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RE: [RC] Hot Feet - Linda CowlesEven though horseshoes might get warmer from use on rough surfaces or from other factors, I can't imagine they would get hot enough to cause pain to the horse through the insensitive lower-most layer of the hoof. Anybody ever seen a horse hot-shoed? They stand perfectly still for it. I'm a bare foot trimmer, and I love tools and tech toys. A client / friend, a roofing contractor, gave me an expensive heat sensor (with a laser... cool toy!) that a government contract required he use to install a roof. I've played with it trying to locate abscesses and inflammation, tried to see if thrush changes the surface temperature in the affected area.. That sort of thing. A while ago a friend from Lake County called to ask about riding bare foot horses on hot roads, so it was a natural progression to see how hot shoes get relative to pavement, how heat increased in the hoof adjacent to the metal shoe vs. a mustang rolled bare foot... That sort of thing. I played with it before this last heat wave. It was a one rat lab test - NOT science! It was about 93 degrees when I tried this, not hot, and the pavement was well worn and dirty, not the hottest of tarmac. What I found out is this: When a shod horse is standing on hot pavement, the shoes very quickly become almost as hot as the pavement, about a degree less. The nails conduct heat too, and the clinches are about a degree lower in temperature than the shoe. I don't know how painful the heat from the shoe or the nails are, it's probably in the discomfort range if the heat is up there. The hoof directly above the hot shoe was almost as hot as the shoe, 2 degrees cooler, and heat from the shoe was carried up into the wall for 1/2 to 2/3 inch on this not too hot day, decreasing as the sensor moved up the wall. What was interesting was that the barefoot horse, which had a recently rasped and mustang rolled wall, showed only a negligible raise in temperature directly above where the hoof rested on the hot driveway... It was less than a degree warmer than the wall 1/4 inch down from the coronet band. What I got from this is that the flat wall resting snugly against the shoe caused the hoof to absorb much more heat from the pavement than a rounded hoof surface on the same pavement. Like I said, it's a one rat lab experiment, I didn't write anything down or take notes. Maybe I will next time, post the info to my web site. Later! Linda Linda Cowles Certified Hoof Care Provider WWW.HealthyHoof.Com mailto:HealthyHoof@xxxxxxxxxxx =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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