GB2432293A

GB2432293A - Horse boot

Info

Publication number: GB2432293A
Application number: GB0622406A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Paul Pickering
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2005-11-17
Filing date: 2006-11-10
Publication date: 2007-05-23
Anticipated expiration: 2026-11-10
Also published as: GB0622406D0; GB2432293B; GB0523396D0

Abstract

Protection means for the hoof of a horse or pony. The protection means includes a boot like construction 1 which is attachable to the hoof of the horse, provided at its underside with a shoe or plate 3. The shoe can be releasably attached to the construction using bolts or rivets. The protection means are secured in place on the horse's hoof using a T shaped flap 13 and wire 12. The protection means elevates the need for horseshoes to be attached directly to the horse's hoof using nails.

Description

ANIMAL HOOF PROTECTION

This invention relates to animal hoof protection.

It is a standard practice in relation to horses and ponies that are retained for work and or riding purposes to protect the hooves of horses and ponies from damage as a result of said work or riding by interposing protection means between each hoof and the surface upon which the horse or pony may tread.

Such protection means are commonly known as horseshoes or plates.

Traditionally such horseshoes or plates are directly attached to the underside of the hoof and are held in place by nails.

Also traditionally the shoes/plates are individually made for a fitting to the hoof at the time a shoe/plate is required.

In practice, if a shoe/plate becomes damaged it has to be removed and replaced by a tailor made shoe/plate that is appropriate to the condition of the hoof at the time of fitting the shoe/plate.

Bearing in mind the amount of time, physically energy and skills required by.a farrier the need totally to replace a shoe/plate represents a considerable economic loss to the owner of the horse or pony.

Another problem arising in relation to the usage of the traditional shoes or plates is that they are secured to and retained upon a hoof by especially shaped nails.

In use of such nails, the heads need to bed bed into the shoe/plate, they need fully to pierce through the hoof and the projecting pointed ends of the nails need to be are turned over or twisted to provide an anchor for the nail end at the upper side of the hoof.

Bearing in mind that the hoof of a or pony is continuously growing (as is the case with the nails of a person). t his growth of a horse's hoof can result in a change in hoof size within a relatively short period of time. This could lead to displacement of the shoe or plate which in turn can lead to physical damage to the growing hoof.

In other words shoes/plates need to be frequently replaced. In practice, it has been found necessary as a result of the continuous growth of the hoofs to replace the shoes/plates every four or five weeks whether or not the shoes or plates are This need frequent replacement introduces the strong possibility of damage to the hoof and also the possibility of leading to the development of misshapen hoofs.

Thus each time a shoe or plate is fitted the farrier needs to be able locate a suitable place in which to drive in the shoeing nails. This can become more and more difficult since each time a nail is used a hole is made in the hoof the result of which that particular part of the hoof cannot satisfactorily receive a nail until the previously nailed region has grown out'..

In other words as a result of the frequent shoeing it becomes more and more difficult I for the farner to find a position at which it is safe to insert a shoe/plate retaining nail.

Furthermore, an undesired side effect of the use of nails is that if they are not correctly placed namely in what may be regarded as a dead part' of the hoof the nails can pierce that part of the hoof which can be regarded as being live' with the undesired result that hoof infection can occur.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a means whereby the risks associated with the shoeing of a horse or pony hoof using nails are avoided..

In other words it is an object of the present invention to provide an arrangement by which a horse/pony may be effectively provided with shoes/plates without nailing the shoe or plate to its hoofs.

Broadly according to an aspect of the invention there is provided a horse's hoof protection means including a boot like construction attachable to the hoof of a horse/pony, said construction being provided at its underside with a shoe/plate.

Preferably, the shoes/plates are removably attachable to the boot like construction In a preferred construction, the protection means includes a shoe/plate shaped base plate assembly for mounting a shoe/plate, a housing that is generally hoof shaped and which is releasably mountable to the hoof in such manner as to enclose the hoof, the housing being secured to the base assembly, means for retaining the housing and thus the protection means on a hoof and a shoe/plate forming element is secured to the base assembly Preferably, the shoe/plate forming element is secured to the base assembly by releasable means such as bolts, rivets or the like.

In a preferred construction the base assembly is provided with nuts, bushes or the like for receiving bolts, rivets or the like by means of which a horseshoe or shoe forming plate' may be secured to the base/attachment unit to provide a road or other surface engaging element in the manner of a traditional horseshoe or shoe forming plate.

Conveniently four such nuts, bushes or the like are provided one to each side of the medial line of the leading part of the hoof positioned as to provide a firm connection at this part of the hoof region, and two further bushes located towards the rear of the hoof and serving firmly to secure the trailing ends of the horseshoe to the rear regions of the hoof For a better understanding of the invention and to show how to carry the same into effect reference Will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which:-Figure 1 very schematically illustrates in oblique side view a hoof protection unit of the invention,and Figure 2 is an underside view of the protection means of Figure I, Referring now to the Figures, the hoof protection boot I includes a base plate assembly 210 the underside of which is mountable a horse/pony shoe or plate 3 by i 5 means of a number of screws 4 that screw into appropriate nuts' (not shown) provided at predetermined positions in the the base plate assembly 2.

As will be appreciated the shape of the base plate assembly 2 conforms to the general shape and length and width of the bottom of the hordes/pony's hoof (not shown) to which it is intended to be provided. Thus the base plate assembly 2 is of a shape and I size conforming to shape and size of the underside of the hoof with which it is to be associated. In other words the base assembly extends from the toe of the hoof to a position at or just rearwards of the hoof buttress line (the latter being the rearmost point at which the hoof engages the ground) with the Width shape conforming to the shape and width of the hoof to which it is intended to be fitted.

