Easyboot Glove fail, what now?

[Hampton_Bay]

I’ve posted before about my Arab who is impossible to keep shod. He has a short back with long legs, and he over tracks a good bit. This obviously results in many lost shoes, no matter how the breakover or angle is adjusted. This horse will step on himself barefoot, and has removed more than one pair of pull on bells. He has pulled them in a grass pasture the same day he was shod. He can even pull the hinds, despite there being nothing really hanging out for him to step on. Unless I short shoe him, which I refuse to do, he refuses to keep on shoes. I’ve tried 3 brands of plastic shoes and several shapes of steel shoes, including natural balance shoes.

I tried the gloves, and big shocker, he removed them at an easy trot and easy canter. The gloves don’t fit him terribly well because his hooves are a bit wider than long, but any smaller and his heels don’t seat down into the boot at all, even when just trimmed. There is just too much crap sticking off the back of the boot for him to step on. He almost pulled the gaiter off of one boot.

What now? He can’t go barefoot on the gravel roads, and that’s the only place I have to ride. If he’s so hard on the gloves and shoes, is there any shot that the Renegades will work? Or do I give up and either do dressage (which he tolerates), or try to sell him to someone who never wants to ride on gravel past a walk?

[Posting_Trot]

He sounds like a difficult fit as well as being a long-striding horse.

Just a couple of questions: were you using Easy Boot Glove in the wide sizes? Those are made for hooves that are just as wide as they are round, while the regular sizes are made for horses with narrower hooves.

You might try making the gloves into Back Country boots by ordering the cuffs. The Back Country boots have fabric that covers the pastern so it might be more resilient. Also, because they have the cuff, the fit doesn’t have to be quite as precise as it does for the Glove.

Finally, what is the horse like barefoot over gravel? Maybe he’d be fine. (Maybe you’ve already tried this).

Good luck.

[Hampton_Bay]

Yep, I was using the wide sizes. 2 in front, 2.5 behind. I can get the size 2 on behind, but his heels don’t actually seat into the boot. In looking at the fronts, his heels are pretty tight in that boot as well. It’s the gaiter in the back that he’s catching, where the plastic and fabric meet.

He can’t go barefoot. He can barely walk barefoot over the gravel we have here. It’s massive and sharp, with no way to avoid it.

The back country concerns me because this horse rubs easily. He’s grey with 3 white stocking, and the sensitive skin that goes along with it.

[katyb]

Do you have power straps on them? Did you have bell boots over them? I had to use bell boots and Gloves with power straps on my mare that would over-stride. She tore off a chunk of her coronary band in the pasture, barefoot obviously. It was quite the problem, but the Gloves almost always stayed on with the bell boots and power straps.

[Hampton_Bay]

I haven’t ordered the power straps. I did email Easyboot to see if they had any recommendations before I sank more $$$ into these. I know easyboot has the 30 day guarantee, but I’ve had other companies refuse to honor guarantees like that. And now that one boot is ripped, I have to wait on them before I can do much with these.

The only bell boots he can wear are the Professional’s choise no turns. Anything else is destroyed within a few rides. He can step on his bells and trip himself. When I discovered those, I thought maybe I had the shoeing figured out finally. The bug season started, he stomped his hinds off and tore up his fronts so badly that I didn’t have any wall left to nail new shoes on when I went to reset the fronts. The cracks were so bad that I couldn’t get anything to hold.

[GreyDes]

You could try the Renegades with the cut-back option. They’ll take up to 1/2" off the base, so there’s nothing sticking out from the back of the hoof. I’ve had excellent luck with them on my Arabs, and hubby’s TWH with a big overstride. However, if your horse overreaches that much, he may pull the heel captivator off.

[Herefordgirl]

I had problems with Renegades staying on. I love Old Mac G2s. I even jumped a full cross country course of 15 jumps in them. They are great!

[katyb]

[QUOTE=Hampton Bay;7750571]
I haven’t ordered the power straps. I did email Easyboot to see if they had any recommendations before I sank more $$$ into these. I know easyboot has the 30 day guarantee, but I’ve had other companies refuse to honor guarantees like that. And now that one boot is ripped, I have to wait on them before I can do much with these.

The only bell boots he can wear are the Professional’s choise no turns. Anything else is destroyed within a few rides. He can step on his bells and trip himself. When I discovered those, I thought maybe I had the shoeing figured out finally. The bug season started, he stomped his hinds off and tore up his fronts so badly that I didn’t have any wall left to nail new shoes on when I went to reset the fronts. The cracks were so bad that I couldn’t get anything to hold.[/QUOTE]

The power straps will probably solve your problem, and they are like $6. Easyboot replaced my ripped Glove; I think they just asked for a photo of the damage. I think the power straps should come with the boots; they are necessary if you ride fast or in rough terrain. I’m sorry nobody told you that sooner. I would still put bell boots over the Gloves, or maybe a turn of duct tape.

