3D printing experts at the CSIRO have used the technology to help a disabled horse walk again.
Holly, a ten-year-old mare, has for three years suffered a chronic foot disease called laminitis, which causes inflammation between the hoof and the bone, making walking painful.
Scientists scanned her damaged hoofs and used 3D printers to create carefully tailored titanium horseshoes.
The shoes will redistribute weight away from the painful areas of the foot and boost Holly's recovery, said CSIRO vet Dr Luke Wells-Smith.
"She should be walking normally and without pain in just a few weeks," he said.
"Many attempts have been made in the past to cure Laminitis but it's the 3D scanning and design part of this process that is so exciting to us."
CSIRO scientists have previously used 3D printing to make titanium horseshoes for racing.
They claimed in October that the shoes weigh 50 per cent less than standard cast-aluminium shoes.
