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A question and a comment, Karen:
1. do you recommend grinding the toes for all horses or would it depend 
on the particular horse's footfall pattern?
2. Good Boy Chief probably did so well barefoot because the hoof was 
protected and he wasn't feeling the ground surface with all it's 
pebbles, etc.
Laney

DreamWeaver wrote:
> 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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