Pro Barrel Racer Kara Large and her mare RSL FirstRoyalEddie “Katie” Before Safe-Grips
I’ve been asked about these a lot and wanted to share it with everybody. This might get a little long, but here is my testimony on Safe-Grip Shoes.
If you are having trouble with a horse slipping, scrambling, falling, not being able to set their feet right? You might want to tune in here. While I was at the BBR finals earlier this year, I kept seeing an ad for Safe-Grip Shoes. It intrigued me right off the bat. I watched the video, I talked to the guys at the booth, it made a lot of sense to me. I bought 2 sets. However, I’m not one to just jump on a bandwagon... I held on to those things for 5 months, just sitting in my trailer never even put them on a horse. If you follow me, you’ve probably seen my little grey mare RSL FirstRoyalEddie “Katie”. She is an amazing mare, she runs really hard, turns really hard, but one thing she is NOT is sure footed. Her flaw is that she is going to turn a barrel, no matter what, no matter the conditions, and she will not safety up to try and do it. When speed was added I had a ton of trouble with her slipping on me when she would try to make that fast move on the backside of a barrel. Originally I contributed it to her being so green, thinking eventually she will find her feet. It took her going down bad on me at the 1st barrel one day, and that’s where I drew the line... that next week I was at my farrier getting these dang shoes put on my horse. I’d read the Facebook posts, “Oh, but with that much grip it’s just going to put more wear and tear on the joints!” Do you know what’s going to put serious wear and tear on the joints? My horse constantly having to catch herself from an almost fall, or going completely down (as she did twice before I started using Safe Grip). I started using Safe-Grips on her almost 3 months ago now, and these shoes have been an absolute game changer for her. I no longer feel like I have to stress about if she’s going to keep her feet under her, I can go out there and make a run confident that she can work and she has a quality shoe that is designed to help her perform to her best ability. On top of that, I recently took her to the vet just to get a baseline lameness done since she hadn’t had one in while (and I had the words of people telling me these shoes would sore a horse up in a hurry hanging in the back of my mind), and she flexed off 100% in both directions on ALL joints. This mare was not a bit sore anywhere. Safe-Grip shoes not only give me the confidence in my horse, but I have noticed that they have given her the confidence to be able to win.
Pro Barrel Racer Kara Large
FAQs
Q. Does my horse wear Safe-Grips all the way around, or just on the front or just on the back?
A. We have a front pattern and a hind pattern, we recommend to use Safe-Grips on front and hind.
Q.Will Safe-Grips have too much grab in some arenas?
A. The Safe-Grips are designed to only have traction when the shoe is being pushed (the horse is starting to run or is running ), at this time the horse needs all the grab it can receive from the footing and shoes. Our shoes are the only shoe design to do this! That’s why we call them the "Safe-Grips".
Q. Will my farrier have to change his/her way of shoeing?
A. No. It was one of our biggest goals to create the Safe-Grips as user-friendly as possible. Your farrier can Trim, Shape, Nail and Clinch just like a normal shoe.
Q. What nails do you use with Safe-Grips?
A. The shoes are punched for 5 slim blade nails. We have had farriers use 5 city head, 6 slim blade and 5 combos an all worked great for the 5-8 week shoeing cycle.
Q. Can I be a dealer of Safe-Grips?
A. Yes! Send us an e-mail at info@safe-gripshoes.com