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Simple experiment. Take a flat pad and push it through the sand. There 
is some resistance but it will push the sand out of the way. Now do the 
same thing with a cup. The sand collects in the cup and the it is very 
hard to move. If a horse's leg were now attached to each, the horse 
would loose traction from the flat pad but would gain traction from the 
cup (foot).

Truman

heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> > I have heard that padding a horse helps them push through the sand,
> > rather   like fins help a swimmer.
> >    
>
> I'm not sure the analogy fits, since fins stablize aerodynamically, and
> feet are the means of propulsion.  I would suspect that an unpadded horse
> would be better in sand, and that shoes might give a slight edge as well,
> as the cupped nature of the hoof will "grab" the sand better to propel the
> body forward, just as swimming with a cupped hand is better than swimming
> with a flat hand.
>
> Heidi
>
>
>  


--

“It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how 
smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong” Richard 
Feynman



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