I would look to diet, with feet that bad. We are having a pretty rough season here, but I don’t have chipped, cracked feet. I do have an excellent barefoot trimmer, who keeps a good roll on their hooves, but for that much of a problem, I’d think diet.

[BigHorseLittleHorse]

It’s possible that Renegades may work, depending on where he hits himself. If it’s down low, you can get the cutback option to make sure that there is no part of the boot base that is sticking out behind the hoof. But if he’s hitting himself up higher, he may grab the top of the heel captivator and yank it right off. Probably best to call them and explain the situation, they may have some other ideas for you.

[tabula_rashah]

Hmmm
If you want to try the Gloves again- I learned a pretty cool trick from another poster on here (patti). You can get Mueller’s athletic tape, wrap it a few times around the hoof (depending on how much space you want to fill, etc) and then put your boot on. The tape once heated and/or wet make a sticky seal to the boot. It literally took two of us to pry them off my riding buddy’s horse the other day. The other thing is- it you can put them on without some hammering (rubber mallet) and cursing then they are too big.
A thought that might work for your guy though… Our farrier at work did this for a jumper the other day and was the first time I’d seen it on a riding horse. He used Equithane Super Fast and ran a bead of it around the hoof wall (where the shoe would be) and then up the wall on the outside about an inch or so all around. He said it is supposed to stay on for at least a couple of week and can be filed, etc

[Posting_Trot]

I don’t think the Back Country cuffs would rub–they’re really not that tight around the pastern.

The cuffs (or uppers) act like a power strap. If you’re going to have to replace one of the boots anyway (because one glove ripped), it might be worth trying the Back Country boots instead.

[Hampton_Bay]

His hooves are never in poor condition except this one year. Now that he’s been barefoot for a month or so, they are perfectly fine. The stomping at flies and running around on hard ground made the hooves crack at the nail holes, which left me very little to nail to. I don’t have the ability to fly spray him many times a day, and fly wraps tend to rub on him. Plus we were moslty getting giant horseflies, and fly spray is useless against them anyway. He otherwise has hooves of steel, aside from the flat soles.

Will the power straps really help when he’s stepping on all of the massively loose fabric at the gaiter? The boot otherwise fits tightly on the front hooves. If I were to go down a size, his heels wouldn’t fit into the boot. I tried the smaller size behind, and his heels are actually a bit wider than the tread. I can’t imagine they would work to well when the hoof is wider than the boot when recently trimmed.

I doubt I can find the Professional’s Choice bells big enough for him to fit over the Gloves. He wears a L or XL when shod.

He has stepped on his heel bulbs before. Usually he steps the shoe off, but when ridden barefoot he’s torn up the heel bulbs.

[gothedistance]

[QUOTE=Hampton Bay;7752199]

Will the power straps really help when he’s stepping on all of the massively loose fabric at the gaiter? The boot otherwise fits tightly on the front hooves.

I doubt I can find the Professional’s Choice bells big enough for him to fit over the Gloves. He wears a L or XL when shod.

He has stepped on his heel bulbs before. Usually he steps the shoe off, but when ridden barefoot he’s torn up the heel bulbs.[/QUOTE]
Boy, are you between a rock and a hard place. :lol:

One of mine is similar - very long striding (although he has never damaged his heels), and early on used to yank off his front shoes within a mile or so from the barn. He can’t wear boots - he either destroys them within 2 miles from home, or they just twist around on his foot. The Gloves I put on him were ruined - both of them - on one short, relaxed 3 mile trot on one of our gravel roads. He actually pulled the connective screws right through the rubber - to the point where the rubber’s holes were so stressed that the screws didn’t fit anymore. $50 per boot - wasted. He can’t wear the classic easyboot either on the fronts - no matter how tight I crank them, he can pivot them around on one of his feet in a matter of miles.

It’s a pain in the neck, the fact that all my other ponies are quite happy with their boots and can wear them for miles and miles, and years and years …but he can’t. In both our cases the power strap won’t do a bit of good since the problem resides with them catching the fabric of the gaiter. I doubt the Renegades will work because they also have a basket in the heel area that can be caught and ripped.

Putting my guy in shoes is the only option, and using the Professional’s Choice bells really helped to protect the front shoes, as did shoeing him in aluminum St. Croix eventers for the complete bevel on the entire rim. His feet didn’t “drag” as they would with a flat rim, the shoes are exceptionally lightweight to the point where they do not weigh down the foot and he can pick up his feet faster to get them out of the way.

Also blunting the rear toe, and setting the rear shoes back onto the foot, helped further prevent catching. I didn’t like the look of his rear hooves at that point, but it was the ONLY thing that worked to prevent him from catching his front shoes. (And I do my own farrier work, so having to do that and saying how much I disliked it says a lot about how bad the situation was as I was hunting him at the time and he NEEDED to be shod, AND keep his shoes on galloping cross country.)

