When it comes to horseshoes, he is on top of the trade

ARDMORE, Okla. (AP)--Craig Livingston makes money painting toenail polish on horses.

Really.

But, to be fair, it's not the type of nail polish worn by humans. It's actually more like the Kevlar vests U.S. soldiers and Marines wear into battle. And, to be even more fair, he and his son make their living making other products.

The Australian-born farrier has lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years. He's branched out into lightweight aluminum horseshoes for competition horses, ornamental signs, steel gates and Kevlar Tuff Hoof Guard, a toenail polish that keeps horse hooves healthy and tough. He and his sons have a company, Livingston Tech Inc., and the family lives between Ardmore and Lone Grove.

"Basically, we shoe horses most of the time," Livingston said. "Right now, we're manufacturing aluminum horseshoes. We've been manufacturing our products about five years. Hoof guard is basically a sealant with Kevlar impregnated in it. It makes the feet very tough. It's the same technology they use on NASCAR and the space shuttle in the paint to make the paint tougher. It works like Teflon to shed the bugs and stuff like that."

Hoof guard is painted on horse hooves, similar to painting toenails, and comes in black for competition horses and clear for other horses. A lot of horseshoers use the product because it keeps the weather out and natural moisture in, according to Livingston.

"They (horses) actually come back to a better foot," he said. "Water is our biggest enemy. Horses' feet can get too soft and then they get mushy, and they don't hold the horseshoes too well. A horse's natural environment is a dry, arid climate. A lot of these horses stand in a boggy mess half the time."

Livingston was inspired to create the hoof guard product because there was a similar product on the market he felt was overpriced, and wasn't very good. He started adding various ingredients to make his own and kept refining the recipe. About 10 years ago, he was developing the product for his own use when friends started asking for it. Production grew from that point.

Marketing is done by word of mouth and at seminars and other gatherings for farriers. Now the product is shipped to Hawaii and other parts of the U.S., as well as Canada.

After Livingston had been shoeing horses for about 30 years, he was looking for another sideline. That's how the idea for making aluminum horseshoes came about.

"They use a lot of aluminum nowadays, especially on the show horses," Livingston said. "It's less durable, but it's a lot lighter. They are about one-third the weight of a steel shoe. Like the weight of a tire on NASCAR, a few ounces makes a big difference. You wouldn't think it would make a big difference but it does. The people can tell the difference when they ride, especially when you get into the upper level equestrian events."

Livingston's son, Wade, explained how the computer numerical control milling machine works to produce aluminum horseshoes.

"It's like a robot," Wade Livingston said. "There are several different tools in these holders. The machine calls them down and tells them which way to move, vertically or horizontally. It starts off as just a blank, flat, horseshoe-shaped piece of aluminum. It uses these tools called in-mills in several different shapes. It calls up these different tools that drill out the nail holes."

Livingston said the machine is similar to ones used in a TV show called "Orange County Choppers," for making motorcycle parts.

"There's a big calling for CNC operators," Livingston said. "Everywhere you go, they are advertising for CNC machinists."

Another CNC machine the Livingstons use makes steel horseshoes out of quarter-inch mild steel plates.

"It's more of a ski that you put on the back feet of a horse," Livingston said. "They can slide 40 feet. They are a slick horseshoe. They come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes to correct problems. This one's got a little trailer on it because some horses' feet don't slide straight. Their feet will just spread, so we have to design the shoes a little different. We can get on that computer in there and we can design any shoe we want and cut it out."

Many people don't realize how big the horse industry is around Ardmore, according to Livingston. He said a lot of people in the horse industry are moving into the area.

"It's big in the whole of Oklahoma and Texas, but between Dallas and Oklahoma City is probably the horse capital of the world," he said. "Unless people get to driving around, they don't realize how big these operations are. We're talking about horses that are worth millions of dollars, anything from $100,000 to several million. Reining is the fastest growing industry in the U.S. They are trying to make it an Olympic event and they have to have 50 countries get involved. They've done that easy enough. It's just a matter of whether it gets accepted or not."

Livingston has taught horseshoe clinics in Germany and Brazil. He's going to Sweden this year to do clinics on shoeing reining horses and working cattle horses. He's been featured in articles in Performance Horse, Western Horseman, The Quarter Horse News and German and Brazilian magazines for reining clinics.

Date: 4/1/08