Hoof boot recs for horse with heel bulb scar?

[Libby2563]

My 7-year-old Hanoverian dressage horse is still barefoot but does better with a little front foot protection for hacks and on harder/more abrasive footing. Unfortunately he has a wicked scar on one front heel bulb from a trailering injury a couple years ago, and it is easily irritated by any amount of friction, even rubber bell boots. Before the injury he had a pair of Scoot Boots that are a hard no now due to the location of the heel strap and the screw…still trying to sell those. I shopped around a bit and found some EasyBoot Gloves that only have soft neoprene-type fabric across the heels. Those don’t irritate him but they do seem to change his breakover enough to make him forge, so I’m hesitant to do more than walk in them. I thought about maybe trying to rasp the toes of the Gloves down a bit, but haven’t decided to destroy them yet. Can anyone think of any other hoof boots I could try that have soft or no material across the heel bulb?

Hoof conformation:

Photos of scar:

Wearing the Gloves:

[rulex]

You could try Equine Fusions, specifically the All Terrain Ultras. They are soft around the back of the heel bulb and have a forgiving fit. For additional protection you could try physio tape over the scar before putting the boots on.

[steelerino]

My horse had a similar scar and I used the easy Boot Back Country boots with no rubbing. I trail rode for hours and jumped in them .

[RedHorses]

My horse has a similar scar a half inch higher. I use Cavallo Treks with their neoprene pastern wraps. I do have to put that pastern wrap on twisted so that the stitch lines aren’t over the scar.

Hoof boots do wear the toe over time so rasping a breakover yourself is just going to do it faster. I would try trotting and see how bad the forging is in varying degrees of collection. Get a friend to video if you can. If he seems comfortable and is striking the sole of the boot with his hind toe, rasping in a breakover is reasonable. If he’s hitting the heel of the boot, sell them. My horse has forged toe to sole at various times, usually sitting him back on his hind end a little bit stopped the forging. He’s never tripped or pulled a boot off through forging.

The other thing is that when you get that flared toe back where it should be, your horse’s breakover will improve naturally.

Edit to add - I’m advising test trotting before altering the boots because Gloves aren’t very forgiving of less than perfect proportions and angles. A friend tried them when his horse’s feet were in similar flared toe shape and he had one boot tear off the gaiter. He tried a couple of Easy Boot styles before giving up and trying Cavallo Simple boots successfully.

Simple boots and Treks use the exact same foot, they just have different uppers. Treks are much more durable in wet mud, grass, etc conditions.

[Christa_P]

These are suggestion since you said the scoot boots were working before the injury.

Scoot Boot came out with a new style of gators that might offer enough padding.

Hybrid Gaiters – Scootboot

If your current Scoot Boots are the classics with the fixed heal strap, another option is the Scoot Boot Adjust (Enduro). The screw for the heal strap is in a different location on the Adjusts and that combined with a neoprene gator might offer enough protection.

Scootboot Adjust Hoof Boots For Endurance Riding - Scootboot