Le Figaro Lyon
Will horseshoes change their name?
An Isère company based in Morette has developed the first plastic soles in Europe without any metal insert inside to replace traditional irons.
An innovation born five years ago from a need by Stéphanie Saunier and her husband for their horse Charly, a three-year-old Franches-Montagnes.
“He was our third horse.
We were made aware of the harmful aspects of metal irons and we wondered about going barefoot, which involves other constraints.
Finally, we found plastic irons without metal inserts in Australia, but made in China,”
the founder of Safe.hp
confides to Le
Figaro .
Orders from the other side of the world are not the easiest, so the couple approaches plastics manufacturers in the region to try to produce a model of plastic irons themselves.
“From the start of the modeling phase, we spoke with farriers and equine podiatrists, we started from a blank page.
“Safe soles no longer have anything to do with the initial sole
,” explains Stéphanie.
Also readGolf, tennis, horse riding… Why do “rich people’s sports” sell fashion?
100% from Isère
Their product, completely flexible, allows the horse's foot to deform on all planes.
“This is very important in two respects.
Already because the hoof is the horse's shock absorber but also because it has a blood pump function for the lower limbs.
We work with riders from the French team and we have shown with thermography tools that blood flow is much better with our soles than with steel shoes
,” continues Stéphanie Saunier.
These soles are made in Isère.
Once worn, they are ground into chips to be mixed with other plastics to make other products.
Safe.hp is currently working to reuse these shavings to produce objects linked to the equine industry.
In terms of lifespan, the soles last on average three times longer than metal irons.
Olympic riders
With its fourth version, the Isère company has already attracted several riders from the French team, including Alexandre Ayache, member of the dressage team who could compete next summer at the Paris Olympic Games and who has been using these soles since two and a half years now.
“Our policy is to work with a high-level rider in each of the equestrian disciplines: TREC, eventing, dressage.
We have not yet communicated, except with Alexandre, but we are told that the soles are more comfortable for the horse, that they resolve certain pathologies and preserve the horse over time
,” assures Stéphanie.
It now remains to have these soles adopted by an environment attached to traditions.
“It’s already moving.
Luckily, our product reaches maturity at the moment when we feel a real awareness and we are able to respond to this demand
,” concludes the creator of these soles.
A nail-free model working with a non-toxic glue for horses should see the light of day this summer.