Races in the rain

[ravenclaw]

Watching the Preakness today, I thought of 2 questions:

1. On a sloppy track, do racehorses have studs or caulks in their shoes?

2. Why do some jockeys wear their pants over their boots? To help keep the rain or mud from going into their boots?

[CVPeg]

Here’s one answer to the first part:
http://www.paulickreport.com/horse-care-category/hoof-care-category/even-cant-stop-horse-no-shoe-changes-nyquist-despite-preakness-forecast/

[sk_pacer]

Those pants would be rain gear - plasticised or rubberised pants to keep the regular pants dry and mud out of the boots. Ain’t nothing feels quite like wet, muddy pants and a boot full of mud…YUCK

[Palm_Beach]

Here is a link to the UC-Davis website.

http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/vorl/research-programs/horse-racing-injury-prevention/equine-research-program.cfm

“Associated horseshoe toe grabs with increased risk for injury, especially suspensory apparatus failure (fetlock breakdown)”

Note the use of the word “Associated.” No causal relationship has been determined.

Watch the little video on the right - Computer Model of Equine Forelimb Hoof-Surface Interaction. Very cool. The foot really moves around a lot when it hits the ground - too much grip and all that motion has to occur higher up.

I once had a show horse that went best in wide, flat shoes. I always felt that he liked his foot to move around a little bit when it hit the ground. He was kind of upright and short pasterned, and I felt the extra wiggle provided by the wide shoes made him more comfortable.