Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Checked my boots last night - they do have the zigzag stitching at the top, so I guess they are not the very latest modification to the gaiter (with the rolled edge). If it becomes a problem, I'll just use vetwrap.

My horse has been barefoot all of her 3.5 years and I hope to keep it that way. But at this time of year and in the Spring, it is almost impossible to keep her feet dry enough so that she is comfortable riding on rocks. There is water and mud everywhere. The boots will help in this aspect. I have a gravel road to go up (the large, pointy gravel) and she is very clear in communicating that she hates the gravel. When her feet were drier this summer she was a lot better about that road. The boots are great for those of us who don't have ideal conditions for our barefoot horses or who don't have much rocks to condition on. I've left the boots of the hind hooves for now since she has scratches there, but I plan to use them with the studs this winter.

 

Lysane

 

 

 

Zephyr Arabians <z_arabs@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

--- Terry Banister wrote:
> Hmmm, we just did Davenport Darei, which had tons of
> deep sand, and there
> was no rubbing or collection in the heels or gaiters
> of the Epics on front
> or the Bares on back. But, I don't cut the heel
> strap down, so maybe then it
> doesn't give the sand a place to go.

I've done Davenport Dare a couple times. :) However,
the "sand" up here (I'm now in the PNW) appears to
actually be ground lava (pumice) and seems to be even
more abrasive than regular sand. Can't really tell
you WHY it got trapped that time, when I'd not had
that problem before.

I should be more specific about where the sand/pumice
was actually trapped: it was above the heels in the
back, where the gaitor fits snuggly above the hoof
(and probably why they stay on so well). So, it was
rubbing on skin, not hoof. Make more sense?

> Howeve, in the past, with another brand of boots,
> there was rubbing by the
> time we reached the lunch stop, and my horse was
> slightly off for the trot
> out, so I simply removed the boots and completed
> barefoot (sandy, 2004
> Warner Springs Natl. Championship).

In this case, I didn't know what was making her off at
the vet check, and didn't want to ask her to go
further if she had a problem. It wasn't until after
pulling and going back to my camp site that I was able
to determine the cause. This ride was much too rocky
to attempt barefoot -- in fact, we'd been riding along
commenting that there would likely be a lot of
lameness pulls from rocks -- but I could have
dismantled the Epics to regular Easyboots & foamed
them on. Just didn't think about that until later,
and don't even know if the vets would have let me,
anyway, since I'd already been pulled.

> True, living in the arid Southwest is
> an advantage, and those
> living in the wetter states may not be able to build
> the tough hoof callouse
> that has been acheived by some, but I believe a lot
> of people underestimate
> what the naked hoof is capable of.

I've ridden many a barefoot mile in both So Cal and up
here in the PNW. However, it's a LOT easier in So
Cal. Down there I'd pull shoes (particularly in the
summer months when riding less due to heat) and never
even think about it when going out on the trails. All
my horses are now barefoot. But, when the ground in
their pastures is wet and soft, they tend to be more
sensitive when taken out on trails which are largely
logging roads covered in sharp rocks (traction for
logging trucks). Even horses that have been barefoot
their entire lives have told me in no uncertain terms
that those rocky roads are not their favorites. If I
trailer over to some better trails, though, I can ride
them barefoot. I've found that "rocks," as in big
rocks on the trail or occational rocky sections of
trail are not a problem. It's just those rocky roads
-- something you don't see in So Cal ("gravel road" is
not an accurate name for some of them up here) -- that
present a problem, particularly when the pastures are
soft.

~Nicole

Zephyr Arabians http://www.zephyrarabians.com
KattWmn Web Design http://www.kattwmn.com

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