Borium and Drill-tek are Trade name/Brand names for products that have tungsten carbide chips in a base of softer metal. Borium has smaller chips than Drill-tek, so may be more common on riding horses for a little grab and the Drill-tek is more common on working draft horse shoes for more grab on pavement. Real common on Amish working animals used on the roads.
The Farrier heats the rod of Borium and usually puddles the base metal onto shoe with smears or dots, that allow the tungsten chips to stick out for traction. Drill-tek is much coarser tungsten chips, often made into a caulk shape for the bigger work horses going on the road with loads. Does REALLY grab hold on the asphault! Farrier must carry a torch to work the choice of Borium or Drill-tek onto the shoe.
Farrier can also puddle the Borium onto the horseshoe nails for grip. Some folks think they help, but I have not found the Borium nails to last as well as the spots or smears, on a horse shoe when we used Borium. We use the drive-in road studs now for our traction needs until winter. Then we use drive-in ice studs because they protrude a bit more to grab the frozen/slippery stuff on the winter ground.
Thomas’ road studs are the same as what we use in the US, we just don’t call them nails. Shoe is drilled with drill-press for straight hole, road stud is dropped in hole, tapped to hold itself in the shoe. Stud is made with a Morris taper, which makes it drive harder into the shoe with use. Road stud is also a softer metal holding the tungsten carbide center in place, like Borium and Drill-tek does. Softer metal wears off, which exposes the tungsten carbide on a continuous basis, keeping stud sharp for grab under the horse.
We don’t use caulks on our horses because it is too much grab on their feet. Stops their hoof too hard, each stride, shock goes up the leg to other places. The road studs allow a microscopic slip when hoof is planted, which horse is made to do, to help in dispersing impact thru-out the leg. We have used the road studs since they were introduced, like them a lot better than borium which was all we had before. We feel borium also grabs too hard on pavement and causes other problems on our horses. So that is a long time with road stud use, some animals are shod year around for using with no leg problems. I think that is over 15 years of road stud use. Like the road studs a lot.
A horse’s way of going can affect what works for him. Some horse plant the hoof, others plant and twist when striding along. If he can’t twist, he gets sore. You have to work with the horse and his natural way of going to keep him happy and sound. Changes will fix one part to look at, but the motion just moves elsewhere, wearing on other body parts. Sometimes you have to “settle” for what keeps the horse happy and sound in work, allowing him grip to keep the shiny side up.
