Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I finally had a chance to ride a couple of my horses in the Epics without a 
heelstrap on.  I used scissors to cut the heelstrap off.  Previously, I had 
been cutting the strap down to about 1/2 the width.  Like in these photos: 
http://www.redwrench.com/ezboot/step1.htm  Now I am trying them without the 
heelstrap alltogether.  The Epics have a gaitor, which wraps around the 
horses pastern and tightens with velcro.

I first tried the heelstrap-less Epics on Chief.  He's been having fairly 
good success using the Epics in rides over barefeet.  (6 rides so far, 305 
miles)   We walked, trotted, cantered, and galloped and the boots stayed 
put and never turned or came off.   I also rode his brother with two boots 
on the front, bare on the back and they worked fine for him too.  He's 
still recovering from a rope burn on a hind ankle so I am going to wait to 
put the Epics on the hind feet until the scabbing is gone.

I'll give it a try at the next ride and see how it works for a longer 
distance.  I think it will work, partly because the boots fit so 
well.  They seem to be snug enough that they won't move or turn without a 
heelstrap.  On the last ride I didn't even bother trying to pull the 
heelstrap up and just put the boots on, and I did that with Chief over his 
barefeet, and on Weaver who has metal shoes on.   Even with all of the mud 
we went thru at Color Country on Day 2, the boots stayed on and never 
turned on Chief.  That's when I figured that the heelstrap probably 
wouldn't be necessary, at least on him.

My camera battery was charging most of the day so I did not get any photos 
of the Epics, sorry.  I will try again this week.  The only photos I got 
(and haven't had a chance to do anything with yet) are of Chief's feet.  We 
went to trim him, which I guess isn't the correct terminology, lol....since 
he's been barefoot he hasn't needed to have his feet trimmed, only rasped a 
little.  I was worried because it seemed as if he was wearing his feet down 
awfully fast, (the nail holes were disappearing quickly), but as it turned 
out after measuring and closer inspection, his hooves have grown enough to 
keep up with the wear.  He is a low maintenance horse.  I guess I can't say 
whether barefoot is better for him or not, as I did not have any problems 
with him when he wasn't barefoot, and I don't have any with him now that he 
is.  ;)

Karen
in NV


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