A FIFTEEN-year-old Clydesdale horse with a bad canker had her life saved by a man - with a 3D printer. 

Freda, from Larkrigg Riding School, Kendal, had a canker in her hoof that was so bad that vets could not save her and she was going to be shot. 

However Andrew Allshorn, from Cark company 3D Squared, came to the rescue by using a custom 3D printed plate to seal the hoof and prevent it from getting re-infected. 

Poorly Freda had the canker removed from her hoof, and then the 3D printed plate sealed it

Canker is a serious infection of the horn of the foot that can usually be treated by removing the infected tissue and then packing the hoof with sterile gauze fixed with duct tape.

However, despite her owners spending thousands of pounds on vetinary bills, Freda's canker would not go away because the duct tape would keep falling off and the poorly horse had been suffering from it for a while. 

Andrew had been working on another project when his friend from the riding school told him about the horse. He decided to help Freda out, only charging the riding school for the cost of the materials. 

He said he did it for the challenge but admitted that there was some anxiety.

"The owners said that if you can't fix it, it is getting shot so no pressure," he said.

"We put her foot in a hole in a piece of cardboard and sent the measurements off to the printer. I made a rubber shoe for her, it was then nailed onto the horse's foot." 

This finally worked, and as a reward, the riding school allowed Andrew to fulfil a personal dream which was the opportunity to ride a horse. Andrew now visits Freda to see how she is getting on and to canter around the school. 

Andrew's company 3D-squared gets commissions from F1 teams and aerospace engineers and he himself has worked in the industry for 30 years.

However, Andrew is cautious with the technology.

"You could print 3D print anything but sometimes you shouldn't," he said.

"You look at the application you are trying to resolve. Combine everything, combine traditional methods with 3D printing. It is a tool which helps engineers."  

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