On Wed, Jan 16, 2008 at 01:42:22PM -0800, Judy Ryder wrote: > The horse's normal hind foot landing is to slide into place. With caulks, > borium, nails, or studs, the hoof is not allowed to function naturally. The > grab sends torque up thru the leg, which can, not only negatively affect the > hock, but cause back pain for the horse.
in icy conditions, it seems there are two choices: 1. nothing, in which case the horse can slip and even fall, and which puts considerable torque on whatever the slipping limb is, as well as the others as they scramble to rebalance. and of course a fall is just all kinds of bad. 2. some kind of traction device, which gives some grab. of course, horses evolved in a generally non-icy place. however, today they live all over the world, including periodically-icy places like iceland and massachusetts. what reasons do you have for preferring one solution to the other? i confess i don't feel "grabbed" by yaktrax, and as a moderate pronator i also use "corrective" running shoes. and i daresay the knee is a far less robust or elegant design than the hock. (the knee is indeed one of the best arguments i've ever seen against "intelligent design".) --vicka
