 |
PM |  | |
Quote | | |
Reply | | |
Full Topic | |
| Joined: | Fri Jul 2nd, 2010 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 891 |
| Status: |
Offline
|
Noelle, my mare is and has been barefoot since I've owned her. She has good feet. But for the East Fork ride, I am going to have to put shoes on her.
I thought of boots instead, but my farrier isn't a fan of them (guess not.... Are you planning to come to East Fork and what are you going to do? Ride in the boots?
Karen, that is wonderful news your lovely mare goes barefoot... have not gotten the chance to try my new Easy Boot Glove set yet (all four hooves) on my TWH, Rain. Clearing up a bad case of thrush on his front hooves, making good progress so want to be sure the hooves stay exposed to constant air for now with the workouts on non-rocky trails.
To be honest, I won't put shoes on any of my horses again, unless it is absolutely critical. I have meet many riders that do barefoot with and without boots, all sorts of trails. I have met more gaited horses than non-gaited horses. I rode with gaited RM horses that were in Easy Boot Gloves on very rocky trails. My QH was in the Edge boots and we all did great. The one QH in the group that was front shod was sore on his back feet afterwards. None of our horses were.
Easy Boot Gloves are the style I like the best so far based on performance. These stay on very well, at gallops or hill work too. My suggestion would be to have a farrier/trimmer fit your horses for easy boot, request the Gloves, and try out if you have to trailer to the mountain trails near you. There is 90 day return policy.
I love riding in boots
... there is not tenderness on gravel roads either. The tread on the bottoms are great during steep hills.A few drawbacks, that you can fix... but get the Gloves if possible... when galloping one of my QHs in Edge Easy Boots, the boot came off on an extreme galloping workout uphill. We did fine, no stumble, but I had to replace a few parts. We now have him fitted for Gloves after a few trims to balance out the longer toe he had before.
Another complain that is mininized if you break the boots in right... the Glove boots are a very tight fit... On that first trail ride, stay out of water crossings and keep the ride under 4 hours. Then at the end of the ride, hose your horse with his boots on, let the boots dry while he is tied in place. This helps to mold the back of the spandex boot to the bulb area where sometimes blisters can develop if you ride the horse in brand new boots and get them wet crossing water on a long, hot trail ride. After you let the boots dry while the horse is tied, the next ride the boots will fit near perfect. If you do get the blisters, treat and these clear up fast, but I am learning tips as I go. This is sort of like you getting new tight boots, walking all day while the boots sweat with no socks, but if you got the boots wet, and let dry on your feet first, the boot fits near perfect. I do not find that mud or dirt gets in the Gloves and causes a problem, and I ride thro lots of mud holes.
Consider taking replacement parts on a trail ride lasting more than a day... the replacement parts do not cost as much as the boot, but if you do wear a boot out in one area, you can quickly mend it. If you get the Gloves, there is only one replacement part, the Gaiter part. It is easy to put on new parts where the old one wore out.
If you get a barefoot trim and fitted for boots now, you can test for the October ride and know if this is your best option since you are not going to shod until the last minute. You may find that boots work perfectly fine and you won't have any shodding issues later. Also, if your horse throws a shoe up there, you have to ride your horse back without a boot to protect that new sole
from the shod.Probably won't make the October ride... but I ride in areas just as rocky and steep as this trail ride will be, so I know how the boots perform. I will post a pic of my QHs in their boots on the trail. I ride a lot, ride extreme and I am happy enough to keep my horses in boots and barefoot... hopefully with time, we won't need boots except on a few occasions.