RE: Sneakers

["guest@endurance.net" <guest@endurance.net>]

Melinda melinda@equithotics.com
To Steph and Ridecamp: A recent posting on ridecamp was brought to my attention and I would like to request a chance to comment on some statements made about Sneakers for Horses horseshoes. Sneakers are a wide web shoe with a pad on the ground surface and were designed for hard, dry, tough going. They help to reduce the concussion on the horse's hoof and legs. They do not have an edge like a rim shoe so in other conditions, such as slick grass, for more traction there are numerous methods available to modify the shoes for added traction. Traction in mud is an individual issue. If you are riding in deep mud then you are probably not looking for concussion absorption.
     Sneakers are about the same thickness as many shoes and pads at about 1/2 or so depending on the size. As the horse steps down onto the hoof's weightbearing phase it has been shown that the pad material can compress 2mm at the trot. The shoes use the same farrier tools and techniques that have been in use for centuries. If a horse happens to lose a shoe, as can happen with any shoe, it is not a problem to put an easyboot or other hoof protection on the shoeless foot until a shoe can be reapplied.
     Over the ten years that the Sneakers have been available, most of the top endurance races around the world have included horses winning, winning BC, placing in the ten or just "finishing to win" with Sneakers. What one needs to remember is that the Sneakers are another tool available to riders to use or not to use to help their horses. It is entirely an individual choice for that horse and rider combination. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to express another side of the story. And out on your trail adventures, when you see that tell tale funny horseshoe pattern in the dirt, you will know that another endurance horse wearing Sneakers has been hitting the trail in comfort over all those endurance miles. 
Thank you. Sincerely, Melinda Balint