Abstract:
Fasteners are configured to anchor a horseshoe to a hoof. The fasteners are used in conjunction with wrapping, banding and/or casting material to secure a horseshoe to a hoof. Methods of anchoring a horseshoe to a hoof employ fasteners and wrapping, banding and/or casting material.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/441,958 filed Feb. 11, 2011, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The presently disclosed subject matter relates to methods and devices for attaching a horseshoe to a hoof. More particularly, the presently disclosed subject matter relates to fasteners to anchor almost any type of horseshoe to the hoof, and methods which employ the fasteners with wrapping or casting material that wraps the hoof and engages with the fasteners. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    An animal hoof and especially an equine hoof is composed of a relatively hard outer surface, a sole and other structures on the ground surface of the foot. The outer surface continues to grow during the animal&#39;s lifetime, similar to the human fingernail. In the wild, the growth rate of the hoof wall is approximately balanced by the wear processes as the animal moves. However, in the domestic horse, such is not the case. Due to the use humans make of the horse and the surfaces and conditions in which horses are kept, some ‘artificial’ treatment of the hoof is generally required. Most generally, a farrier will trim the hoof and apply a metal shoe to protect the foot. In recent years some non-metal shoes have also been introduced. 
         [0004]    In typical current practice, a farrier attends to a horse about every 6 weeks. The old shoes are removed, the hooves are trimmed, and new shoes are placed on the feet. 
         [0005]    A typical situation for a domestic horse is that the ‘toe’ portion of the hoof grows out more quickly than the ‘heel’ portion of the hoof, and hence, without periodic trimming, the angle the foot makes with the ground (as seen from a side view) would gradually change. However, a great variety of other situations concerning the shape and growth of the hoof occur, and it is the job of the farrier, sometimes with a veterinarian&#39;s advice, to determine the best course of action to maintain the health and usefulness of the horse. 
         [0006]    A common way of attaching a horseshoe to a hoof is by means of specialized nails which require special skill to apply properly. Some shoe attachment systems instead use specialized adhesives to bond the shoe to the hoof. Another method is to wrap the hoof with wrapping tape, sometimes called casting material, and to allow this material to partially or fully cover the shoe as well, thus securing the shoe to the hoof. The problem with using casting material is that typically one of the following three methods is employed, each with drawbacks: 
         [0007]    Current Method #1: The casting material must cover most or all of the shoe, including the ground surface contacting side (bottom) of the shoe, in order to secure it. When the ground surface contacting portion of the shoe is covered the situation arises wherein the casting material obstructs the tread-pattern and other features designed into the shoe, and also, over time, the casting material abrades and wears away from constant contact with the ground, and at the end of this process the shoe is lost. 
         [0008]    Current Method #2: The shoe must have certain features that allow casting to secure it in place without the need for the casting to cover the ground surface of the shoe. For example, the shoe can be very thick with a large bevel around its periphery. The casting material can wrap on this bevel and hence secure the shoe without covering over the ground surface contacting portion of the shoe. The drawback with this method is that it cannot be used with most horseshoes on the market today, all of which have been designed in a certain way, for a certain reason. 
         [0009]    Current Method #3: Casting the bare hoof, then bonding the shoe onto the casting material that has been wrapped on the ground surface contacting side of the hoof. In this method, the casting material provides a surface that is easier to bond to than the equine hoof itself, and there may be the advantage of the adhesive bond lasting longer. However, this method requires expensive adhesive, and also one ends up with a large, thick layer of casting material and adhesive between the bottom of the hoof and the top of the shoe, which is generally undesirable. 
         [0010]    Therefore, it would be desirable to provide devices and methods which permit use of the popular wrapping tape or casting materials now available and others coming available in the future without the aforementioned drawbacks. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0011]    The presently disclosed subject matter pertains generally to fasteners which are operable on one end to secure the horseshoe (by inserting into existing nail holes in the shoe), and on the other end to engage casting material. 
