I started the research and the design of the COBIT in the spring of 2016. The horse that started it all was named Henry. His career was over, which prompted my search for a better way to help horses with foot problems.

I X-rayed Henry's feet to determine exactly where his breakover should be. Using X-rays, I found that breakover was quite a bit farther back from the toe than I thought it would be. I wanted to come up with a way of finding breakover without repeatedly X-raying Henry. I was familiar with the center of balance, so I created one of my early prototypes of the COBIT to find a balance point.

It was not that pretty the first time, but I found the center of balance. I now had a place I could measure from. About six months later I checked again. Henry was X-rayed again, and I found that the distance did not change. I started to think that this instrument would be beneficial for more horses than just Henry. I began using it on a lot of problem cases. In doing so I found that the center of balance became a repeatable point to measure from. This led to finding a common measurement from the center of balance forward to breakover on the majority of quarter-horse-sized feet. That is how the COBIT came about. Over the next few years I kept retesting the measurements on horse’s feet to see if there was a common distance and how repeatable it was. From all the testing and confirming with X-rays I found that the measurement was consistent.

I tested a variety of sizes, breeds, and horses used in different disciplines.  I was able to find breakover using the COBIT consistently and became determined to make the COBIT more functional and easier to use.  My first prototypes were crude and some of them didn’t work very well.  The user-friendly COBIT we have now has been developed over time.

One of the things that helped me create the current COBIT was analyzing horses’ behavior and their reactions to being trimmed.  I based my early test results on Henry’s positive and negative reactions. I based my horseshoeing on listening to Henry, watching his reactions, and always letting Henry tell me if what I did was right or wrong. The ultimate judge is the horse, and as a result of my development of the COBIT, Henry was able to re-enter the show pen and actually went on to win a national title.