Instruction Manual

Safety Instructions

Please read the following instructions and watch the videos on our website and YouTube channel before using the COBIT.

• The COBIT is not intended for use by children. It is not a toy.

• Do not drop the COBIT as it is a heavy tool and can hurt you or your horse.

• Only use the COBIT on horses.

Safety Warnings while using the COBIT

• The holding screw on the COBIT ALWAYS goes to the outside of the horse’s foot. If it is not placed on the outside of the horse’s foot and the horse moves, it can injure itself with the holding screw.

• The COBIT should ALWAYS be placed on the horse’s foot while holding the foot in your hands. If the horse should pull it’s foot from between your legs while the COBIT is on the foot you can be injured.

• Remember horses can be dangerous and all safety procedures should be followed handling a horse when using a COBIT.

Maintenance and Care of COBIT

• If the holding screw is lost or damaged, it can be replaced with a 5/16 bolt.

• Store the COBIT in a safe spot so it is not damaged or bent.

Items purchased

• The COBIT, Holding screw, Instruction manual

Manufacturers Warranty

• Manufactured by S3 WIREFORM INC. Swift Current Sk. Canada.

• There is a lifetime warranty against manufacturer defects.

 INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO USE A COBIT

Trim the foot – the object is not to trim the horse’s foot really short from the bottom. The shoe will be set back to wherever the COBIT tells us breakover should be.

Mark the center of the horse’s foot by drawing a straight line from the center of the rear of the frog to the point of the frog.  This line will help place the COBIT correctly on the horse’s foot.

Making sure that the holding screw is on the outside of the horse’s foot – place the COBIT on the foot.  The line you just drew should be parallel to the sides of the windows of the COBIT. Tighten the holding screw on the side of the COBIT snug on the hoof wall.

Place the horse’s foot gently on the ground. The leg should be straight up and down, not excessively forward or back. Pick up the offside leg so the entire weight of the horse is balanced on the COBIT.

Watch how the horse tries to balance on the COBIT

• Are the COBIT and foot tilted forward?

• Are the COBIT and foot tilted backward?

If the foot is tilted either forward or backward you can try to gently push backward on the horse’s knee to see if the COBIT will rock at all. If the COBIT rocks, you are very close to the balance point. Put down the offside leg.

Pick up the foot with the COBIT attached. While holding the foot in your hand unscrew the holding screw, make sure the COBIT does not slide off the foot, and reposition the COBIT if the foot did not balance.

How to reposition the COBIT

• If the foot was tilted forward move the COBIT forward on the horse’s foot as it was behind the center of balance.

• If the foot was tilted backward move the COBIT back on the horse’s foot as it was ahead of the center of balance.

Note: the COBIT is accurate to within a ¼ of an inch of the center of balance

Once you have repositioned the COBIT, tighten the holding screw and gently place the horse’s foot down. Lift up the offset leg and see how the horse reacts to the COBIT. Repeat until the horse is balancing correctly on the COBIT.

How to tell if the foot is balancing correctly with the COBIT

There will be a gap between the floor and the COBIT, front and back while the horse’s foot is on the ground. This means you have found the center of balance. Once you have found the center of balance put the offside foot down, pick up the foot with the COBIT. Mark the rear of the front slot with a line, the center, and the rear of the rear slot with a line. After marking the foot remove the COBIT by unscrewing the holding screw from the horse’s foot.

The center slot line marks center of balance of your horse’s foot. The line made on the rear of the front slot is the breakover point. Everything in front of it is dead foot. This is where the breakover line of the shoe will be placed. If the horse is left barefoot, from the bottom of the foot using a rasp (roll) trim back the toe of the foot to this mark.  As long as the foot is bearing weight on the hoof wall on the sides of the foot there is no problem.

If the horse has soft thin soles it will need to wear shoes for a while till the foot improves enough to go barefoot.

The line made on the rear of the rear slot is where how far back the heel or buttress of the heels (farthest weight bearing surface) should be. If the heels are forward of this mark trimming them shorter will bring them farther back. 

Set the breakover of the front of the shoe on the edge of the front line. This is where breakover is on the horse’s foot – center the shoe on the horse’s foot and nail it on. The shoe should be shaped with a wide well-rounded toe. The shoe will sit on the sole of the foot and as long as the shoe is in contact with the hoof wall on the sides of the foot, there is no problem. This is why we do not trim the foot excessively short.

Dressing the foot – do not dress the foot to the breakover line . It will weaken the wall too much but taper it or round it off. 

Rasping the foot – blend it, taper it back to the shoe or breakover line, if left barefoot. Dress top to have a nice finished look. Round the edges off.

SIZE OF COBIT

The small COBIT is calibrated for a foot that would wear an #0 St. Croix shoe. The large COBIT is calibrated for a foot that would wear a #3 St. Croix shoe. The manual that comes with the purchase of a COBIT includes a diagram that shows how to use the slots for other sizes.

If the small COBIT does not fit properly on the horse's foot after it has been trimmed, move to the larger size.  The large COBIT, which is wider, has been calibrated for breakover (which is farther forward) and heel measurement (farther back) for the larger hoof. All slots and windows have been adjusted accordingly.