Barefoot research

Not on the topic of research but I was just about to post a thread about keeping a horse without shoes in this weather we've had recently.

My girl (no shoes) apparently got stuck while rolling yesterday. Person who witnessed it said she was unable to get grip on the mud. Now the fields are a bit like a skid pan in that we have about an inch of mud on top of rock hard earth, so she couldn't dig down into the mud and instead sort of slipped across it then managed to get herself so close to the fence she was stuck. she got rolled over and once she stopped panicing managed to get up in one quick move.

Question on my mind is, would shoes have made it easier to get grip in the mud? I always though no shoes would mean better traction as they have a larger weight bearing surface but most people at the yard seemed to think she got stuck as I didn't have shoes on her :( was feeling a tad judged over the whole thing!
 
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