Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

On Sep 12, 2007, at 10:37 AM, David Fryer wrote:

(Hi. Would you care to post this? I don't remember my logon. )

Hi. I will skip the Santa Fe Trail race politics and just talk about the
hoof care issues I observed. I worked with two teams in the first  
three days
of riding. The first team consisted of four horses which had had  
horseshoes
on three months before the race. They had transitioned from shoes to
barefoot with HoofArmor in the three months before the race. The  
other team
typically rode with boots. The first day in New Mexico near Santa Fe  
was the
toughest terrain ever, said a rider who had done many rides,  
including Old
Dominion. I applied HoofArmor to one horse the night before and that  
horse
stepped on a sharp stone and twisted the pastern, so was pulled at  
the first
vet check. We checked with hoof testers and the hoof had no pain  
response,
but the pastern was sore and swollen. Another team used Renegade  
boots. One
of their horses got a stone inside the boot which bruised the frog so  
it was
pulled and that horse was head-bobbing lame two days later. After the  
first
day of the ride I applied HoofArmor to three horses; one of which  
started in
Renegade boots, the others were just HoofArmor. The second day ride  
was 50
miles on the shoulder of a road on stones that looked like volcanic  
pumice.
The two HoofArmor horses successfully completed 50 miles. The next  
morning
both horses had swollen pasterns, but no pain response in the hooves.  
The
horse with the Renegade boots had two boots break and fall off by the  
first
vet check. He put the boots on the weaker hind and had just HoofArmor  
on the
front. That horse came in 6th place that day. I put HoofArmor on that  
horse
again that night and the next day he went with Renegade boots on the  
hind
and just HoofArmor in front. He finished 3rd for the day. Another  
horse with
just HoofArmor was not fully recovered from falling through a cattle  
grate
three weeks before and was pulled at the first vet check for pastern  
pain;
but no hoof pain response. As the team I originally went out to  
support had
no sound horses left, and their vet pulled the team from the race, I
returned home.
Before I left I put HoofArmor on a pair of EasyBoots. I was shown a  
pair of
older Easy boots made from rubber in Mexico. The toes were completely  
worn
through about one inch from the front in two days (100 miles) of  
riding. I
was also shown a new pair of EasyBoots made from PVC in China. That  
pair had
the entire front half of the boots worn through. Another rider with a  
new
set of steel horseshoes wore the hind pair down in two days that the  
nails
heads were completely worn off. These are just my observations. If I  
hear
more, I will write again. Thanks.

David Fryer
www.hoofarmor.com





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

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!!

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