This message is from: JoAnn or Dave <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Hi Sue, It sounds like you have a good farrier. I use size 3 Easy Boots, too, and have a suggestion and a question for you.
> ... there is a lot of boot left sticking out the back when you get > it fitted, and the edges are too tall. I also have to wrap the cable > wire around the metal lever to get enough tension on the cable to make > it snug. I trimmed down a lot of the excess on both the back and the > top rim of the boots, and so far she has not pulled a boot off since I > trimmed. ... My other mare takes a size 2 boot, and it is proportioned > better, but still needed a lot of trimming around the coronary band. I've actually trimmed about an eigth of an inch off the bottom of the back of the boot (the very bottom), and that has significantly reduced having it stepped on by my TB's hind feet. I'm not sure just how much this weakens the strength of the Easy Boot, but my thought was that there on to protect his soles, so it's worth trying -- and it's worked. As for wrapping the cable around the metal lever, I tried that and it threatened to make the lever turn cockeyed and I was afraid that it could wrench itself loose. So I had my husband drill a new pair of holes in the heel strap! It was very easy with a Dremel, and now the boots fit Bobby's wide but shortish front hooves fairly well. When you mentioned trimming excess off of the top of the Easy Boot, do you mean behind the cables (down toward the heel), or above the cables? There doesn't seem to be a lot of room above the cables, but a friend's horse has hooves which the Easy Boots are too tall for -- the front above the metal lever would rest above the coronet band if she were to use them. Do you have any suggestions? Maybe pads inside? These hooves are also very upright and the toe doesn't reach into the front "corner" because of the steep angle (of the hoof, not the boot). > The savings in not having to pay for shoes easily > covers the cost of the Easy Boots, but the aggravation of having to > put them on daily means I would shoe if I did a lot of trail riding. > > Sue Banks > Mattaponi, VA Although it gets easier with practice, I agree! However, I just did an experiment with Easy Foam (have you heard of it?), and it lasted 2 weeks. I applied Koppertox before gluing on the Easy Boots since we're in a very moist environment and there was no thrush when I took them off. Because Bobby had a heel wound on the left, I couldn't use the necessary heel strap to secure my Easy Boots, and his feet had just been trimmed (perhaps a little too short), so I couldn't ride without them. Voila! Out comes the Easy Foam I picked up in VA on my vacation :-) I totally removed the heel strap from the left boot, and mixed up the foam to glue it onto his hoof -- the owner was leaving as I was making preparations; you know, rubber gloves, mixing stick, container, baby wipes, etc -- but he couldn't resist stopping to ask what I was doing. He was probably afraid it was a construction project! I explained that I was gluing the Easy Boots on like shoes, and not to get worried when he saw that it would look like I forgot to take them off. "Ohwhoa," he said (the standard comment elicited from anything totally different), and drove off. The right hoof was wrapped in Vetwrap, just like I do for when I'm using the boots without the foam. (Do you use anything under the boots, and/or do you bend down the metal gripper teeth, Sue?) Surprisingly enough, the left boot stayed on considerably longer than the right, despite the heel strap disparity. The right boot stayed on for four days, then came off while Bobby was turned out. I put it back on with more foam, sans Vetwrap. The left, strapless, boot stayed on for two full weeks, coming off as we trotted down and around a wet clay downhill turn on the trail. I keep telling him it's better to walk down those hills, but can't deny him his own little experiments ;-) He clipped the left boot with his right foot, and off came the "slipper." I was quite happy with how long it adhered. Then on to the adventure of removing the perfectly solid right boot while being laughed at by my friends -- but it sure is nice to have a horse who will stand quietly while his person nearly wrenches off his foot - LOL! JoAnn in Japan
