Bell Boots - rubbing?

[paintedtrails]

I recently put my standardbred (back) into shoes for our rocky rides planned for April thru June as we were not having the best luck with boots. Prior to that he was barefoot about a year after 7 years on the track racing in shoes (adopted by me a year ago and his retrainer took him out of shoes prior)

So, he of course has a huge stride and overreaches/interferes therefore is wearing bell boots up front as he is on 24/7 turnout and there is of course some mud. (I do remove them every time he comes in for me (3x week or more) to wash the velcro out and inspect hooves)
A few weeks back we found him twice in a day with one completely flipped up/almost inside out. I believe whatever he did then created a cut/rub which is now healed, but we had some good swelling and heat from it till I found it under the hair.
Now in looking that hoof and where the cut was, I’m not 100% convinced the bell boots aren’t rubbing or aren’t going to cause another issue. Is there a type that is better for 24/7 turnout and rubbing? We currently have the cheaper types - Roma with velcro closure and have to replace them every few weeks from the tabs ripping. I imagine anything with fleece lining is just going to get caked and yucky with mud right?

[Training_Cupid]

For turnout I just use cheap rubber pull ons. My horse wears them 24/7 in the winter and we’ve never had problems with rubbing or skin problens. (The only problem is getting them on and off when I need to!) For riding, when he’s not in the pull ons I use fleece-lined velcro ones. He is fairly thin-skinned,
the one and only time I tried regular Davis velcro ones his heels were rubbed raw in a one hour ride!

[J-Lu]

My horse is like yours, OP. He has an overstride and will catch and pull the front shoes. My excellent farrier shoes to minimize this (5 wk cycle), and I found that Centaur bell boots fit him very well. They don’t rub even with our record rain (they do trap mud though), and they fall low enough that he usually can’t catch his front shoes (it can happen, but rarely). Like yours, he’s in his own pasture 24/7 and runs alot with neighbors.

I tried the pull ons and it almost killed me to pull them on :lol:. The velcroe on the Centaurs last about 2 months plus or minus, but at $8.99/pair, it’s soooo much cheaper than having my farrier come out for lost shoes. My farrier is much happier that I don’t kink his schedule! (haha) The Centaurs may not fit your horse in the same way, and you might benefit from eyeballing or measuring the distance from the coronet to the ground on the back of front feet and going from there.

I would highly avoid anything with fleece lining or foam - anything that can trap bacteria, water or fungus That said, one of my horse’s neighbors was turned out with fleece-topped bell boots and she never had a rub. I would never to it, but that horse never had a rub or any funk on her fetlocks.

Good luck! I have felt your pain but luckily found a solution before my farrier fired me! :winkgrin:

[BoyleHeightsKid]

Pull-ons that are double thick at the bottom work great for turnout. I had one that wore them 24/7 for quite a while and they never rubbed him. When he came in I would flip them up to clean etc. As long as they fit right they shouldn’t rub. If they bunch up at the back of the foot when standing square then they are too big and will rub the back of the pastern. A properly fitting boot should just touch the ground when they are standing square.

[Jo]

My delicate flower does best in these 24/7:

https://www.ridingwarehouse.com/KL_Select_Italian_Ribbed_Overreach_Bell_Boots/descpage-KLRBB.html

The Dover $12 ones didn’t fit very well and all the other iterations rubbed or were destroyed too quickly. I buy a couple of these pairs when I have a 20% off coupon and get free shipping, then keep them on hand for when needed.

[Pico_Banana]

I use sheepskin/fleece-topped bell boots for turnout because the all rubber ones have rubbed my horse and caused hair loss. They do sometimes get muddy, but my horse is only out 8-4 and they can dry out when they are not on her in her stall. Can you change them out every 12 hours to give them a chance to dry?