The right pair of shoes can make all the difference. This is as true for horses as it is for people, according to new research from animal scientists and engineers from UConn.<\/p>\n
Sarah Reed, associate professor of animal science in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources<\/a>, recently published a paper<\/a> investigating how shoeing previously barefoot horses impacts the quality of their gait.<\/p>\n This research originated from an observation made by Katelyn Panos, the farrier for UConn\u2019s own horses. A farrier is a craftsman responsible for trimming and shoeing a horse\u2019s hooves. Panos told Reed she had noticed a curious pattern. In her work, Panos noted that horses shod with plain stamp shoes, rather than fullered shoes, had better movement.<\/p>\n Fullered horseshoes are the standard for most horses. They have a groove (the fullering) surrounding the nail holes. Plain stamp shoes do not have a groove and have only nail holes. Dirt and footing can fill the groove in fullered shoes, which may increase traction compared with plain stamp shoes. The researchers hypothesized shoeing with plain stamp shoes would decrease concussion on the horse\u2019s legs and improve gait quality over time.<\/p>\n