My (dressage) horse is fine on sand or grass but ouchy on gravel unless it’s very fine. It’s not that common but I do avoid certain venues because of it.
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Have you ever walked from the tent stabling at Thermal to the rings? It’s a bit more than a parking lot.
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Never been near Thermal, never expect to be, but I take your word on this! 
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There’s a reason why everyone is whizzing around on/in scooters, bikes, golf carts… And it’s worse for the hunters than the jumpers. 
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Not to belabor conversation about one specific type of boot, but you could easily remove the pastern straps from well fitting Scoots. They really don’t have anything to do with the boot staying on the foot properly. If that made the difference to making them legal, it would be an easy fix.
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I think the thing with the Scoots is not necessarily the pastern strap as that is totally removable and only really used in mud or mucky conditions as a safe guard due to the extra suction from mud but the part of the boot that goes above the heel bulbs that secures the boot to the foot just at the back. It technically goes above the hairline at the heel so the FEI dressage deems them illegal.
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I use Scoot boots, and have previously used a range of Easy boots and Renos.
I would never use them now for anything other than a gentle trot down the road. One of my horses stood on her front Scoot at a gallop. Another horse had both hind Renos explode at a gallop and wrap the tension wire around both hind legs. How we all survived I don’t know, but the Scoot was ripped with such velocity it spun up and hit the horse next to me, almost causing two accidents.
Never, ever, EVER would I jump in those things. Ever. EVER.
Neither horse had any issue with gait or hoof abnormalities. Just poor design and materials for boots.
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I own a whole bunch of Scoots and hate them all. They perish easily, leading to potential problems. They also come off very easily. I only use them to take horses out on walking or trotting trail rides.
The last time I used them, the mare took a fright and both front straps ripped off, the boot twisted around her foot. It was hell to get off and ended up walking the mare home, boots in hand.
I reckon I’ve had more boots come off than stay on, this is using mudstraps which rub and slimfit boots. Add a glove gaiter they’d be great, but as they are currently… big nope.
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yes and no, there is individual variation in horses, how long they have been barefoot and their management at home as well as physical weight when it comes to traveling over unknown terrain. Typically the issue for horses is the harsh gravel/sharp small rocks as it is not a general surface they walk on and it’s not comfortable to do so. Hoof boots allow them to stay comfortable on any terrain because you can’t condition their hooves adequately to all terrain, it just isn’t possible for the vast majority of situations because not everywhere has all types of terrain to get horses used to it and some never get used to the really severe terrain like heavy and sharp gravel, its just not realistic
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In the USHJA regular hunters , I’d not think they would be allowed. Hunters are very traditional, and your choices are shod or unshod (or some combination of the above). In cases where studs are allowed (if there are cases like that in the hunters), perhaps, but I’d still be doubtful.
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Yes. I have a barefoot horse and we use Scoot Boots as needed. She is just on the cusp of not needing boots at all. I use front boots much of the time on our sand and gravel trails so that she will be more forward and stride out. But she can certainly walk across gravel without being in pain. In general, if a horse is working out to be OK competing barefoot, at speed, he is likely to be able to walk on harsher footing even if he would not be happy doing a big trot on that.
I don’t however know the full range of gravel parking lots and roads at every big hunter venue in the world.
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EC dressage rules specifically ban hoof boots in competition (they are allowed in warm up), so it’s not up to the show secretary or judge. Article E 4.9A7 for reference. It doesn’t even say “above the hair line” like the US, it says “removable hoof boots”.
The rule book for hunters is a bit unclear as it just specifies “no boots” but it implies these are leg boots so it should really be updated to be more clear.
I would say, rules as written, hoof boots are not allowed in the hunters.
If you’d like to change that, you’ll need to propose a rule change to make them explicitly allowed.
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This is Canadas rule for hunters, because they’re mentioning which kind of boots now can be worn I’d say hoof boots are not allowed at EC shows!
Bandages and Boots: No bandages or boots are allowed; in the case of bad weather, at the discretion of the judge, steward and/or competition committee, tendon, ankle and bell boots may be worn in hunter classes but boots must be removed be before the horse jogs in front of the judge for conformation and/or
soundness.
The Scoot boots are really easy and quick to get on and off.
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EC is the national org, I specified shows sanctioned by my local provincial org. Just making the point that without knowing the sanctioning body of the show OP is looking to compete at, the answers will vary since they vary by org.
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Provincial shows run under EC rules though - they don’t all have their own rulebooks.
If the show is sanctioned (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum) it’s under EC rules.
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First, I’m a huge fan of barefoot if your horse can do it comfortably and you have the time to appropriately transition them. I get the hoof boots across all the weird between-barn-and-ring terrain. However I’d be very dubious of jumping in a hoof boot of any kind given what I’ve seen out there for products.
And I’ll go out on a limb and confess my unpopular opinion that if your horse needs hoof boots just to be in a ring that is most likely nicely manicured footing, your horse probably shouldn’t be showing barefoot until you’ve done the work to get their feet in a place where they can actually warmup, walk from warmup to show ring, and then show.
PS- I’ve shown a couple of my hunters barefoot all the way around, at some large venues, in the past few years. No boots required. The truly sensitive ones or those who don’t do well barefoot get shoes.
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