Gordy not a bad one really as the grass and ground absorbs some of the shock as the aircraft touches down, hence you see indents in the ground. You can't seriously lell me that landing on a hard surface has less of a shock to the aircraft ? Of course the skids splay out as this is the first " crumple zone " the manufacturer puts in to protect us. The skids still start to splay on grass, you just dont get the harder shock especially when a student gets it wrong and one has to recover it