Richard Vialls originally trained as a physicist and an electronic engineer and worked for a number of years in the silicon chip industry. His scientific curiosity got the better of him in 2002 after one of his horses went lame and neither vets nor farriers could offer a solution.

After training in equine podiatry with a US-based farrier, he began working professionally as an equine podiatrist in 2005. His practice is heavily biased towards remedial cases, with a particular emphasis on laminitis. He is a founder member of the Equine Podiatry Association and has been heavily involved in furthering standards and regulation within the UK equine podiatry profession.

He co-founded the Diploma in Equine Podiatry course and has research interests in the clinical presentation of low-grade laminitis, the biomechanics of rotational laminitis and the links between nutrition, digestion and metabolic disease in horses.