jumpers and dressage horses.

Therapeutic Usage

“There are no pads or wedged, heavy shoes — just an instant horseshoe,” says the farrier who earlier shod horses in Virginia. “It’s replacing the tabbed shoes, glue-ons and plastic shoes that I’ve used for many years in my therapeutic work.”

Poupard forms the latex molds to fit specific shoe patterns. “I’m trying to control the shoe types and application during the developmental stage to ensure that I get the correct feedback on the viability of the product,” he says. “As long as a foot is fitting within one-half inch of the mold dimensions, it will fit perfectly due to the nature of the urethane material that sets up and becomes the actual shoe.”

The injected material is allowed to dry for several minutes.

The latex mold is slowly peeled off the…