After the accident that would claim Ronnie’s leg, he teamed up with his dad to drive tractor trailers across the country. By age 24, he had gone broke during a truck strike and lost his home. Down, but not out and in need of a new artificial leg, Ronnie applied to have the state of Florida pay for the prosthesis through a vocational rehabilitation program. That’s when a counselor in the program discov- ered through testing that Ronnie - a 10th- grade dropout with a GED - had a mechanical aptitude that was off the charts. With the help of the counselor,
Ronnie landed his first job in the pros- thetics field. It was 1979 and the job paid $3.35 an hour. The job would soon help him gain stability in his life and set the course for him to begin helping others. To say that he has had an interesting career path is an understatement. He’s gone from being a truck driver, to a prosthetic tech- nician, inventor, certified and licensed Orthotics and Prosthetic practitioner to creating O&P devices for animals. “It seems that I have migrated more towards farm animals, especially horses and some dogs. And, in this capacity, willing to trav- el long distances to do so.” A problem solver at heart, Ronnie thinks so far out of the box when faced with an obstacle, that Linda says he can no longer see the out- side of the box. During his off hours of learning how
to make artificial limbs and braces, Ronnie began experimenting with techniques to make prosthetic legs look as lifelike as pos- sible. That led him to develop a cosmetic skin coating called EZ Skin. In 1989, he
and Linda first founded Prosthetics Research Specialists Inc. Another of Ronnie’s inventions was the One Step Ahead Skin Sleeve, a vinyl sleeve that an amputee can put on and pull off like a sock. It was so successful, he and Linda built a manufacturing plant to produce it. His very first animal patient was a
Morgan mare. A neighbor, who knew about Ronnie’s work with humans, asked him to take a look at her horse Scarlett, who had torn her knee apart stepping in a hole. Her owner had been advised to euthanize the horse. “She refused and instead had Scarlett in a sling, chiropractic care, and acupuncture for a year,” said Ronnie, who agreed to make the horse a knee brace after assessing the injury.
phone call from Dr. Norm Ducharme with Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Ducharme asked Ronnie if he would take a look at a cow named Fawn whose leg was fractured at birth. As a result of trying to compensate for the poorly healed fracture and walk level, she had caused her right front leg to bow laterally at the knee until it was not strong enough to hold her up. Ronnie ended up making a 3000
mile road trip to treat five different species of animals. He drove from Florida to Tennessee, where he fitted a miniature donkey with a finished front leg prosthe- sis. Then on to Watkins Glen, New York to put a hind leg prosthesis on a sheep. From there he traveled to Cornell University to evaluate and help Fawn. While there, he would also evaluate Albie, a goat. Afterwards he headed to Rhinebeck, New York to see a pony named Lucy and adjust the braces she wears on all four legs. “The animals I work on talk to me in
One of the many dogs Ronnie has helped over
the years, Thor was a puppy when he received his first prosthesis from Ronnie.
That early success, 20 years ago, gave
Ronnie the confidence to pursue a career helping other animals with similar chal- lenges. A few years ago, he received a
their body language and their eyes. If they want help, they plead with me,” said Ronnie. “When I make something that helps them, I always get a very good feel- ing from them. Animals don’t have to be able to speak the words in English to say ‘thank you for caring.’ I feel it from them. Fawn was a very affectionate, sweet cow. To me, she was begging for assistance.” Ronnie cast both front legs. Once fitted and comfortable with her new legs, the most noticeable change in Fawn was that her spine immediately started to straighten and lay flat again. Today, Fawn is doing well and no longer needs to wear her right brace full time.
Ronnie helped Fawn, through the combined efforts of Woodstock Farm Sanctuary and Cornell University.
30 THE NEW BARKER
Ronnie spent 60 hours crafting the prosthesis for Dudley, a yearling steer.
Ronnie and Linda fell in love with Luigi, who was born without a left front
leg.The couple adopted him and Ronnie made him the leg and brace.
www.TheNewBarker.com
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