Hoof Boots for the Dressage Diva (who thinks she's STBD when she's on the road)

[sascha]

Hello all, popping over from dressage land to ask opinions on boots.

Short of the long is that my mare doesn’t need shoes for anything other than road work. This time of year the hacking is on roads. This time of year is the most important for her to be getting out and about instead of stuck inside schooling, so on weekends with decent weather I will continue to get her out.

She has pretty text book feet, imo, nothing really odd about them, and generally she will sort of trim herself into a perfect 4 point when working on sand or stonedust so that my farrier just has to check balance and shorten her slightly every 6 weeks.

However, the roads are doing the farrier’s job and shortening her too much, hence my boot question. All four feet, btw, I’m not going to be able to get away with only one pair. Sigh.

What has worked for you? What is easy on and easy off but stays put?

What is light weight but durable?

Which are the hardest to wreck by mishandling (because I have a knack for that)?

What questions haven’t I asked that I should have asked?

[Simbalism]

My horses both wear shoes-older mare all 4 and younger mare fronts. I have Easyboot Epics that I use when they lose a shoe. They are pretty easy to get on and off, pretty durable.

[GreyDes]

Renegades! Easy to use and last a long time.

http://www.renegadehoofboots.com

[JLR1]

Renegades are hands down the best fitting boots for the horse and easiest for the owner to take off and on.

[jazzrider]

I’ve found what boots work best for a horse depends on the shape of their feet. Our two trail horses both wear Cavallos on the front if they need them, one wears Cavallos on the back (a size smaller that the front) and the other wears Easyboot gloves (which I like because they’re light, not very expensive, and aren’t as noisy as some boots). Best thing you can do is a sketching of your horse’s feet and go to each of the brands sizing charts to compare. Once you have an idea of what might fit best, see if you can find someone who has them to borrow or see.

[Posting_Trot]

You have to measure your horse’s hooves very carefully, and then look at the measurements for the various types of boots out there. If the measurement of the boots don’t line up with your horse’s measurements, then they won’t fit, or they’ll constantly be twisting, etc.

I am using Easy Boot Back Country, which I like a lot–they’re durable, they’re relatively easy to put on, etc. But the most important thing is that they fit my horse.

Easy Boot also is pretty good about making it easy to figure out which boot (among their various types) will work for you. If you’re going to try easy boots, you should order the fit kit if it’s available for the style you’re interested in.

[sascha]

Thanks!