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Kirsten Seyferth scatris@xxxxxxxxxxx
My 16h Standardbred has had front shoes only for the past year. She lives 
in a 1 acre corral with my 2 geldings and I don't want to take a chance 
since she has a history of placing very well aimed kicks. Seperating the 
horses is not really an option in the current situation. My mare has 
excellent, tough feet and since she only did one 50 in the past year, it 
wasn't much of an issue so far. I'm currently conditioning her on pretty 
rocky trails and somewhat rocky dirt roads with no illeffects. We recently 
spend a weekend riding about 60 miles in the San Bernadino Mts (So.Cal.), 
with *extrememly* rocky trails, and she did exceptionally well. But I know 
that there is only that much foot on my horse and I don't think I want to 
do another 50 miler without some  sort of protection. I've tried different 
alternatives to shoes, but so far without much success. I used easyboots at 
the Hog Wild ride this year as well as on a conditioning ride, but each 
time they came off pretty early on, despite using vet wrap and foam 
according to instructions (she finished the Hog Wild 50, doing over 45 
miles barefoot). Have used easyboots on her hind feet at last year's 
Mt.Charleston on top of steel shoes and that worked well, so it must have 
something to do with getting them to stay on the *bare* foot. I also got a 
pair of Old Mac's, they seem to fit well but sooner or later always turn. 
My latest acquisition is a pair of Swiss Horse boots, but I havn't even 
been able to get them on (?)
The problem with all the above mentioned is the oval shape of the hind 
foot. They all seem to be made for front feet. I probably should measure my 
mare's hoof, but to give an idea: it's an easyboot size 1 in width and size 
2 in length. I just had the farrier out last week (Rob Kalb) and he tried 
to set the toe more back, but in general he said that's just the way it is 
and he thinks regular shoes would work best. We also talked about wether to 
try the ground control plastic shoes instead of steel, but after reading 
everything about them on ridecamp I'm a little discouraged.
Any suggestions/experiences how to make any of those alternative hoof 
protections work on hind feet? I know Old Mac's offer some sort of inserts. 
Has anyone tried them?
Any advise is appreciated. You can email me privately at scatris@xxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks, Kirsten


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