Does anyone use hoof boots for trail riding over their metal shoes? Cavallo says that their boots can be used over shoes but I ordered a pair once and they wore a hole in my horses skin after only about a half an hour. They had seemed to fit like a glove when I put them on. I’m reluctant to get another pair. Any suggestions? I thought about pulling the shoes completely but the ground here is pretty abrasive so even in the arena I’m afraid her feet would wear too much. I don’t wanna put boots on for riding in the arena. I mostly just need them for trail riding as there are a lot of rocks and gravel around where I live.
Cavallos. Use their neoprene pastern wraps to protect your horse’s skin. My senior has a wicked scar on the back of his pastern that rubs to blood very easily. I put that pastern wrap on twisted so the seam at the back isn’t touching the scar and he’s rub free. Buy the next size up in pastern wraps. If your boots are size 2-3, buy size 4-6 pastern wraps.
A friend bought Cavallos for her horse to protect him during a rocky, trail riding vacation. Used boots and pastern wraps over his shoes and had no trouble even though she hadn’t broken them in before the vacation (did one test ride IIRC).
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Scoot boots can also be used over shoes
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AFAIK, none of them are meant to be used over metal shoes, including the Cavallos mentioned earlier. But, if needed, the scoots can work over shoes, though it will probably shorten the life of the boot.
If the boot is fitted properly, at least with Scoots, there’s no way a hoof and a metal shoe are going to fit great. You’d likely have to size up quite a bit.
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I haven’t tried it, only read about people doing it. And, yes, you would need to fit the boot with the shoe. I would expect different sizes for with and without the shoes for any boot. I only mentioned it as another option because I have seen posts about people doing it and the fitter I used (Heartland Scoot Boots on FB) has posted about it.
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We use Scoot boots over shoes for trail rides since we have to deal with paved roads and some are pretty slick. The sizing is definitely different: when we pulled my horse’s hind shoes I had to go down a size. I don’t have a great sense of longevity as we’ve been using them with the shod horses only since September or so. We have pairs that are several years old that have mostly been used on barefoot horses.
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Good information. I only trail ride twice a week for at most 2 hrs. Has anyone tried it with Renegades?
what’s too abrasive - her turnout footing? Just the footing in the arena? What exactly is the footing?
Why? Pretty much all boots can go on pretty quickly and usually taken off faster.
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Turnout and riding are the same arena. A mix of decomposed granite and manure. More DG than manure right now. I ride in there for about 45 minutes to an hour at least twice a week. I mean, she MIGHT be OK without the shoes in there…
I know the boots go on quickly, but for some reason I hate putting them on.
The actual manufacturer, on the actual Cavallo website says that Cavallos can be used over shoes.
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Interesting, I didn’t know any of them were designed for over shoes.
If you’re already getting your horse shod, why not just put pads on her?
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Curious about this too. Boots PLUS shoes isn’t something I’d voluntarily sign up for. Cost/sizing issues/rubbing/fit…boots are hard to get right without trying to account for shoes.
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I thought about that. I wondered if it would cause thrush over time.
My horses that are shod always get pads because I do a lot of conditioning work on gravel roads. I have never had a thrush issue (they live out 24/7 and there is plenty of mud). My farrier puts a copper sulfate infused packing material in between the leather pad and the hoof- their feet always look amazing when the pads are pulled off
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And maybe it’s regional or what have you, but I have had thrush show up 100% of the time in a horse with pads. Maybe not right away, but within a year of continual. Multiple farriers, multiple pad set ups, multiple barns, multiple horses.
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I would never do a year of continual 
shoes or pads
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We were trying to fix NPA in all cases.
