Phone: (877) TRACTION
or (877) 872-2846

Kristy's Cell Phone: 210-445-1080

International: 011-830-336-4380

Fax: 830-336-3364

e-mail: info@plastichorseshoes.com

Address:

- Kristy Watson, GC inventor

With her husband, three horses, two dogs, two llamas, and three cats, 39 year old Kristy Watson feels at home in the Texas Hill Country. Growing up on an 80 acre vegetable farm in Fremont, Michigan, Kristy was the youngest of six children of Jack and Lois Sanderson.

Kristy recalls hot summer days hauling heavy irrigation pipe with her family over fields of growing vegetables.

“It would be drizzling rain and my father, an agriculture teacher, would say, ‘Don’t look up.’ He knew that the pipe had to be moved to water the young plants and if it rained it wouldn't be enough. My brother and I wanted any excuse not to do it and rain seemed to be the best way out. It was usually at that time when my taller brother would lift his end of the pipe and dump warm muddy water all over my feet.”

Any time that Kristy could get away from the farm chores she would ride her pony bareback two miles up the road to where her friend lived. Those were Kristy’s grungy years when her legs were full of pony sweat and she didn’t care if there was a big knot in her long blonde hair. She would ride with her friend for miles all day long. Sometimes she would come home in the dark, which always got her into trouble. On days when Kristy would spend the night at her friend’s house, they would get up early in the morning to ride before school. During winter they would hitch a sled to the back of a pony. One would ride while the other was pulled behind over the snowy ditches. Horses were her life. One day, she even brought one to school for show and tell.

In third grade, Kristy was selected by her teacher to participate in a gifted art program once a week. As she puts it, “It was weird being singled out of the class of other students. I was put into a room with older kids and everybody kind of did their own thing. Some of the kids were good at math, some were good at writing, and there I was with a canvas and acrylic paints. Every subject that I painted seemed to have a horse in it. Winning poster contests and other art accomplishments during my younger years encouraged me to focus on art later in my life.”

Kristy’s father got into Standardbred harness racing after retiring from teaching agriculture. Now with race horses in the barn, Kristy learned that horses had to be conditioned to compete successfully just like any top athlete. She entered a science challenge project her senior year of high school with race horse training as the focus.

“The records of my scientific study were actually mediocre. I recorded how the heart beat recovered faster with interval training. A heart rate monitor was attached to the girth of the race horses to get my data. It was my hand painted display board that made a big impact on the science challenge judges. I even played hooky from school in order to finish painting the display before the event. When the judges decided to give me first place, I realized at that moment that my art talents would be a big help to my future success. ”

Kristy’s high school art teacher taught her the fundamentals of art. From Ms. Prince, Kristy learned art history, techniques of painting with acrylics, watercolor, and the important elements of design. The highlight of Kristy’s senior year was being selected as Fremont High School’s Showcase representative in art.

At Michigan State University, Kristy studied graphic design and geography. Realistic as she was, Kristy thought she had to have another major to balance an art major if things didn’t work out.

“My parents thought I was crazy for thinking that I could find work in cartography, but I saw it as the perfect combination of science and art. While at a geography convention in California I interviewed for a job with H.M. Gousha Mapping Company in Comfort, Texas. The man who interviewed me laughed when he saw my resume, thinking that it was a joke from his boss. They were looking for a person with my exact qualifications for Map Design Coordinator. Traveling to the Hill Country for the second interview I remember seeing the beautiful wildflowers in the spring and all of the horses in the area. I was certain that even if I didn’t get the job, this was the place for me.”

Kristy was only with Gousha four years when Rand McNally bought them out, terminating all 80 employees in the process. Kristy decided that the only way to truly be happy and secure in life is to own your own business. So, in 1996, Kristy and her husband, Todd, started Polonyx Graphic Design. Their office is located on Main Street in Boerne, Texas. The name Polonyx comes from the combination of their two dogs, Polar, their white lab and Onyx, their black lab.

The Summer of 1999, was an inspirational point for Kristy’s art career when Kristy and her sister, Jackie, took a week long trip to Canyon de Chelly in Arizona. With seven other people, they rode mustang horses for fifteen miles per day. In the afternoons they painted the colorful canyons. Navajo guides traveled with the art supplies and cooked amazing meals. As luck would have it, a Canadian film crew was on the trip and the whole experience was caught on video. The show entitled, “Quiet Places” appeared on the Travel Channel. At night they would sit around the camp fire and talk about all of their different life experiences. “It felt so good to paint again!”said Kristy. Kristy made a commitment to herself that when she got home from that trip that she would paint as much as possible.

