Does Valegro not wear shoes?

[Sparrowfarts]

Watching on BBC2, he appeared to be bootless in slo-mo close-up of his hooves.

(Occasional dressage watcher - this is probably an 'everybody knows this' question).

Horses are not allowed to wear boots in dressage.

They have to have naked legs :) He had very shiney white fetlocks didn't he!?

I didn't notice whether he was wearing shoes or not. I will google it!

....ah.. not sure. One of the options though was does voldemort wear shoes?!

He has fronts

Sorry, meant shoes really. Thank you both cats.

Now I'm wondering about Voldemort.

uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110414042914AA5cwz2

[http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110414042914AA5cwz2]

Bloody hell!! I give up!!

Apparently vooldemort doesn't wear shoes. :)

Thank you

....he has really ugly feet...:)

I think you may be seeing the wax surface stuck on his shoes so that they are not obvious. If he was barefoot it would be quite widely discussed.

Ah, OK. Yes, I had a google, as I thought it would be quite a big deal if he competed barefoot. What is the wax for?

The surface has to have some give (so that it's not too hard and cause concussion injuries) but not bee too soft (which can cause ligament and tendon injuries) so getting the right surface can be quite complex. Waxed sand is a very popular (although expensive) choice as the wax binds the sand particles together (not too much give) while still allowing for a bounce.

Thanks Boo.

we were at Hickstead a few years ago and Valegro was in the 6 yr old class, spooked at something jumped sideways and pulled a shoe off! Charlotte's groom had to go and pick it up from the arena before the next competitor went in. Needless to say he still won the class