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Hi Nina - well, this is what happened (short version).  I had originally 
intended to ride Weaver in the ride Saturday.  He unfortunately hurt 
himself.  I ended up riding Chief (it worked out that way for a reason).  I 
think I Chief was/is in better shape at the moment and I would have felt 
horrible taking Weaver on such a difficult ride.   As it turned out we had 
just recently pulled Chief's shoes.  Talk about jumping into the fire!

The Epics came UPS on Thursday afternoon.  Lucky for me, Chief is a very 
adaptable horse.  One thing I figured out, is that even tho he has always 
worn a size 2 easyboot with shoes on, and the size 2 Epics fit him 
fine.....I was able to get a size 1 on him.  I would have never thought 
that possible.  I held up a size 1 Epic bottom to bottom from the Epic to 
his hoof, and it was pretty much flush, yet I was able to get it to fit 
over the bare hoof.  Got it on, tightened the velcro around his ankle as 
snug as I could, and buckled the buckle down.  I did have to lift his foot 
off of the ground in order to pull the nylon strap out after pulling the 
heel strap up.  There is *no way* I could have pulled that strap out with 
him bearing weight on the boot.

The boots stayed on all day, and I was glad that I had not made any 
modifications to the boot.  I wanted to see if the boots would work as they 
came, and they did.  With no alterations.  I took the boots off after 
finishing last night (after the vet check, because I wanted the vet to sign 
the form showing I had started and finished the entire ride with 4 boots 
on), I did notice that on Chief's front heel bulbs he had stripes 
(indentions).  He has been living in ankle deep mud for weeks.  This 
morning, however, there are no stripes.  I spent a great deal of time with 
him today and his feet are in excellent condition, you would never know he 
did anything yesterday.  There was no rubbing, nothing is warm or inflamed 
or sore, and he looks great.  I would expect him to adapt well, but I sure 
would not have taken him barefoot with the Epics on this ride if I had 
known ahead of time the level of difficulty.  Like I said, nothing like 
jumping into the fire.  We started out with a real test, that is for 
sure!  There are no rides this season that Chief will do that are more 
difficult than the one he did yesterday.  (50 mile distance)

I looked over all 4 boots he used yesterday, and they are all in excellent 
condition.  The front boots do have a couple of minor dings.  Yet nothing 
to indicate he was interfering enough for it to be a problem.  I was 
skeptical about the boots working, and yet I see how well they did work, 
with no time to adjust.  Way cool.

Next ride, this is what I will do with the Epics:

Remove gaitor, cut down heel strap in back, put gaitor back on
Grind toe even more, to speed breakover on the front feet only
I will put them on and off each day
At the vet check and/or at any other opportune times, I will undo the 
velcro and check for sand/pebbles

I didn't have a single problem with the Epics during the ride yesterday.  I 
really am surprised, especially for my horse who is Easyboot 
Challenged.  These new boots worked real well.   (don't horses usually need 
more than 2 or 3 days to adjust to being barefoot? lol)  ;^)

Karen
in NV


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