Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

We have had good luck with the Ground Control shoes.  Nelson has worked with
them and learned a lot about using them by trial and error.  They do NOT
work for every horse.  We have had ANY of them ever pulled (except for ONE
which another horse stepped on and pulled of from the side and the moral of
that story is that you can't leave too much edge on the outside which is
also true for steel shoes and one of those freakish things).  Anyway, they
do best on horses with well shaped and compact feet....they are NOT suited
to horses which tend to flare.  They do allow for a lot of heel expansion
and we have not had luck with them using Equi Pak because they have so much
flex.  Actually, for this reason alone we have used them on horses which
tend to lose shoes and we suspect this may be because they simply flex
instead of getting pulled off.  No proof, just a suspicion.  Nelson uses
only 5 nails to secure these shoes...one in the toe and 2 on each side.
Later I need to send "directions" to a ridecamper for her farrier and I'll
try to save it and forward to RC, too.
I must say that we don't feel they are cheaply made at all... in fact, they
are far superior to any other plastic shoe we have ever seen and hold up
amazingly well...I have put miles and miles of conditioning and competition
on them.  They are GREAT for rocky areas, hard gravel, pavement.  They ARE
worth a try if you feel there is a specific need to do something else.
Otherwise, we generally feel that if what you are already doing works for
your horse, don't mess with success for the sake of trying something new.
Our horses are often guinea pigs for this kind of thing and we are fortunate
that we can switch around with Malik because he has great feet.  He is in
steel St. Croix Eventers right now but we'll probably go ahead and put the
GC shoes back on for ride season.
Maggie


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