Boots for bare foot horses

Cabby · Yearling

Boots for bare foot horses

Barbara F · Grand Prix

Can your local farrier recommend boots? If not, why not put the shoes back on his front feet and make him happy again?

Barbara F · Grand Prix

That makes sense, Carol. Best of luck with it and do keep us posted! p.s. I am going to Spain in a few weeks! Barcelona, Madrid, Sevilla, Granada and Marbella. I have never been there before. I can hardly wait!!

-- Edited by Barbara F on Friday 25th of May 2012 04:25:16 PM

Cabby · Yearling

Hi

Thanks for your reply but he HATED having his feet shod as he is a bit sensitive. I have ordered some Easyboots so just hope that with patience we can build up to an hours ride out with those. If not, as you say he will have to put up with iron shoes back on - but I really would feel a bit unkind doing that as I only ride him out 2 or three times a week at a walk or at most a few short trots on smooth ground when we find it. It will be well worth the money spent on the boots if they work for him!

Kind regards

Carol

MagsNMe · Advanced

We have a very seriously foundered horse who we keep in Soft Ride boots with a therapeutic insert. You wouldn't need those, the standard insert should be fine. We've had her in them for four years. She's in them full time now, with shoes on, and is perfectly pasture sound. I cannot say enough good about them.

http://www.softrideboots.com/

Cabby · Yearling

blankstare Gosh what a coincidence! Our little holiday house is in the country, about 2 kilometers from the little town of L ´Ametlla de Mar. I often go back to England but if you should come near us it would be lovely to meet you in person - sent me a private email or make me a friend then you can let me know if you are anywhere near so I can give you our private number. If not, have lots of fun, and enjoy!! Best wishes Carol

ps Yes, of course I will let you know how I get on with Harry and his new boots.

Cabby · Yearling

Many thanks for the details of the softboots. I had just ordered the EasyBoots version but I suppose they are all quite similar. Such a relief to hear that yours have worked so well for your poor little poppet. I have been so lucky that I have never had to care for it but I do know it is horribly painful so am really glad you found a way to sort it out.

Will let you know how we get on with our new boots.

Best wishes Carol and Harry

Cabby · Yearling

Thank you for this info Marlene - I am feeding him soacked alfalfa pellets with sugar beet (soaked of course) and sunflower oil with a scoop of garlic. He also has grass (which is quite scrubby really so not that much sugar I don´t think) for a couple of hour every day. Do you think it could be his grazing that is too rich perhaps? Forgot to say that we have almond trees and he does like to have a swipe of those for a change every now and again - wonder if they are too rich
So glad you have found the boots a help - your chap sounds quite a bit like my Harry.
PS I have another gelding who is barefoot who also came out from England and he is fantastic out here without his shoes (they took them off to transport him and then we tried him without). He loves it and has perfect little feet and tough as anything without even a tiny flake. Just shows how different they all are!
Thanks for everything and will keep you posted.
Best wishes Carol and Harry (and Cuco)

-- Edited by Cabby on Sunday 27th of May 2012 05:23:46 AM

Marlene · Advanced

I have a pair of Easyboots (with the soft upper already attached, I think they are the Epic version). I have them handy because my gelding occasionally gets footy when he gets too much fresh grazing. He has been barefoot for about five years (longer than I've had him) but sometimes I like to do rocky trails when I haven't yet got him conditioned for that type of surface. If your horse is kept on an easier surface, but you only occasionally take him on rocks, that's where boots can make all the difference. They allow your horse all the advantages of barefoot, but still allow them to be comfortable on challenging surfaces. My guy also didn't do well with shoeing which is how he ended up barefoot. Diet is an important part of barefoot care, so you might find some help there as well with your guy. So if diet is making his feet tender, that needs to be addressed, not just boots. But boots can help make him more comfortable while he is getting the trigger for his tenderness corrected.

Marlene · Advanced

It's definitely different courses for different horses. I have been carefully allowing my guy a small area of grazing on this not very lush section this spring, trying to be really proactive, just moving the fence a little bit each day so he couldn't gorge himself. Whammo, his feet are tender, they were fine a few weeks ago. So now I feel like I'm killing my horse just to let him out of his drylot. I'm reading what kind of grass they can have and really it's like dodging raindrops in a thunderstorm. If the grass is too short, too mature, too dry, too wet, too frosty,too hot, too cloudy, too sunny, you can't win. The guy has to eat something and he has to have some room to circulate. I'm ready to put in an asphalt double tennis court, paint it green, and let him graze on that! How about astroturf? Do you think he'd gain on that? I swear he gets fat just looking at the rest of the eight acres all lush and growing. The last couple of years I've boarded an elderly mare here,and I gave her 24/7, unrestricted grazing in my crazy lush field and she did not get tender feet or cresty, she gained a wee bit, which she needed.

canterhavenfarm · Yearling

I have bought and tried many hoof boots: all models of easy boot, old mac, Boa, Cavello. I found the Renegade boot last year and I love it! Several of my horses have been barefoot for 10+ years but I always keep boots around for when we ride on ground that is not their norm. I got tired of fighting with easy boots, the old mac and similar styles sometimes would rub even with the gators, etc. The Renegades have been great. So easy to put on, no rubbing and no flipping off. I jump in them, go through water, gallop, no trouble. They do need to be measured correctly for good fit and as my horse hooves grow, if they are due for a trim, the renegade may not fit as good. So do need to keep hoof properly trimmed as when you measured for the boot. OR do as I do and keep 2 sizes around for the horses that use them
Just google Renegade boots or I think their website is renegadehoofboots.com. You can buy on the main site or from a dealer. I bought from a local dealer.

