RE: Slippery Training Rides

["Kathy Myers" <kathy@nvolve.com>]

Bonnie wrote:
> If you use these nail then definitely use 4
>per shoe, two in front and two at the heels (4th hole). The nail heads stick
>out a lot further than plain nail heads do. With only two borium headed
>nails you will change the angle of the foot. (tried that only once). The
>borium doesn't last all that long by the way.

Also, I'd suggest watching the way your horse moves before
attempting to use either Borium or Borium nails.  If your
horse's hooves all travel straight ahead then you'll probably
be fine.  However, some horses want to twist / slip the shoe
while it's flat on the ground.  If your horse twists his/her
feet then these sticky nails can cause problems.  The torsion
of the now stuck foot is transfered up into the joints...
not a good idea.

Magnum had a set of borium back shoes (the forge granules)
back in '95 which lasted 6 months through lots of training
miles and a 50.  The shoes show no wear and he was fine
with them.  I still have them.  But the same type of shoes
on another horse caused off-ness and back problems because
she wanted to twist her back feet.  That was the end of
the great borium-for-eudurance experiment for my farrier.

For slick surface training, maybe easyboots are a better
idea.  I'll bet that after a few weeks you'll pop those
puppies on and off in no time!

:) - Kat Myers
in San Mateo, CA with Magnum the TB ex-racer
and Mr Maajistic aka Blue the resident endurance Arab