ENDORSED by of trainer Alan King and with Oisin Murphy as an ambassador, welfare is at the heart of what innovative racehorse shoe developers Equishox are doing. In one of their effective social media slides recently, they lay their raison d’être on the line: “The biggest innovation in horseracing welfare. Ever.”

Horse Sense wanted to find out more about this pioneering horseshoe and had a chat with former jockey and co-founder, Robert “Choc” Thornton, who rode over 1,000 winners in his time on the track.

Thornton worked with his co-founder, farrier Aron Tyler to create Equishox after he happened upon a particular horseshoe in the back of Tyler’s farrier van. The shoe was an original Öllöv SoftStep shoe which is a vulcanised rubber shoe, made around a steel insert and originally designed for police horses to reduce concussion and vibration forces on a horse’s limb, and to reduce the impact in cases of knocks.

“What if we can make this lighter, more versatile and more accessible for racehorses?” was Thornton’s question. With Tyler’s design help and in partnership with manufacturer Öllöv, the Equishox shoe was born in 2023.

“One of the most impressive things Alan King said about the shoe is the stopping of horses knocking joints. Horses can make a mess of their sesamoids and we originally thought that our shoe was improving that because the material wasn’t as hard as a metal shoe.

“However, after doing some investigations into breakover [breakover time is the amount of time it takes for the hoof to actually leave the ground after the heels have lost contact with the ground] with a company called HoofBeat, it turns out we are actually improving the breakover timings so a horse is less likely to interfere with itself. In these cases, we are actually stopping horses knocking joints, or limiting it at least. Equishox shoes improve the timings, if a breakover is milliseconds out it makes it likely for a horse to knock itself. So, improving it, equalising it, modernising it makes it less likely for a horse’s foot to collide with a joint.”

Alan King’s three-time Group 1 winner Trueshan utilises Equishox shoes and the team are hoping it will improve his chances of running on better ground and be not so ground dependent. This, along with the many other benefits of this welfare-forward performance shoe such as shock absorption, superior control on both hard and racing surfaces and quicker recovery times.

Worldwide availability is the trajectory for this impressive company. Things are moving at a pace and the wonder shoe is already approved for racing. “Equishox is BHA and IHRB approved,” Thornton says. “It is also approved in the UAE. We are approved by the National Steeplechase Association in America and HISA approval for the flat is pending - the test for that is next week. Approval is pending in Australia and Bahrain.”

Available in Ireland, the Equishox shoe has been developed to provide optimal safety and comfort for racehorses during intense competition. Enhancing performance is a bonus but the team maintains that the goal of significantly improving the well-being of racehorses is the main aim. More at equishox.com.