Cabby · Yearling

Wish I had heard about the Renegades before I had paid for my Easy Boots! Oh well, I can give them a try and hope they work. If not might just have to save up for some of the others.
Thanks for all of the excellent advice and benefit of experience from you all . It's really great to be able to bring a worry to this smashing web site and get such kind, helpfull advice and support from everyone. People who don't have horse never seem to quite understand really and I'm sure they think I'm nuts spending all my spare time, money and effort on my two lovely boys.
Lots and lots of thanks to everyone who has been so kind to take the time to reply.

Marlene · Advanced

I've heard pros and cons on both types, so you might be just as happy with the Easy boots. Or be able to resell them if they really aren't right for you, but lots of people are happy with them. You really have to try them to know.

beargirl123sarah · Yearling

hey Carol:

I hace a quarter horse with terrible front feet, I bought a pair of Old Mac boots andI love them. They don't spin or rub and he likes them as well. My friend had the easyboots and she didn't like them as they rubbed her horse, hope everything works out for you. I've never tried the renegades but they sound great, I think it really depends on your horses confermation, some people have problems if the horses foot is a little off.

byes Sarah

Cabby · Yearling

Hi All,

The boots have arrived so we will introduce Harry to them this week end. Will let you know how we get on - fingers crossed!
Best Wishes - have a good week end.
Carol & Harry

Cabby · Yearling

So far so good! Harry is happy to walk around in the boots and we have been for our first little hack out which went well. We just need to build his confidence up as he understands that the boots will protect him from rocky parts of the road as he is still walking around any of those.
Thanks for all your help.
Carol and Harry

Marlene · Advanced

The first time I put four boots on Sharif he looked very surprised and walked with a very high step, like he was walking through pudding. The he started trotting kind of doing a "Big lick". It was pretty funny. He had worn boots before with his previous owner, but it had been a couple of years, and she probably just put fronts on. He soon adjusted of course. Be sure to gradually transition to non-booted rides. If he's still tender or avoiding rocks after all that, I'd say you still have to look at diet because really there has to be a reason why he's footy.

Cabby · Yearling

Hi Marlene and thanks for the reply
I know what you mean about the high steps as we have had our first real trotting sessions today on a smooth track and he was really giving it high kicks! I couldn´t do much for laughing as he was really exaggerating everying and the more I laughed the worse he got and showed off for me. Anyway, he loves the boots and it is amazing that in two short rides he is now doing things that he has never done before - he even tackled a little downhill jump today and was thrilled with all the fuss I made of him.

Being a steeple chaser he has always gone on easy ground so perhaps his previous owners didn´t realise he had a problem as he really is VERY flat footed - no concavity at all. His feed remains a diet of soaked alfalfa pelets and sugar beet with top dressing of sunflower oil and garlic so it´s difficult to see what else we could cut out. We have even restricted his grazing in the almond grove in case even the hour he had there was too much.

Any suggestions regarding feed would be a help as it´s really difficult to keep weight on him without heating him up and him being too much of a handful.

Anyway, at present both Harry and I are just so relieved to have found a temporary solution so that he didn´t lose any more confidence.
Cheers Carol

Marlene · Advanced

The whole diet for barefoot issue is pretty complicated for horses prone to tender feet. For my guy, before I got him, he had already shown a tendency to react to grains and sugars, so any sweet feeds, or molasses flavorings or even many apples were out. While I had him he has shown occasional reactivity to pasture, two or three hours a day seemed okay, but anymore and he started acting up. But it is very lush, and we have boughts of just the weather conditions which cause wrong chemistry in pasture forage such as cold nights/warm days, boughts of hot dry, followed by rains. Anytime he started acting up or getting footy (which seemed to coincide) I put him back on regular grass hay in a dry lot and he improved in a matter of a couple of days to a week or so. The pasture has alfalfa and dandelions in it, perfectly fine and very nutritious for some horses, but not I guess for a desert arabian! Right now the alfalfa, grasses, and dandelions are about knee to hip high, so you get the picture. I have a hard enough time keeping his "dry lot" free of grassy sprouts and weeds. He thinks I'm crazy when I'm out there beating back perfectly edible vegetation so he can't eat too much between the rails of his pen! Meanwhile he has to duke it out with a hay net. My only motivation for being so mean is that last week he was very sore in his feet because of my stupid effort to give him "limited" pasture access a couple of weeks ago. I know this guy has potenially great feet because I have taken him up on rocky trails wihout boots for the entire spring/summer/fall season about three times a week. I wish I didn't have to learn all this the hard way, because he's the one who pays when I screw up.

If your guy is happy with his boots that is just wonderful because keeping them moving is part of the secret to keeping their feet healthy. Once they are seriously tenderfooted, that has to be addressed before they can get back to the exercise they really need. And even more important is you are laughing and having fun, which as you can tell horses love to see their humans having a good time.

Cabby · Yearling

Thanks so much Marlene

It´s really generous of you to take the time - but there again if were talking about horses it´s all part of the fun!
I even changed him from hay to soft straw (the fluffy sort) as the local hay was really very rich and at first felt really mean but then he really loved it so who can tell what´s right or wrong. Were all just trying to keep learning and doing the best we can for them. You must be really frustrated if you have had him going so well in the past. Do you manage to get out much?

I am really well at the moment so am aiming to go out everyday which means that my two horses go out every other day. My other horse is without shoes too as is perfectly happy on anything which means we can have more of a "fun" ride as he is an older school master. Harry only retired from racing three years ago and with my transplant I haven´t had the right circumstances to retrain him until this last six months. Now that he is getting to grips with his shoes he is learing lots every time we go out.

Have a good weekend and happy riding
Best wishes
Carol

Daniela · Yearling

I have thought about getting boots for a long time for my horse. He has oval feet instead of round feet - are there any boots that will fit an oval foot?

Daniela