 About Walter Varcoe
Walter F. Varcoe has been a professional rider and equine manager for the New York State Department of Corrections as well as their only farrier/instructor until his retirement in July 2006. He taught inmates in his charge the proper care of the equines as well as teaching many the art of farrier work.
During his tenure he also ran the commercial composting operation at the Otisville Correctional Facility where the first horse to become a skeleton was processed. A patrol horse on duty was kicked by another patrol horse, breaking it's leg, necessitating that it be put down. It was from this incident that the first skeleton came about. With the help of his inmate crew the carcass was placed in a static aerated compost pile and allowed to compost for several months. During this time, a crew member made contact with Dr. Deb Bennet of the Equine Studies Institute and she was kind enough to offer advice and anatomical information to the project. Over the following winter the first skeleton came to be. It proudly stands today at the Otisville C.F. Horse Barn office, teaching others the value of equine skeletal anatomy. Another was crafted by Walter for the New York City Police Mounted Unit and it stands at their Remount Training Facility in the Bronx, NY. Upon his retirement at the prompting of many of his NYPD friends he started marketing skeletons and doing educational seminars with his displays along with being a full time farrier.
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