A flexible housing 5 is secured to the upper side of the base assembly 2. and is formed from a blank of such shape and size that, when mounted to the base plate assembly conforms to the shape of the sides and toe regions of the hoof but leaves the buttress regions of the boot open'.

The bottom peripheral edge regions 6 of the housing are secured to the base plate assembly 2. To achieve this the base plate assembly includes two similarly shaped plates 7 and 8 that are secured to each other by nuts and bolts (not shown) in superimposed relationship to form the plate assembly with the bottom marginal edge regions 6 of the housing 5 trapped there between.

The arrangement facilitates the fitting of the housing to a hoof. Thus since the rear part of the housing is open the housing can conveniently be regarded as including a closed forward region 9 co-operating with the toe of the hoof and two side wings' 10 such that when the boot is fitted to a hoof are to be pulled firmly against the sides of the hoof by retaining means to be discussed herein after The boot I is retained in place by a securing arrangement that includes the provision of a tubular sleeve like part 11 that extends around the upper edge region of the housing which is engaged by a wire or other suitable material tie 12 long enough for its ends to extend outwardly of the tubular part.

A Tee shaped flap 13 having a main section 14 and two side arms 15 is provided at the rear end of the base plate assembly. The free end of this main section 14 is provided with a tubular sleeve like part 16 and is such that when it is required to attach the housing to a hoof the Tee flap 13 is raised upwards and the tubular part 16 thereof is engaged by one of the ends of the tie 12, which latter end extends totally through the Tee tubular part 16.

To retain the boot in place the tie is pulled sufficiently tight as to pull the housing forward region 9 and the wings 10 firmly into contact with the toe and sides of the hoof. After which the end regions of the tie 12 are secured to each other by a retaining clip element IS In addition, to the provision of the tie facility the arms 15 of the Tee 13 are secured to the side walls i.e., the wings of the housing.

In practice, to enable this the arms and the sides of the Tee are provided with a securing means 18. A similar form of securing means is provided on the outer surface of each of the two wings by providing a flap patch 19 including a part 19A secured to the wing and a fold-over part 19B that is intended to reinforce the connection between the associated arm 15 and the part 19A. The securing means can be of the hook and eye kind known under the trade name VELCRO (RTM).

It will be understood that other forms of securing means can be used for this purpose.

In practice, the retaining clip element 17 can comprise a ratchet like mechanism enabling selective releasable clamping of the ends of the tie by being secured to one end of the tie and able to engage with the other end of the tie in such manner that as the other end can be pulled through the clamp mechanism to tighten the tie to the require extent and thus secure the boot in place.

As has been mentioned a series of holes (not shown) is formed in the base assembly these holes being so positioned that they are engageable by appropriate screws engaging in nuts (not shown) located in the holes provided the base assembly plate 7..

In practice four or five of such holes and screws are provided.

From the forgoing it is clear that in order to provide a horse or pony with shoes/plates it is not necessary to attach such shoes or plates directly to the hoof so that the latter remains in its natural state.

In other words the horse or pony only needs to be provided with the shoed/plated boots when the intended use of the horse or pony requires the provision of such shoes or plates.

Claims

CLAIMS

1. A protection means for a hoof of a horse/pony hoof, the protection means including a boot like construction attachable to the hoof of a horse/pony, said construction being provided at its underside with a shoe/plate.

2. A protection means as claimed in claim I, and wherein the shoes/plates are removably attachable to the boot like construction.

3. A protection means as claimed in dim I or 2, and s including a shoe/plate shaped base plate assembly for mounting a shoe/plate, a housing that is generally hoof shaped and which is releasably mountable to the hoof in such manner as to enclose the hoof, the housing being secured to the base assembly, and means for retaining the housing and thus the protection means on a hoof.

4. A protection means as claimed in claim 3, and wherein the shoe/plate forming element is secured to the base assembly by releasable means such as bolts, rivets or the like.

5. A protection means as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the housing includes a flexible outer covering layer and an internal cushioning layer.

6 A protection means as claimed in claim 5, wherein the base assembly incorporates a sandwich comprising two plates whose circumscribing profile conforms to the underside shape of the hoof to which it is to be fitted, and wherein the lower marginal edge region of the housing is sandwiched there between 6. A protection means as claimed in claim 4 or 5, and wherein a cushioning layer is provided so as to provide a cushion to the underside of the hoof

A

7. A protection means as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, and wherein the upper marginal edge region of the housing is adapted to receive and locate a tie by means of which the boot is securable to a hoof of a horse/pony.

8. The boot is retained in place by a securing arrangement that includes the provision of a tubular part that extends around the upper edge region of the housing which is engaged by a wire or other suitable material tie long enough for its ends to extend outwardly of the tubular pat.

9. A protection means as claimed in claim 8, wherein a Tee shaped flap having a main section and two side arms is provided at the rear end of the base plate assembly, and wherein the free end of this main section is provided with a tubular part and is such that when it is required to attach the housing to a hoof the Tee flap is raised upwards and the tubular part thereof is engaged by one of the ends of the tie, which latter end extends totally through the Tee tubular part.

A protection means as claimed in claim 9. and wherein the arms of the Tee are adapted for connection to the rear ends of the sides of the housing.

II. A protection mean s as claimed in claim 10, and wherein the securing means incorporates a book and eyelet form of fastening 12. A protection means for a hoof of a horse/pony, substantially as herein before described with reference to the accompanying drawings.