Safety Boots Whilst Walking A Pony?

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merlin100

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I've been having a strong discussion with some American equestrians who believe that I'm about to lose my toes whilst wearing steel toe capped safety boots whilst walking my pony. She's trod on my toes a number of times, but the standard en iso20345:2011 have never let me down once.

If you check the specs, that's over 1.5 metric tonnes of crushing weight and I can assure you that Tilly doesn't weigh anything near that!

I like to think that we have the best safety regulations in the world.

Any thoughts?
 
I always wear decent boots for any handling of our lot. Not steel toe capped but definitely not wellingtons. I've been trodden on several times but nothing more than bruises.
 
I think the risk is if you are on soft ground. If horse stands on you and your boots goes into soft ground it can produce a sharp edge and cut toes off.
 
I'm not a fan for steel toecaps for walking horses. Strong robust shoes / boots - absolutely. But the problem with Steelies is that they are designed and tested for a single application of a static weight. With a horse the weight isn't static - it slides off. This can cause the steel edge to curl under the uneven force and - as Kamikaze says - it can cut the toes beneath. I suspect it might be going a bit too far to say that you would actually loose a toe - especially from a pony weight. But you may well cut your feet and potentially quite badly. On the other hand strong leather will deform as the weight is applied and actually work with you to slip the horse off your foot. You will bruise - but you won't be cut.

I've twice had a steel toe cap cut my foot - the last time the boot actually had to be cut off me in A&E because the steel edge had gone so deep into the foot. But the horse in question that time was an 18.1 shire TB cross. Not a pony. The other time it was a 13.1 cob and the foot was just cut a bit. I don't wear steelies around horses any more!
 
I've always been told to never wear steel toe caps around horses for the cutting potential. I just go with a good, decent pair of leather country boots, and I've always gotten away with bruising at the very most when Miss. Dinner-Plate-Hooves manages to stand on me.
 
I've always worn steel toe caps (the Mountain Horse ones) on the yard and have had my feet trodden on before, and it's never been an issue - although I normally seem to get trodden on in the stable, so it is more of a static weight. Once was a 16.2 chubso of an IDxTB and it saved my toes from being squashed to pieces. I'd never thought that they might be dangerous....:eek:

https://www.equiflairsaddlery.com/j...MI_oOK4KC41QIVTbftCh1eVgXjEAQYASABEgLdIvD_BwE
 
I have always (well, for the past 20 years anyway!) worn steel toecaps around horses. Most recently I have Mountain Horse and Ariat.

The toecaps have saved me from a fair few squashes, but the last time it happened, in the Mountain Horse ones, the horse trod on the top edge of the toecap instead f the toe end. The whole toecap rotated downwards, causing injury in a straight line across my toes.

It was only a 15.3 horse, on a solid rubber mat in the grooming parlour.

I took photos of the straight line mark on my toes, and emailed Mountain Horse, as I wondered if my pair was a faulty pair. Not looking for compo, well, I guess if I had sent them back and they were faulty then a new pair of boots would have been handy, as they were quite new. But, I was not looking for injury money.

Disappointingly Mountain Horse were not at all interested, in any way.

Next time I will buy non steel toecaps for this reason. I think I would rather suffer bruises than a cut off set of toes!
 
Nope. Never wear stee toe boots when dealing with horses. The horse just needs to stand in it and it bends and acts like a gilloutine. You're much more likely to survive a foot with decent leather boots.
 
The specs are set so that if you drop a pallet weighing 1.5 tons on your toes you will be safe. but that is over the whole area which is normaly around 80cm2.
So your shoe can take 18.75kg/cm2 of downward force.

Now given that most horses dont stand on your whole foot and re not a static force anyway.
Say they were shod, you have the whole force of the horse coming down on the width of thier shoe which is normaly max 1.5cm wide, if they stood across your toes you have approx 8cms width there so 12cm2 of area baring the weight

now my horse weighs 600kg, so his weight baring down on my foot through his shod hoof is applying 50kg/cm2 at a maximum force (simplified maths, im not going to get into what weight goes through what leg in which stage of the gate), even if you half that weight to take into account the fact a horse has more than 2 feet then you are still way above the maximum kg/cm2 your shoes are rated for so it is likely that when you add the twisting force of a moving horse, potentialy on the weakest edge (upper edge nearest your ankle) the likelyhood of them rolling and cutting into your foot is high.

I never wear them, the maths doesnt stack up.
 
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