Equine Digit Support System

Edss (Equine Digit Support System) is a farrier-developed therapeutic shoeing system built to treat a wide range of lower-limb lameness conditions in horses. Rather than a single shoe, it is a coordinated set of components — a therapeutic shoe, a hoof pad, frog-support inserts, and adjustable wedge rails — paired with comprehensive instruction material. Together they let a farrier or veterinarian protect the coffin bone, restore support to the back of the foot, and make ongoing adjustments as a damaged hoof heals. Edss has long been regarded as one of the most effective tools available for managing difficult lameness cases and, in many instances, returning a horse to a pre-disease condition.

What Is the Equine Digit Support System?

Edss is a modular treatment system rather than a one-piece product. A full kit includes a pair of Edss shoes, a pair of Edss pads, a set of frog-support inserts with screws, and a set of wedge rails with bolts. The shoe and pad work together to protect and elevate the heel; the frog-support inserts are durable, frog-shaped wedge pieces that attach to the ground surface of the pad to transfer weight-bearing support to the caudal — or rearward — portion of the foot. Used with Edss sole-support impression material, the inserts load the frog, increase blood circulation, and encourage healthier foot function.

The wedge rails are the system's adjustability engine: available in different heights and interchangeable across shoe sizes, they let the practitioner change the hoof angle and the tension on the deep digital flexor tendon without removing the shoe. That ability to fine-tune frog support and tendon tension over time is exactly what makes Edss so useful for the slow, staged recovery a compromised hoof requires.

Which Lameness Conditions Can Edss Help Treat?

The system is built for the hardest cases. Edss is applied to laminitis and founder, navicular syndrome, ringbone, underrun heels, and contracted heels, among other lower-limb pathologies. In laminitis and founder especially, where the coffin bone is at risk of rotating or sinking, the combination of frog support, heel elevation, and constant adjustability is critical: it offers protection to the coffin bone, supports the limb internally, and lets the practitioner respond as the foot changes day to day.

For acute founder cases, Edss also supports styrofoam support-block techniques, while the Edss/Steward Clog approach addresses navicular disease and other conditions that need caudal-foot support. T

Edss was developed by Gene Ovnicek, a farrier, clinician, and researcher recognized nationally and internationally and drawing on more than fifty years of farrier experience. Its foundation is research, not guesswork: Ovnicek's wild-horse hoof studies in 1986 and 1987 documented how feral horses naturally maintain healthy hoof form and function, and those patterns became the model for his work. He went on to collaborate with researchers including Dr. Robert Bowker of Michigan State University and to found the Equine Lameness Prevention Organization.

That same research first produced the World Race Plate; continued development then yielded a complete system for treating lower-limb pathologies, which became Edss. Established as a family business in 1995 in Columbia Falls, Montana — today operating from Penrose, Colorado — the company describes its mission as helping horse people succeed in hoof care through innovative information and equine products.

Why Does the Instruction Material Matter So Much?

Edss has always been sold as a system and an education. The hardware only works when it is applied correctly, so the company backs it with comprehensive instruction material: printable application guides, instruction videos, books, and hands-on clinics, workshops, and farrier-school partnerships. The printable library alone spans an Edss Treatment System overview, hoof-care guidelines for shoe placement and preparation, a styrofoam support-block guide for acute founder, an Edss/Steward Clog guide for navicular cases, and quick-reference sheets on hoof balance.

The teaching centers on getting the basics right before the components ever go on. Practitioners learn to exfoliate and read the sole, locate the true frog apex, trim the heels to the functional sole plane, and place the shoe relative to the widest part of the foot for a balanced relationship around the coffin joint. With that groundwork, the shoes, pads, frog supports, and wedge rails can do their job — which is why Edss treats the instruction material as inseparable from the product itself.