I agree 100% ?that the difference can be in the horse, rather than the shoes.
My experience is with tripping rather than slipping on pavement. ?My old horse was *very* sure-footed. ?I can only think of one bad trip (went on his nose), in the whole 25 years of his life. ?He was very good about going over rocky ground, and rarely tripped. ?He had one episode of tripping which magically vanished when I quit trying the new plastic shoes... ?Other people I rode with commented about how he just never tripped.
My new horse, on the other hand, is -- well, probably about average -- but compared to Shadow, he trips a lot. ?I think most of it is inattention, since he can be worse at the walk. ?He generally never trips when he is going fast. ?He also has more trouble going over rocky patches -- seems to have more trouble finding the good spots between the rocks.
Both horses were shod by the same horseshoer, so I attribute the difference to the horse, not the shoes. ? I don't know what Caissons' early history was, but I raised Shadow from birth - every weekend starting from when he was 6 months old we would go up to the local mountains. ?When we got away from the roads, I would turn him loose, and we would go all over those trails: ?flat, rocky, up and down hills, you name it. ?I would ride my ex-hubbys horse, he would run and Shadow would follow along behind the "lead mare". ?When I broke him to ride, he was one of the most balanced young horses I've ever been on.
On Jul 10, 2007, at 6:36 PM, Tx Trigger wrote:
I also will agree that it is not always the "hoofwear" or lack there of that causes slipping or lack of slipping. I had an Arab gelding that I also drove to the carriage. We would trot all around the streets of our So. CA neighborhood, on all types of pavement, concrete, up and down some fairly steep hills,?what ever we came across, and he would never slip. He wore standard steel shoes, I think St. Croix Eventers. My other gelding, who was barefoot at the time could hardly walk 1/2 a block on the same streets without about falling. Feet went every which way.? One was SO sure footed, had been shod all his life, and was a mid to late teen when we started driving. The other just was not the best on his feet. He slipped shod, or barefoot.? It may make a difference on some horses, but not "all" shod horses slip more, and not "all" barefoot horses are more sure footed....
