IN COMMENT TO:
Message: 5 Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:43:11
-0600 From: Joe Volz < volz.joe@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [MSAR]
Horses hooves To: Mounted search and rescue < msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org> Message-ID:
< b6928e0a0912141443j1238dab6v4a602d4cb96371d3@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type:
text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" My guess is how the
borium is put on. My farrier cuts 3 pieces-- one
for toe and one for each heel. He then puts it in his
furnace to heat it up and then he slightly presses down on
the borium so it leaves it with a rough surface. It
lasts me one season because the shoes/borium do wear down.
I find them very beneficial when I go trail riding because
some of the rock ledges on the trail in Shawnee National
Forest get a little wet and slippery. On Fri, Dec 4,
2009 at 2:39 PM, < emboote@aol.com>
wrote: > Joe, > > Thanks for sharing your
experience, and I should have been clearer. I don't > use
the screw in removable studs, but have spots welded to the
bottom of the > shoes. It sounds like you have the same
thing and had better success them. > >
Emily > > > -----Original Message----- >
From: Joe Volz < volz.joe@gmail.com> > To: Mounted
search and rescue < msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org> > Sent:
Fri, Dec 4, 2009 12:53 pm > Subject: Re: [MSAR] Horses
hooves > > Emily, > > How have the
borium studs worked for you? I found that they were more
of a > severe grip on the asphalt than the regular borium
spots. > > In my mounted police work, there were
times I needed to do some spinning > and i became worried
about straining the tendons. > > Joe > >
On Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 8:36 AM, < emboote@aol.com>
wrote: > >> >> >> When you talk
to your vet or ferrier, tell them the kind of work
your >> horse needs to do and that makes a difference
in what they recommend is best >> for you and your
horse. >> >> I need to be ready for urban
security and rural field searches, plus any >> weather
conditions...ice and snow season is approaching, so I use snow
pads >> in the winter to keep snowballs from forming,
plus shoes with borium studs. >> In the summer, I put
shoes on them because we're frequently in the
mountains >> with sharp rocks and stones and I've
learned from past experience, to >> protect them so
they don't get bruised. I've tried shoeless but with
the >> amount of daily riding we do, the hoofs were
wearing down too fast on the >> city patrols because of
the asphalt and cement we work on. With a herd of >>
six, there are differences in what works best for each. I've
just learned >> over the years that while the hoofs
vary from horse to horse, the factor >> that makes the
difference is what kind of work they're expected to do.
I >> don't want a barefoot horse stepping on something
downtown that can cause an >> injury. They're pretty
good at letting me know if they don't want to step >>
somewhere. My mustang would go up the trails in the Black Hills
and not step >> on a single rock when he was barefoot.
He tends to be flat. With shoes, he's >> not as
concerned. >> >> How's the new MSAR group
doing down there in Georgia, Steve? >> >>
Emily >> _____________________________>>>>
Joe, Emily etc...for those of you having gaiters...
I personally do not advise the use of borium on especially
Paso gaited horses. Based on experience with them on my
own.
When I was new to the Paso breeds I thought it would
be best to put a set of boruims on my Paso Fino to ride in the
winter. Thought it would give her better
traction. Afterall, it did for my quarter horse,
so figured it would work onher. Even my shoer thought
that was correct. What I learned is that it stuttered her gait
and the borium could have caused major lameness
issues.
She wore the set of boruim welded caulked shoes for 5
weeks. In that time I encountered misirable snow balling
while she was at pasture making it horrible for her to
walk. While riding, she did not snowball as badly only
because her quick gait would knock them out, however the caulk
gripping the pavement would interfere with her natural
gait. It was hardly noticible, but I could feel the
difference and what was occuring was excess concussion to her
legs and knees and shoulder and the action if
allowed to be continued could be detrimental. As it
gripped the pavement it also jammed her knees thus jamming the
shoulder. Upon 5 weeks, that horse wore the borium
caulks right off the shoes and I had to get the shoes
removed. The mare was so quick gaited she wore the
nailheads to paperthinness in that time..howewever the first
couple weeks were the weeks that could have caused the most
harm, but fortuneately for me for her it did
not.
My shoer at the time could not beleive any horse could wear
off the boruim caulks he welded on any shoe he made
and how he had done them and he never had any horse do that
to any shoe he set before. He did mainly trooters
and had no problem and insisted they would last 8-12 weeks or
better and could be reset on them. He did not encounter
many pasos at that time.
During week 4 of her wearing the shoes I noticed her gait
improving, however she would slip on the pavement. The
borion was nearly wore off by that time. I did
extensive trail riding at that time even in the winter. The
work was hard fast hours a day daily. My shoer
also told me, most people did not ride there horses as much as I
did and no less in the winter. Most riders are weekend
warriors, which is even harder on a horse since they lack
perpetual condition. They actually are not rode enough to
stay in a good peak condition and most are stall bound.
Upon disucssion with my shoer we decided it was not good
for the breed of horse so we let her go barefoot and she
has been barefoot ever since and now at age 30 the
mare has the best feet and has never suffered any lameness in
her life and remains sound today.
I do not recommend these kinds of shoes for any
Paso simply because prolonged use and the prolonged
struttering in the Paso gait these shoes can cause will
only lead to permanant knee damage in time and cause
shoulder lameness as well due to the gripping concussion..
Paso gaited horses are quite sure footed pretty much no
matter what the terrain when barefoot. About the only time
I recommend shoeing them is if you have a horse that cannot
handle rocky terrain and even then I recommend staying with a
flat plate minimal shoe or if it has a bad foot and requires a
corrective shoe to start.. The majority of
SOUND horses if allowed to go on a natural hoof will
develop a foot that can handle even rocky kinds of
terrain. There is a lot to be said for the natural
foot. It is importand for the hoof no matter what to be
able to pump the blood and circulate.
I want to add something about weekend warriors here in that
most of your horses do not get adequate exersize for
their specie even if pastured. Because they are
primarily idle, when worked hard only periodically, their
bodies do not get the chance to develop a lean hard muscled body
that a fully conditioned FIT horse will have..
Weekend warrior horses or idle horses are also largely kept way
too fat and often fed improperly. They have the most
problems. They will lack stamina and endurance. They
will have fat flabby muscles and be soft and have what I call
"toaster bums" (A fat rump with the dip on top!)
Many score a 9 on the body condtion chart. A
nine is not the best score and neither is a 1.
These animals and their hearts will not be as tweaked
as a horse that is lean and fit and properly in condition.
In most stables today unless someone has a race horse
or endurance animal, it is almost pretty uncommon to see a peak
fit condition horse unless you work the individual horse several
hours a day every day and they are properly fed.
Most are way too fat. Fine tuned fit horses have
little body fat and are lean flat muscled and score around
a 5 in body condition. Many people do not know
what a fit conditioned horse is supposed to look like, no less
what the fit of most breeds are supposed look
like. Scoring high on the horse body condition chart
for fitness is the wrong way to go..
Properly fed and properly conditioned horses will also have
good sound feet.
Karen
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