We usually shoe our horses with borium on all four feet. We have to ride a paved road up the mountian to get to our trails and then back down to camp. I am afraid that without borium my horse will slip and risk injury. Will this be harmful to my MFT if I use borium? I am afraid of the consquences if I do not use it. Any suggestions? Linda

ANSWER:

Linda,

Borium is applied on the toe and heel areas, usually in clumps. The things that I have against borium applied in this manner are:

1) They are not conducive to gaiting as they stop ANY movement of the foot from the moment of touching down.
2) With the build up of material on the toes the breakover timing is changed, which also could effect the ability to gait.
3) The lack of foot movement can cause undue torsion on knees and hocks causing joint damage.
4) If they step on your foot it really HURTS as you can't jerk it out from under them as you can with keg shoes.

My solution to your problem is this. Have your farrier use borium headed nails. They are made by Capewell Co. I have used them on my mare for parades and feel that they worked ok off the pavement. I used two nails to the side of each shoe. (used regular nails in the other nail holes) The borium headed nails do not effect breakover as they are not on the toe. They tend to allow some movement on dirt and gravel, etc. I feel that these nails are a good replacement for borium treated shoes.

Bob

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