Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

This is all very exciting.  So the sand allows the hoof to grow to its "natural" or "normal" shape? and the Arabian horse of the desert has U shaped hooves? and everyone can agree 54 degrees is the "optium" level?

 

Incidently, the stallions had weight, but the pregnant mares were really ribby.  There was ample grass for them now, but it doesn't appear they are fed during the winter.  When i first saw the sign for the Wild Horses and all the condos were arround i wondered where they were, and found them up from Duck and that ain't much terrain to wander.  They were also very small and i wouldn't think the biggest one was bigger than 14' 1". ts

It all has to do with the terrain.  I don’t think you’d find the U shaped feet in the Rockies.   My guess, from your description of the hooves, is that the horses are in sand most of the time.  Horses in sandy terrain grow higher heels (from the observations of Gene Ovnicek and others).  The heels sink down into the sand, so the mean hoof angle is still somewhere around 54 degrees, but on harder terrain their hoof angles would be higher with those longer heels.