In 2000 Kristy invented a urethane horseshoe called Ground Control. Having a plastics engineer in the family and the lessons learned from the science challenge project in high school have made it possible. The goal was to get better traction than metal shoes, and keep horses sound with better shock absorption. Now Kristy balances her time between marketing the Ground Control Horseshoes, the graphic design business, painting, and trail riding with her friends. Kristy also works at Legends Equestrian using horses as a means to helping kids with issues such as ADD, and bipolar behavior problems. On weekends, Kristy works at the Serengeti Resort in Bergheim, Texas as a carriage driver.

A new polyurethane horseshoe was a real hit at the June TETRA/TUMPOT (Texas Equestrian Trail Riders Association and The United Mounted Peace Officers of Texas) Horse Expo in Belton, Texas. Inventor Kristy Watson and husband, Todd Watson of Bergheim, are excited about all of the enthusiastic response that they received from the trail riders, buggy drivers, and mounted posse. Additionally, it was well received by numerous farriers and horse experts alike.

Most visitors to the booth had never seen a plastic horsehoe until the expo. Their eyes lit up with visions of a safer, more comfortable riding experience for both rider and horse. “Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before” was a dominant theme at the Ground Control Horseshoe booth.

“The Ground Control Horseshoe provides maximum traction over asphalt and rocks and is also very shock absorbing. It gives you the freedom to Explore New Ground”, said Todd.

After using several competitor’s plastic horseshoe products, Kristy contacted her brother, plastics engineer John Sanderson, to discuss her vision of a better horseshoe. She wanted to develop just the right shoe that could benefit trail riders and buggy drivers, all at a reasonable price. After two years of research and development, using the input of her farrier, Greg Martin of Boerne, the shoe is ready to benefit the horse. The Watson’s four horses, a Tennessee Walker, an Appaloosa, and two Standardbreds, have all gone through a lot of prototypes. Kristy’s father, Jack Sanderson, a harness racer and trainer in Fremont, Michigan has also helped with the testing.

The whole process has been a great learning experience for Todd and Kristy, who run a graphic design business in Boerne, Polonyx, L.L.C. “We have already filed for a patent”, said Kristy, “ It’s an expensive and time consuming procedure that takes a few years, but is a necessary step.”

During the trial phase, Charles Kooi, mounted posse near Fruitport, Michigan raved about the shoe, “I don’t care if you can make these, all I know is that I better have them for my horse for the rest of my life!”, said Kooi who received a prototype from his farrier, Terry Weaver of Muskegon.

The durability of the Ground Control horseshoes is one of its best features. The shoe is made from 100% polyurethane (the same material that skateboard wheels are made of) and provides a reset under normal conditions. “Most users will get 12 weeks of wear, even when riding on asphalt or rocks.,” said Kristy. “The Amish buggy drivers only got 6 weeks of use, but drove them over 300 miles on the asphalt streets. One lady during our testing got 3 resets, so results will depend on usage.”

“We’re starting out with sizes 1 and 0 with plans to make sizes 00 and 2 soon after”, said Todd. The unique shape of the Ground Control Shoe design allows the same shoe to fit a front or hind shaped hoof. Kristy added a trim line in the shoe’s design to help work as a guide for the farrier. The farrier simply trims off excess urethane for rounder hooves. Farriers nail on Ground Control Horseshoes just like regular metal shoes. The only exception is that the anvil is not required. Hoof nippers and a rasp are used to shape the shoe to the hoof for a custom fit. Other features include a rolled toe, which improves the break over movement of the horse, an open area on each side of the frog support for cleaning, and a recessed nail channel that provides multiple nailing options, yet keeps the nail form contacting the ground.

Reuben Miller of Fremont, Michigan, represents Ground Control Horseshoes to help with the Amish market. Reuben oversaw testing of the prototype on Amish owned Standardbreds who travelled up to 50 miles per week pulling a buggy.

Kristy mentioned how confident her favorite riding horse, Hickory, has become with his footing since using the Ground Control horseshoes. “I do a lot of road riding in my subdivision up and down steep hills. My neighbors probably think I’m crazy when I trot and canter past their houses on the road. I just don’t even think about it anymore. The road is smooth and it’s as if my horse is jogging in tennis shoes.”

Although designed to be a road and trail shoe, test users have also had excellent results as a therapeutic shoe. “I was amazed at how many people approached us at the convention and talked about their lame horses with navicular and founder,” said Kristy, “Although we can’t cure the problems with our shoe, anything to help make the horse more comfortable I believe is beneficial.”