On Thu, Jan 11, 2007 at 10:55:12AM -0800, Judy Ryder wrote: > How do the following compare when riding on snowy / icey ground? What are > the mechanics involved?
i don't really know, but thinking of this as a "pre-test", here are my thoughts: > [] Horseshoes not so good -- snow clumps up inside them, which makes them slippery. > [] Horseshoes with borium i tend to equate this, subjectively, with my yaktrax (about which i have posted before). they add security of grip on ice, and dig a little deeper into snow. i can run comfortably with them on most winter surfaces. however, on VERY HARD AND VERY SLICK surfaces -- glare ice and marble floors -- they aren't sharp enough to cut in, and thus i have to walk a bit more carefully on them. but mostly they keep me from slipping to the point where i don't even worry about it. > [] Horseshoes with nails umm. i think most horse shoes are held on with nails, although i guess i've also heard of horse shoe glues? or if you mean caulks or studs (things that stick out further than the shoe surface), my first guess would be that they work like borium in providing more scratch and grip. but i've never seen these in real life, so i'm really speaking through my hat here. > [] Barefoot as far as i've observed, bare feet sometimes (but much more rarely than shoes) can have snow/ice pack in them. usually this seems not to happen, which i (guessing again rather) tend to attribute to the bare foot's tendency to spread a little under the pressure of the horse's weight, allowing snow to fall out. but i don't see a natural hoof wall as rough or "sticky" as borium; maybe more like boots than yaktrax :) how's that for a bunch of speculating? --vicka
