This past weekend, I traveled to Southern Utah to ride, missing the snow storm at home. I had pulled the shoes on my horses a few weeks ago, So they were bare foot. Most of the trail was pretty sandy and the horses did well. We had a couple of tough stretches where it was very rocky. In one place most of my horses went down on a knee because they slipped on the rocks. You can see this at about 3:10 in the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQSfS53xy2MI'm not sure that steel shoes would have been any better. I've found plain steel shoes to often slip even more than barefoot on rocks.So what are the pros and cons of adding the various traction enhancements? Borium, or Drill Tek on either the shoe or just on the nail heads. Heel-Toe caulks, and I know that aluminum shoes grab onto rock like Granite a lot better than steel shoes.Any negatives? too much grip causing twisting or spraining of horse legs or joints? I assume there is some negative or every shoe sold would come with the enhancements. So what are your thoughts?
Posted 2013-11-21 6:31 AM (#155898 - in reply to #155895) Subject: RE: Traction enhancements
Veteran
Posts: 282 Location: southcentral pennsylvania
I have used borium on shoes for over 40 years with no problems. However, we trail ride in the mountains, mostly at a walk. My endurance friends frown on borium, because of the torque on legs, but they are travelling at a much faster pace. My farrier convince me to try shoes without borium. We have to cross paved road from time to time on some of our trails. After some pavement slips, even at a walk, I decided to put the borium back on. Shoes pulled in winter, as we are fair weather riders.
Posted 2013-11-21 10:04 AM (#155902 - in reply to #155895) Subject: RE: Traction enhancements
Veteran
Posts: 174 Location: Missouri
We use drill tek on our shoes. We ride a lot of rocky areas and across slick rock and this really makes a difference. Plus we would wear out regular shoes way before they were due to be shod without the drill tek. We only walk so I don't think it is going to hurt them and is way better than taking a spill. I think the plastic ground control shoes would be good too if you can keep the rocks from getting under them. We have a lot of fine small gravel streams and we had to continuously stop and pick rocks out when we tried them but I think they could have climbed up anything without slipping.
Posted 2013-11-21 4:40 PM (#155909 - in reply to #155895) Subject: RE: Traction enhancements
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 376 Location: Missouri
Jon, you've seen our horses. They are shod year around and always use drill tech. Never had any leg problems with any of ours wearing drill tech all of the time. And you know, we do not always ride slow.
I've seen many more accidents and injuries with horses without it, than those with it.
Posted 2013-11-21 7:16 PM (#155910 - in reply to #155895) Subject: RE: Traction enhancements
Veteran
Posts: 136 Location: Watertown, TN
My wife uses drill-tek on the front and I don't. We use flat shoes all around. I used to use caulked shoes but have found (in my opinion) the horses do better on the trail with flat shoes. If we are on tar n chip roads my horse will slip more than my wife's. on the trail there is very little difference. We never use drill-tek on the back. We ride racking and walking horses. They need to be able to slide their back feet some or they get choppy. We do ride at more than a walk so they need to have control of their feet. Just my opinion and what works for us.
Posted 2013-11-23 8:56 PM (#155938 - in reply to #155895) Subject: RE: Traction enhancements
Expert
Posts: 2453 Location: Northern Utah
Bob, I knew you used it on your horses. And you know how I ride and what kind of country I like to ride. I may see if I can find somebody with a forge to put a little on my shoes for next spring and give it a try.
Posted 2014-01-27 7:18 PM (#157204 - in reply to #155895) Subject: RE: Traction enhancements
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 434 Location: Brooksville, Fl
We tried the nails with borium but it was toast when we finished our trips. I think it's better to add to the shoes directly as it will hold up longer in the rocky terrain.
Traction enhancements
