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[RC] Epics-damaged gaitor - k s swigartMike Sofen said: With the Epics, within the FIRST MILE of our ride, started extended trot and he completely ripped the gaitor from the easyboot, the boot was laying in the trail and the gaitor was still on his leg. Turned around to go back, he was excited and broke into a little prancy canter for a few steps and grabbed the other front one (we were only wearing front boots). Tore the stitching on it too, but didn't come apart. Removed it immediately. Easyboot replaced both, although I won't be able to use them. Figure I'll just keep them as spares for parade traction or lost shoes, and hope that at a walk, they will stay on. Might I suggest that instead of keeping them for using while walking in parades, that you try putting them on the back feet only instead. Certainly, he cannot pull them off by over-reaching if they are on the back feet. He does not mention what type of hoof protection he was using on the back feet (only that it wasn't Easyboots with gaitors), however, he might get more use out of the boots if he were to use them there. As an aside, if a horse is forging enough that it is ripping its front shoes off with its back feet, there is a much bigger problem than just that it is hard to keep hoof protection (of any sort) on. It takes a hell of a lot of force to pull a nailed on shoe off, and it can't be good for the horse's front legs/feet to be doing this, no matter what kind of shoes it is wearing. What needs to be done is to figure out why the horse is forging and correct that. Generally speaking, horse's forge at the trot not because they take too long of a step with their hind legs but because they don't get their front end out of the way soon enough (i.e. the horse is heavy on the forehand). There are an assortment of ways that you can get the horse to get its front end out the way more quickly; however, squaring off the back toes is not one of them (I don't know if this is what has been done to this horse; I just know that this is what lots of people do to their horses that forge). Squaring off the back toes MIGHT make the horse take a shorter stride by tricking the horse into thinking its foot is somewhere other than where it really is (although it doesn't usually take horses very long to figure this out), but it also has the effect of speeding up the breakover of the hind feet (therefore making it even harder for the horse to get its front feet out of the way in time). It also has the effect of making the horse "trip" behind on every step; and horse's frequent response to this is to get even heavier on the forehand (because their hind legs have become unreliable for support). Forging is not a length of stride problem, it is a timing problem. If you are going to square off any toes, it should be the FRONT toes that are squared off (that way it is the front feet that breakover faster...thereby getting out of the way before the back feet come forward). Personally, I prefer not to be squaring off any toes at all, but rather to teach my horse to shift its weight backwards, round its back, raise its shoulder so that it is light in the forehand and quick with its front feet that way. kat Orange County, Calif. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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