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The beauty of a boot, plain and simple, is it is a shoe on
there when, and only when, you need it.
If you are always shoeing your horse “as needed” and
pulling the shoes off 6-8 weeks later, you are always transitioning your horse
and kind of setting yourself up for failure. You will just most likely get
frustrated with this routine and go in circles over it.
Which of my
clients use boots?
Can you acclimate a horse to
rocks to toughen his feet?
What kind of boot should I buy?
Can’t I just order a boot out of
the catalogue?
Will the boots provide more
traction?
Which of
my clients use boots?
Foundered and sore horses – only as much as needed – with
pads. Folks sometimes have horses so sore they need them for turnout quite a
bit at first – to keep the horse moving as well as possible. But the idea is to
hand walk the sore in them and as they get sounder, wean off them as best as
possible for any thing other than exercise sessions. But if your horse is so
sore he needs them half the day, then use them half the day…
Trail Riders – a lot of my clients have NO CLUE what kind
of terrain they are about to go on, much less how sound their horse will be –
they do not even have a gravel driveway to test their horse on and just cause he
holds up for 10 minutes on gravel does not mean he will hold up to 3 days of
it. Take boots, better safe than sorry.
A major benefit of that boot over a shoe is it will protect
the sole as well. I have ridden shod horses for miles and miles down railroad
gravel at a fast pace – shod horses GET sore – the shoe does not save them
either.
As one client recently wrote to me
:
“all horses are doing good and the mountain ride with the EZ
Boots went great...... other horses were coming down off that mountain with
shoes pulled and lame..... after my horse got used to them he went along
just great. everyone was impressed and I could hear them thinking about
going without shoes and using boots.”
“Navicular” horses and other horses with mild undiagnosed
pain – some horses do have some degree of heel or generalized hoof pain and the
boot really seems to help them. I am talking about a horse who for instance
goes along just fine on his riding/turnout surface, whatever it is, but maybe a
bit short strided and tense. If you see an improvement in the boot – for
goodness sake – ride him in the bootJ….
And in the case of a horse with heel pain – he may really benefit from some
turnout in a boot and pad.
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Can you acclimate a
horse to rocks to toughen his feet?
I do not think it is beneficial to EVER force a horse over
a surface he is not comfortable on. There seems to be a line of thought out
there that you can just “acclimate” a horse to tough surfaces. My experience is
a horse is sound, yes or no, and it comes in part from within and can be
enhanced from trimming and management – but you cannot just acclimate him to big
rocks and make a lame horse sound from that. I think in SOUND horses, you can
gain a little here…you have a really sound horse, you are gonna ride her on
gravel, put her out on some gravel….
I think in general exposing horses to rocks and stuff
helps teach them to navigate them – if you ride horses on rocks like I have you
realize the sound ones watch where they put their feet! Sound horses are not
just sound on anything – they pay attention to where they put their feet….
Great, get them used to navigating at home. It blows me away how some horses
shod all their lives make no attempt to step around a big sharp rock…. They may
not feel their feet entirely and not have good spatial awareness because
of the damage they have had done in their feet, I do not know, but they just do
not seem to know they need to look where they put their feet.
But I never think throwing a lame horse on a bunch of rocks
does anything but make him more lame. I think in many cases, it is just cruel.
I think pea gravel (small round rocks approx 2 centimeters in size or mostly
less) and other types of very coarse sand provide some relief to a horse, but
rocks are another story. They are not going to necessarily toughen up his sole
as much as repeatedly bruise it.
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What kind of boot
should I buy?
I carry Easy Boot Epics. I have no issue with ordering
other boots per client demand, but I do not normally carry other boots because
the Epics have worked so well for my clients. Probably their best attributes
are that they are pretty easy to get on and off and they seem to fit a lot of
horses well.
(To learn more about Easy Boot Epics and other products
from Easy Care, Inc. please go to
www.EasyCareInc.com. They have a lot of helpful info on their website for
new boot owners.)
I am also certified to fit Swiss horse boots – a more
custom fit boot. I think they are probably a good alternative for horses that
the Epics do not fit well.
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Can’t I just order a
boot out of the catalogue?
You can, but I highly recommend I come out and fit the boot
for you. It is hard to get the right size without trying them on in person.
Will the boots provide
more traction?
As far as I know, in most cases the bare hoof is the best
traction on most every surface. The shod horse the worst. The boot somewhere
in between. Most traction seems to come from the hind feet, so if traction is
important to you, I do not recommend booting the hinds. |
