This message is from: Jean Ernest <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I have not ridden with horse boots, but recently used the Boa Boots on my 30 year old Fjord gelding to get him through the "Frozen Lumpy ground" stage here. We had a lot of rain which turned the corrals into a muddy mess, then it froze, creating a jumble of frozen "rocks" and lumps! 30 year old Bjarne has had his shoes off since last spring, after wearing shoes continuously for 13 years (hoof problems) and just got trimmed a few days before things froze up.. He was just stumbling around in the frozen "rocks" and was hesitant to even move. I put the new Boa boots on his front feet and the change was amazing.. he was soon moving as well as the other Fjords. I left the boots on for three days straight..which is not recommended, and finally decided I just HAD to take them off for at least a couple hours while he was in the stall eating his breakfast. His hooves were wet and stinky (I had not been able to clean off all the dirt when I put them on) but otherwise just fine, no rubbing at all. Since we had some snow to smooth the ground out a bit I let him out of the stall with no boots to see that he was now fine, his feet didn't bother him any more..His hooves dried off and looked normal. Granted, He didn't trot or move around a more than a walk but with the rough frozen ground and ice, the boots performed well, gave enough traction, and didn't rub. They were very easy to put on and take off and were secure even while he stumbled around through the "ice Boulders."
I used the Size 3 Boas on Bjarne but just bought a pair of size 4 for my big gelding Bjorken, as I had his shoes taken off this fall also, and hope to keep him shoeless if I can. I know that there has been a lot of discussion of boots on the CD-L and the Recreation Equine Driving list and Barb Lee uses the Easy boots on her morgans . The new Easy boots have been redesigned to be easier to put on and many folks really like them. Jean in Fairbanks, Alaska, cloudy and mile, 30 degrees this morning, will reach 40 today. I >I want to have a set of boots on hand to use and wanted some advice. >Do people just use them on the front or on front and back? The boots >I have read about are: Easyboots, Easyboot Epic, Boa Boots, Old Mac's >Boots, Swiss Horse Boots, Marquis Hoof Boot. I'd love to hear from >anyone who has used any of these successfully or unsuccessfully. >We will not be doing endurance rides, climbing up and down rocky >slopes or going on paved roads. We will be on hard packed dirt roads >and hopefully trails in county parks. > >Thanks in advance for your advice. >-- >Genie Dethloff >Ann Arbor, Michigan
