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RE: [RC] [RC] barefoot and boots - Dream WeaverAt 09:57 AM 2/8/2007, Smith, Dave wrote:1. Do I need to boot him on all four feet, or can -- or should -- I just boot up the front two? If I do that, what risks to I run? Hi Dave - You can just boot the fronts. If there is a chance you'll want to use four boots in a competition though, it's a good idea to get the horse used to having four boots on. Some horses can take longer to adapt to using four boots. I like the feeling of confidence my horses seem to have when they have four boots on. 2. At what distances should I consider use of the boot rather than just his bare hooves? To date, we've been doing 10-12 mile rides with no apparent problems, but we've not yet done anything further. My goal this year is to do at least one 50 mile ride, building up to that distance with shorter rides. It is all going to depend on the terrain, how you ride, the horse, etc. If you know you are going to do a 50 then it would be a good idea to start out using boots every second or third conditioning ride. There are some endurance rides where the footing is wonderful and you may not need boots on all four feet, or at all. Most of the rides I attend aren't like that, so I stick with four boots. The main thing to remember is that you want to prevent having your horse come up sore footed. Even shod horses come up sore footed on some rides (that's why so many use boots over shoes, esp. on multidays). My advice for anybody starting a new horse in the sport that is barefoot is to use boots in competition and get through a few rides first before removing them. I say that partially because I am fairly conservative but also because I have seen too many new to the sport riders attempt to ride their horses barefoot and it almost never works out in the horses favor. It sounds like you've got a pretty good plan and conditioning schedule so keep at it and good luck! Karen =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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