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I put little bells on my easyboots, so that I can tell that they are still on the horse's foot.  It works great!

 

-Stacy

Charlene Large <diablohot2trot@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Speaking of Easyboots.....

I have a short story to tell about my Epics.

Last weekend I lost three out of four boots on an all
rock, very hilly trail in the mountains. The front
pair I must have over 300 miles on, and the back pair
were brand spankin new, first time ridden in. Only one
of the original boots lived. The boots ripped
completely off the gaiter somewhere around 15 miles,
leaving nothing but neoprene and bruises hanging
around my horse's pasterns. And, now I have a lame
horse from literally dragging him barefoot over that
terrain, another nine miles back to the trailhead.

Up until this ride I have had GREAT success with my
front pair of boots, and am disappointed in their
performance on this trip.

Has anyone else had this problem? My barefoot trimmer
seemed suprised, but I know of other trimmers that
have had complaints as well.

Part two if you have the time:

The success in that front pair was had mainly in
Texas. I have recently moved to East Tennessee, where
the terrain is harsher, yet still have had NO problems
until this day. This ride was located at Iron
Mountain, on the border of TN and North Carolina. I
bought the rear pair specifically because I knew the
trails would be rockier, and he would need them. I
never imagined they would fail so miserably.

In TX the ground is harder, drier, and less rocky for
the most part, and I could ride barefoot all around
half the time. Here, it rains a lot more, and even
when it doesn't, the dews are so heavy, the ground is
almost constantly wet. His feet I believe have
softened and lost their callus, since he is in soft,
wet pasture now instead of a hard dirt/sand/pebble
pasture, like in Texas. I am sure I'll never have
another barefoot ride on him--which is fine, IF the
boots will hold up.

Any advice on how to keep this barefoot/booted horse
doing as well as he did in TX? Should I trade brands?
Barefoot riders of the South help!

I also have my husband's gelding who I will begin
condiditioning for endurance this winter, and plan to
transition to barefoot as well. How do folks in East
TN, or the Deep South, transition their horses with
all the dampness and rocks?

Does anyone suggest a different boot that would be
more durable out here (Such as Old Macs)?

THANKS!!!

Charlene & Hollywood

--- Dyane Smith wrote:

> I haven't used the Old Mac's for riding, but I used
> them for 2 years to protect an old, flat-footed
> gelding. He loved the comfort and I loved how easy
> they were to put on and off.
>
> OTH, a U.C. Davis farrier told me that the Boas
> provide more support if your horse has long, sloping
> pasterns like mine does.
>
> Dyane
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Robert R
> To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Sent: Thursday, September 07, 2006 5:10 PM
> Subject: [RC] Old Mac versus EasyBoots
>
>
> Okay, I'm a new member but have been around long
> enough to see what happens when boots versus
> barefoot versus steel shoes erupts. I currently use
> steel shoes with Dril-Tek on my horse. I have a set
> of EasyBoots already but I am interested in learning
> the pros and cons of Old Macs as compared to
> EasyBoots as well as other options out there I may
> not be aware of. Any input would be great and feel
> free not to respond to the whole list if you think
> this will turn ugly. I'm really just interested in
> what is the best option for my particular horse, who
> travels lots and lots of hard surface road miles. I
> do know that if I go with boots, I cannot use
> anything other than EasyBoots in CTR but since I
> already have a full set of those, if for some reason
> the Old Macs or something else seem better, it
> wouldn't be unreasonable to have both, would it?
>
>
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>


Charlene


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