         [0012]    In accordance with one embodiment a fastener is disclosed having a point configured to fit in and engage an opening formed in the ground-facing side of a horseshoe and a shank configured to wrap around the outside of the horseshoe toward the hoof. The fastener may comprise essentially a hook which may fit into a horseshoe by slipping the point of the hook into an existing nail hole of a horseshoe. A channel between the point and the shank of the fastener may engage a portion of the horseshoe. The shank of the fastener may fit snugly against the outside of the shoe and partially up the outer wall of the hoof. On the shank portion of the fastener, on the side opposite the hoof facing side, there may be disposed one or more bumps, barbs or other protrusions so that wrapping, casting or banding material, when wrapped around the hoof, engages with the bumps, barbs, or protrusions. The result is that by using two or more of these hook-type fasteners a horseshoe can be secured to the horse&#39;s hoof using wrapping tape, bands, or casting material. These hook-type fasteners can be sized and shaped to work with almost any horseshoe currently on the market, as well as with almost any wrapping, banding, or casting material currently on the market. 
         [0013]    In one embodiment, the fastener is configured such that the channel of the fastener fits between raised tread on a shoe such as a synthetic shoe available commercially from Epona Shoe of Paso Robles, Calif. in such a way that the fastener does not come in contact with the ground at all, and the horse walks entirely on the ground-contacting surface of the shoe as the shoe was designed for. Shoe features such as grip and non-scuff use are maintained even with the hooks in use. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
         [0014]      FIG. 1  perspective view of a casting hook in accordance with one embodiment of the disclosed subject matter; 
           [0015]      FIG. 1A  is a perspective view of a detail of the casting hook according to  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0016]      FIG. 2  is a side view of the casting hook according to  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0017]      FIG. 3  is a bottom plan view of a horseshoe having a plurality of openings to accommodate a casting hook in accordance with one embodiment of the disclosed subject matter; 
           [0018]      FIG. 4  is a cross-section of the shoe of  FIG. 3  through line A-A′ in accordance with one embodiment of the disclosed subject matter; 
           [0019]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of a horse&#39;s hoof with a glued-on shoe and a plurality of casting hooks placed in the shoe, prior to applying the casting material in accordance with one embodiment of the disclosed subject matter; 
           [0020]      FIG. 6  is a side view of a hoof with casting material wrapped around the hoof, and casting hooks shown in phantom in accordance with one embodiment of the disclosed subject matter; and 
           [0021]      FIG. 7  is a bottom view of a hoof of a horse including casting hooks in existing nail holes, fitted between tread on the shoe, and casting material wrapped on the outside of the hoof and casting hooks. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0022]    In the following description, for purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. It will be apparent, however, to one having ordinary skill in the art that the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known features may be omitted or simplified so as not to obscure the present invention. Furthermore, reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. 
         [0023]    In general the subject matter disclosed herein includes fastener devices that may be referred to casting hooks and the method of use thereof. These fastener devices and the methods of their use facilitate attachment of a horseshoe a horse hoof by use of any kind of wrapping, banding, or casting material commonly known and used in the art. This wrapping material may be soft, rigid, flexible or any combination of these properties. The fastener devices and methods of use can be used with almost any horseshoe currently in use today. 
         [0024]    Now referring to  FIGS. 1-2 , an exemplary casting hook fastener  10  is configured to connect a horseshoe to an equine hoof having a point  12 , shank  14 , channel  16  and protrusions  18 . While  FIGS. 1-2  shows a generally square bend confining channel  16 , so that the fastener  10  is generally L-shaped, one skilled in the art will recognize the bend of the hook fastener  10  may be curvilinear on the channel  16  side and/or the opposite side of the channel  16 , so that the fastener may have a bend forming a “J” shape. 
         [0025]    With further reference to  FIG. 3 , a horseshoe  30  may include one or more nail holes  32 . With further reference to  FIG. 4 , point  12  is configured to fit into a nail hole  32  of a horseshoe  30 . If need be, new holes can be drilled in a horseshoe  30  to accommodate the fastener  10 . In one embodiment, point  12  is configured to fit in a pre-existing nail-hole found in most commercially available horseshoes, such as but not limited to any horse shoe available from Epona Shoe of Paso Robles, Calif. With further reference to  FIG. 5 , shank  14  is configured and constructed to lie close and substantially parallel to the outer surface  110  of a hoof  100 . Channel  16  is formed between point  12  and shank  14  and is configured to engage a ground-facing side  34  of a horseshoe  30 . The fastener can be tapped into a nail hole  32  using a hammer, or by applying force adequate for point  12  to engage the nail hole  32 . The fastener  10  need not be driven into the hoof of the horse to be shoed. 
