Testimonials & Success Stories

Just wanted you guys to know that WMA Lightfoot+// was named 2002 IAHA Arabian 50 mile Endurance Horse of the Year at the recent AERC Convention in Chattanooga, TN. He completed 1000 miles last year --- all on Natural Balance Shoes or Natural Balance Polysteel shoes.

~ Sherrie

Hi there, just thought I would drop you a note to tell you that I am using a farrier that uses the NBS shoes on my hunter/jumpers with good results.  I don't know if you want/need references on the A-hunter/jumper circuit but I'm willing if you're interested.  Also, would love to know about other owners/farriers in hunter/jumper world to talk to about their results.  I just now put them on my $50,000 hunter.

~ Melissa

(owner of AHSA Zone 9 pony jumper champion - 2001 who wears NB shoes.)

After numerous (ten) different farriers, five abscesses later, tripping and over reaching...my newest farrier put on the Natural Balance shoes along with the correct trim (never takes off any sole) and my horse is the best ever!!! Never trips, never over reaches and moves beautifully!  Our first horse show and he won his class!  Thanks!

~ Audrey

For years, I was pretty skeptical of the concept of drawing back or broadening the rear toes of reining horses.  Like most reiners, I felt horses needed a certain amount of toe to help them stop, and the broader the toe the more friction there would be in the stop.  But I agreed to try the TK Sliders on 2 horses with movement and stopping issue, and 2 horses with no issues.  On every horse, I immediately noticed an increase in rear stride length, a total end to tripping and stubbing, and a much greater commitment in the stop.  My two-year-old who was a tentative stopper began going to the ground with confidence.  My shorter-strided horse with lead issues in fast circles now runs more freely with greater balance and never comes close to falling out of lead.  Even the two non-problematic horses display a greater conviction in their reining maneuvers that can only be attributed to a feeling of comfort and security with where their balance point is.  I plan to put the entire barn in these shoes right away.

I have seen first-hand that the concept of the TK Slider is a sound and valuable one, and is easily measured by the increase comfort and ability of each horse, regardless of conformation, movement or level of training.  Horses can't talk, but their performance speaks volumes.  I don't think anyone would disagree that comfortable, secure, and happy horses are what we strive for.  What's good for them is good for us.

~ Connie

I wanted to send you this message to say thank you for all the research and effort you do to help horses and educate people.

I have a 9 year old paint mare that is the 2003 APHA World Champion Open Barrel horse. She started being noticeably sore in her front feet in May of 2003. This was an off and on scenario, and I even had a problem at the world show in June, that I thought was a hot nail. After struggling with her being sore off an on for a few months, I took her to a Texas University, to the top lameness vet around. I spent a ton of money and countless hours in what turned out to be a futile attempt to figure out what was going on with my mare. The best result we got was after they injected the coffin bone area in March of 2004. (Keeping in mind that I had been making trips to A & M every 6 weeks with stall rest in between) After the injection, I rested her for a couple of weeks, and was able to ride her enough to leg her up and put her in a competition to let her “cruise” through a barrel pattern thinking that she may get lucky and hit one of the money places in a low division. She ended up winning the barrel race, but was lame after she came out of the arena. Back to the University I went. We did every test that the University had including x-rays, ultrasounds, even a bone scan. We tried different shoeing techniques, and had even at one point tried the Natural Balance shoes. (I have since figured out that they weren’t applied correctly) After each trip, the standard answer was to “try this and come back in 6 weeks”. We did the bone scan, and the only thing that showed “hot” was the navicular area, but she didn’t show any changes radiographically. They put some funky shoes on her and once again sent her home for 6 weeks. After chasing this problem for over a year she was still too lame to ride.

My last trip was in Late July, and the shoes hadn’t helped much. She was better on soft ground, but on hard ground she was still very lame in her turns. The only thing that was left was a new technique that they had just gotten in to try on lameness issues, or nerve her.

Luckily, about a week before my appointment, I was scanning the TV for something to watch, and on the RFD channel, a segment came on with Gene talking about the Natural Balance shoeing technique and about horses with “navicular syndrome”, low heels, etc. Needless to say, I was VERY interested. I called the next day and talked to Cody, and he was very informative and really felt like the EDSS method of shoeing could help my mare. He helped me to understand that it’s not just the shoes, but also the way that they are put on. Helped me to understand abut the importance of frog contact, and explained why what they were trying wasn’t working.  Some things that I “thought” were right but didn’t know if I was correct, and also wasn’t sure how to get a farrier to listen to me and not just patronize me and go ahead & do what they wanted. After talking to Cody, I figured that everything he told me made perfect sense & it certainly wasn’t going to hurt to try – nothing else had worked. I ordered the tape on Natural Balance Shoeing, so that I could better educate myself to the EDSS principals. I also needed find a farrier that was very familiar with EDSS and had all of the products, and knew about the specialty methods, and not someone that was going to be learning on my horse. Cody gave me the number to a wonderful man about 2 hours from where I live and I made an appointment.

At my last appointment at the University when the vets were about ready to throw their hands in the air, and had decided that nerving was about the only viable option left. I told them that I wanted to try a new shoeing technique first. I just wasn’t ready take the drastic step of nerving.

The next day I met with the new farrier. He instantly saw the problem with my mare, and saw a potential problem with another horse that I had brought along. Long story short, after each shoeing my mare got better. It only took 3 or 4 times of being shod CORRECTLY with the EDSS method and my mare is sounder that she has been in over a year! I am so excited to have her back! Seeing her feel good enough to play and buck in the pasture just makes my heart swell. I now have all of my horse's shod with Natural Balance, and they are doing wonderful! I probably know just enough about the EDSS way of shoeing to be dangerous, but at least I feel like I can watch my horse move and tell if he/she is landing heel or toe first etc. Tom, the farrier that I am using, has really helped me a lot to learn and understand more and more. He is even helping me to learn how to trim my 2 babies. He says I’m not doing too badly either! (I’m still not confident enough to not have someone I trust check their feet and make sure I have them balanced though)!

I know this is a little long winded, but I wanted you both to know how grateful I am that you have done the research and developed these methods to help horses. Cody was so helpful and understanding that first day, he was so patient with me as I rambled on about my experiences trying to get my mare sound. He really made me feel like there was hope for my horse, he knew what I didn’t, there WAS hope for her! There are a lot of people who know my mare and know how long she has been out of commission. So I have a lot of opportunity to sing your praises. I tell EVERYONE who will listen what I have learned and I am a true believer in your methods. Also how important it is to have the shoes put on correctly. Thank you again for what you do, and for getting me together with Tom. He is a wonderful man, and a fantastic farrier.

Eternally grateful,

~ Lisa