So, what does horseback riding look like at Tech Level 8?

Here you go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKY-QYdngNw

If these things work as advertised then they’re probably going to end up replacing iron horseshoes. As that article above notes, the big question is whether mud is going to pop those suckers right off. But if they don’t… well, I’m sure the horses wouldn’t mind not having the business with the nails and the hammer and all that.

2 thoughts on “So, what does horseback riding look like at Tech Level 8?”

  1. That…
    Was one of the most idiotic things I’ve seen in quite some time.
    .
    Seriously. It’s like the people who developed this have never even been around horses.
    It’s certainly being sold to people without the knowledge base to know better!
    .
    A good farrier can fit and nail a shoe in less than half the time of their “quick and easy” replacement.
    A nailed on horseshoe fits much more securely (and they still get thrown!)
    Its also many, many times more durable.
    An iron shoe protects the hoof much better. (You do NOT want to spilt a hoof on a rock. The promotional poster about a flexing hoof is very much a thing of horror. Yes, the hoof will flex a centimeter or two without ill effects, but if the horse steps on a 3cm rock at a gallop, you’re looking at a split hoof, from which the horse will very likely never recover.)
    You’re still going to have to take the large blade, pick, and rasp, to trim the hoof if you don’t want the horse to go lame (which I’m sure the announcer, and the people this is being marketed to, would be utterly horrified to watch).
    Shock absorption is a valid concern for police horses that spend most of their time on asphalt and concrete. Which is why they make special horseshoes with a urethane insert for the purpose. In a pasture or on the range, though? The ground yields long before the hoof.
    Iron horseshoes nailed through their hooves do not hurt the horse, no more than putting a pin through their hair hurts a girl. It’s almost exactly the same thing. Most horses enjoy their pedicures. (It would be rather difficult to shoe a half-ton animal if they *didn’t* like it! You certainly couldn’t do it with just one person and a lead rope tied to a fencepost.)
    The design of this contraption covers the frog of the foot, which is an invitation to get gravel trapped there, and have your horse go lame.
    .
    This inventor needs to be horsewhipped. Well-intentioned people are going to cripple a lot of horses because of him.

    1. “Iron horseshoes nailed through their hooves do not hurt the horse, no more than putting a pin through their hair hurts a girl.”

      Exactly. I’ve been there when a horse was reshod a few times and he didn’t seem to mind at all. And the thing about horses is–if it bothers them, they’re pretty capable of ruining the farrier’s day. This struck me exactly like what you said, Luke: an idea thought up by someone who has never seen a horse shod before. Well-meaning but silly.

      Now maybe it isn’t that–maybe it will actually work, but that’s not the way I’d bet.

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