Am I correct in your implying that you do your own shoeing? For right now if you don’t have a lot of hoof, I would suggest you glue on a set of aluminum shoes. I might suggest you set the rear shoes further back on the foot, and really blunt back the toe severely so that it can’t catch the front. You might also try the method that tabula suggests - forming a “shoe” on his front feet from the chemical bonding agents and run the bond up the wall of the hoof so that it encases the hoof and doesn’t allow any catching from the hind feet. Rocker the edge all around, and it will help him move his feet better and more naturally.

Good luck, and I hope you find a solution.

[Hampton_Bay]

Yes, I do my own shoeing. I’ve not tried aluminum shoes on him. I’ve used steel and plastic, but not aluminum. I had tried setting the hind shoes back quite a bit, and then setting them more forwards. I seem to remember that he did better with the hinds not set back as far, but its been a while since I did that. And I seem to remember doing it with the plastic shoes more than the steel.

GTD, I wonder if aluminum in front and steel behind might help? He currently has plenty of hoof to nail to. A month of being barefoot and the horseflies vanishing has cured the busted hooves.

I should also mention, he required pads and packing when shod. The gravel here is awful. I am using a softer rubber pad, but I’ve used No Vibe and Vibram pads. Leather was SHREDDED quickly due to the wet ground and the massive rocks. I use the EDSS type packing.

So you had more like with a St Croix Eventer than a NB shoe? Do you set the shoe back in front? It seemed like that helped when I switched him to steel from plastic. I loved the plastic shoes because I could canter on pavement, but at $25 a pair plus shipping I just couldn’t afford to keep buying them. He sucked all 4 off in one intro ride.

And yes, the Gloves were destroyed in less than 5 miles at an easy trot and canter.

GTD, I’m going to PM you actually.

[airhorse]

[QUOTE=tabula rashah;7751810]
Hmmm
I You can get Mueller’s athletic tape, wrap it a few times around the hoof (depending on how much space you want to fill, etc) and then put your boot on. The tape once heated and/or wet make a sticky seal to the boot.[/QUOTE]

Excellent idea.

[patti]

Would love to see photos of the feet freshly trimmed and the feet with the Gloves on them. They say the biggest factor in keeping them on is the trim, and having used them, I agree.

[Hampton_Bay]

Patti, if you PM me your email addy I can send you trim pics. The Gloves are boxed up to return as the one is totally ruined, and the heels are too wide to go down a size unless I rasp off a good portion of the wall at the heels. I’m just not willing to thin the wall like that. When I hold up the 2 to his hind hooves, the heels are wider than the tread of the boot. If I trim his hind heels down any, he will have a NPA. He’s low in the heels behind anyway. Not crushed heels, just has a lower hoof angle. I don’t want to trim any lower than I already have.

[katyb]

[QUOTE=Hampton Bay;7752199]
His hooves are never in poor condition except this one year. Now that he’s been barefoot for a month or so, they are perfectly fine. The stomping at flies and running around on hard ground made the hooves crack at the nail holes, which left me very little to nail to. I don’t have the ability to fly spray him many times a day, and fly wraps tend to rub on him. Plus we were moslty getting giant horseflies, and fly spray is useless against them anyway. He otherwise has hooves of steel, aside from the flat soles.

Will the power straps really help when he’s stepping on all of the massively loose fabric at the gaiter? The boot otherwise fits tightly on the front hooves. If I were to go down a size, his heels wouldn’t fit into the boot. I tried the smaller size behind, and his heels are actually a bit wider than the tread. I can’t imagine they would work to well when the hoof is wider than the boot when recently trimmed.

I doubt I can find the Professional’s Choice bells big enough for him to fit over the Gloves. He wears a L or XL when shod.

He has stepped on his heel bulbs before. Usually he steps the shoe off, but when ridden barefoot he’s torn up the heel bulbs.[/QUOTE]

The power straps worked for me, in that situation. I did have to cover the Glove with a bell boot, since it’s much cheaper to replace. My over-strider is now in a walk only home: problem solved, lol.

[Hampton_Bay]

Hahaha, you would never guess from watching this horse walk that he could remove shoes with such talent and determination. His preferred walk speed is somewhere between “elderly man with cane” and “50yo Shetland heading away from the barn”.

[katyb]

[QUOTE=Hampton Bay;7758534]
Hahaha, you would never guess from watching this horse walk that he could remove shoes with such talent and determination. His preferred walk speed is somewhere between “elderly man with cane” and “50yo Shetland heading away from the barn”.[/QUOTE]

Same way with mine - never could figure out how she managed to do it either. She’s a slug. My forward, zippy horses don’t have that issue at all. Go figure.