Titanium

 Titanium is a superior metal for horseshoes because it helps protect hoof health and improve performance.

Titanium is a high performance metal with incredibly successful applications in sporting equipment, aerospace, and medicine. Champion Horseshoe Company uses a specific grade of Titanium (SOTA), and a patented manufacturing process with this advanced metal, to satisfy the special demands on horseshoes and farriers.

METALLIC AND SCIENTIFIC PROPERTIES ASSOCIATED WITH TITANIUM

Strength to Weight Ratio
Titanium metal has the highest strength to weight ratio of any metal used for making horseshoes. This means Champion Titanium shoes weigh about 50% less than comparable steel shoes and are more durable. Depending on wear conditions our shoes achieve multiple resets and Titanium's strength preserves the nail hole shape to allow for proper nail fit when resetting.

Stiffness and Yield Strength
The stiffness of Titanium is one-half that of steel and enables our Titanium shoe will flex with the hoof and return to shape immediatly after stress.

Titanium's higher yield strength provides for this superior flexibility compared to other metals. This (memory effect) enables Titanium shoes to be elastic under stressful wearing conditions and retain the farrier's fit to the hoof. Titanium flexes 2x that of steel and 10x that of aluminum without spreading or collapsing. Farriers notice Titanium's yield strength as "springiness" when hammering the metal cold and feeling the hammer spring back.
As aluminum or steel flexes it ultimately fatigues and is seen as a spreading, flattening or deformation of shoe shape and the nail holes.

Titanium Dissipates Heat to help protect the hoof
Titanium dissipates heat from the environment or friction with the ground very efficiently. Titanium is a poor conductor of both heat and electricity (a good thing!) Heat constricts blood flow in the foot and is damaging to the hoof tissue. A Cornell University study of the Champion Titanium Horseshoe concluded that the transfer of heat was significantly less than from steel shoes. This property is noticeable by farriers who observe that a heated Titanium shoe cools more quickly than steel.

Corrosion Resistance and Bio-compatible Metal
Titanium is biocompatible, does not corrode or interact negatively to deteriorate hoof wall structure. It is an environmental "green" metal also used inside the human body to join or replace bones. The inert property is especially beneficial in environments (stables) containing salt, acids, water, etc. because the metal does not degrade. There are no toxic by-products when Titanium is heated, cut or drilled or punched.

Shock Dissipation helps protect legs and joints
Because Titanium shoes are light, less stiff and flex with stress, they help the hoof to dissipate landing shocks laterally, as the hoof normally does under stress.

Because Titanium is light on the hoof, the impact momentum (mass x velocity) is lower when the shod hoof lands on the ground. As a result, less landing shock is transferred up the foot and leg.

This triple combination of lower weight, higher yield strength and lower stiffness contribute to the advantage of lowering hoof stress for horses using Champion Titanium horseshoes.

Horse Stamina can be improved
Under riding conditions that test the stamina of a horse and demand a durable shoe Titanium is a superb solution for horseshoes.

For example: A horse trotting a mile generally lifts its feet about 4,700 times. Assuming that horse wears a 1lb. steel shoe, it will lift 2,350lbs. less weight per mile by wearing Titanium on all four hoofs!