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[RC] Hoof boot for trail "feel" - Jonni>>>I was on an extremely narrow trail with sheer drop-offs on Saturday and the rider behind me mentioned she'd seen my horse's down-hill hind foot miss the trail several times because he travels wide in the back.? I do training barefoot, and had E-Z boot bares on all for hooves for the ride.? (By the way, I could feel his foot miss and hear the sand and gravel falling off the trail.)? She suggested that perhaps he wasn't feeling the trail and that's why he kept making missteps.? I'm wondering if there is a boot that is lighter, thinner, and perhaps would give him a better feel for the trail?? If anyone has any suggestions I would certainly welcome them.<<<Chances are, your horse would travel the same way, no matter what hoof protection they did or did not have. And, if you had been riding behind other horses and watching, I'd guess some of them were often hitting air, instead of trail once and awhile too. Personally, my feeling is the horse is not "feeling" (or not feeling as suggested) the trail with its feet, but is just not tracking straight along the trail. Often riders who are maybe a little nervous about a narrow trail, actually create the issue of horses that have hind feet not always land on the trail. We tend to want to pull their head away from the drop off, towards the "high side", thinking we are keeping them away from the edge, or ledge. But in reality, we create the horses body into a bend, that actually shoves his hind end OUT towards the drop off / edge. If one is nervous about a drop off, use the leg closes to the edge to keep the horse over, more than pulling on the head. Jonni =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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