         [0026]    The exterior surface  15  of shank  14  includes protrusions  18  configured to engage with wrapping, banding or casting material to hold the material securely to the hoof. Protrusions  18  may be pointed, rounded or the like, it being understood that the protrusion  18  should be configured to adequately engage a given wrapping, banding or casting material. The protrusions  18  may be formed on shank  14  in any suitable manner, such as by such as by attachment, adhering or the like. In one embodiment, protrusions  18  are formed by punching shank  14  to produce barbs. Although the protrusions  18  are shown in the FIGs as pointing in a direction opposite that of the point  12 , the protrusions may be pointed in any direction relative to the point  12  and/or the shank  14 . 
         [0027]    Wrapping, banding or casting materials are well known to those having ordinary skill in the art and may include without limitation fiberglass, fiberglass composite, fabric with or without an impregnating resin, moldable plastic and the like. 
         [0028]    The fastener  10  may be made of any suitable material such as metal, plastic, polyimide, polymer or the like. In a preferred embodiment, the casting hook fastener  10  is made of metal which allows the shank  14  to be bent slightly and shaped as needed to fit near to the outer surface  110  of a hoof. 
         [0029]    One skilled in the art will recognize casting hook fastener  10  may be any suitable size to accommodate the large variation in sizes of horseshoes. For example and not by way of limitation, in one embodiment, point  12  is about 0.30 to about 0.60 inches in length and has a base having a width of about 0.20 to about 0.40 inches. Channel  18  may be about 0.30 to about 0.50 inches in length. Shank  14  may be about 1.15 to about 2.10 inches in length and may include a substantially straight section  14   a  which corresponds roughly to a thickness of a horseshoe  30  with which the fastener is to be, or is being, used, and a substantially straight section  14   b  which is angled relative to section  14   a  to conform to an angle of a horse hoof relative to the ground. Section  14   a  may be about 0.40 to about 0.60 inches in length and section  14   b  may be about 0.75 to about 1.50 in length. In one embodiment, point  12  is about 0.40 inches in length and has a base having a width of about 0.25 inches. Channel  18  may be about 0.35 inches in length. Shank  14  may be about 1.50 inches in length and may include a substantially straight section  14   a  which may be about 1.0 inch in length and section  14   b  which may be about 0.5 inches in length. With reference to  FIGS. 3 and 7 , in one embodiment the fastener  10  is configured fit between the treads  37  on the ground-contacting side  34  of the horseshoe so that the fasteners  10  do not come in contact with the ground when the horse stands on even ground. 
         [0030]    With further reference to  FIG. 5 , after the fasteners  10  are placed in the horseshoe  30 , the horseshoe  30  may be glued to the hoof  100  with an adhesive prior to addition of wrapping, banding or casting material. This step is not necessarily required. In one embodiment, the horseshoe may be secured to the hoof  100  solely by means of fasteners  10  and casting material. Now referring to  FIGS. 6 and 7 , casting material  40  such as fiberglass wrap is wrapped around hoof  100  and fasteners  10 . Protrusions  18  of fasteners  10  engage casting material  40 . 
         [0031]    Methods of attaching a horseshoe to a horse hoof include inserting fasteners as disclosed herein into existing openings formed (or if no such openings exist, forming openings) in a horseshoe, contacting the horseshoe to the hoof, and applying wrapping, banding or casting material around the horseshoe such that the material contacts protrusions extending from a surface of the fasteners. The horseshoe may be glued to the hoof prior to the wrapping, banding or casting operation, or prior to insertion of the fasteners. Optionally, the wrapping, banding, or casting material may be further secured to the hoof wall by means of adhesive between it and the hoof wall. 
         [0032]    Although the invention herein has been described with reference to particular embodiments, it is to be understood that these embodiments are merely illustrative of the principles and applications of the present invention. It is therefore to be understood that numerous modifications may be made to the illustrative embodiments and that other arrangements may be devised without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claim(s).