Ric Redden always has about a half-dozen horseshoes with him. They’re not for good luck. Like most traveling surgeons, he carries scalpels, syringes and bandages. Unlike most, he also carries a blacksmith’s hammer. He’d carry a blowtorch if he could get it on the plane.
Dr. Redden is a farrier and veterinarian who does most of his work with thoroughbreds. He and his wife Nancy established the International Equine Podiatry Center in Versailles, Ky., in the 1980s, the first clinic of its kind. He has spent his career treating valuable racehorses, quarter horses, draft horses and show horses around the world. He does everything from custom horseshoes to hoof surgery. He helped pioneer prosthetic forelegs.
Ric Redden visits with a patient at his clinic’s stables. Dr. Redden travels with a yellow trunk containing custom horseshoes, blacksmith equipment, and surgical equipment.
Ric Redden visits with a patient at his clinic’s stables. Dr. Redden travels with a yellow trunk containing custom horseshoes, blacksmith equipment, and surgical equipment. Before meeting a new patient, Dr. Redden studies X-rays and video clips of the animal’s gait, but he usually reserves judgment until he gets face to muzzle.
“You can never have a preset idea of what you want to do until you speak to the horse,” the 68-year-old says. “The horse will tell you what has to be done.”
That communication often comes when he’s got a hoof between his knees, tools in hand. “They will put their nose right behind your ear and push to say, ‘No, no, don’t do that,’ ” he says. “Some of them do it in a gentle fashion, some are not so gentle.”
Though he claims to be semiretired, Dr. Redden does anywhere from 150 to 200 consultations a year, logging about 300,000 airline miles annually. Last year’s schedule included visits to Australia, California, Florida.
By HILARY POTKEWIT Reprint Wall Street Journal January 2015
