Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Interesting post.  Sounds like one more good reason why horses shouldn't be made to stand on pavement...

 

Heidi

>    Even 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!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 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!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=