New Easycare glue-on shoes

[2bayboys]

I thought I’d write an early review of the new Easycare glue-on shoes, specifically the Versa Octo and the 3-D models.
EasyShoe 3D (easycareinc.com)
EasyShoe Versa Grip Octo (easycareinc.com)

I am not a farrier. I am a 56-year-old female, lifelong horse owner, trainer, and I keep my horses at home so I am responsible for all of the horse care. I have a professional trim and shoe my horses.

One of my horses is sound only for light work, occasional trail rides and flat work in the arena. He’s been barefoot for over a year, but he hasn’t seemed very comfortable in his front feet for several months. I wanted to find an alternative to putting shoes on him. I tried boots for turnout and riding, and I also tried casting the feet. Neither option made him entirely comfortable and neither reliably stayed on. When I read about the Versa Octo, applied using Superglue, I figured it was worth a shot.

I read all the blogs on the Easycare site detailing how to fit and apply the shoes, and I also watched the videos.

Two days after his last trim, I put the Octos on him. I modified some of the application technique because I didn’t want to invest in equipment I don’t already own. So instead of using a propane heat gun to dry the feet, I used a small hair dryer. Instead of using a buffy attachment on a drill, I used a sanding block. The size 122 fit the horse well out of the box. I followed the instructions to buff the foot, wire brush, and dry with the blow dryer. I also wiped the hoof and the inside of the shoes with alcohol prior to glueing.

I glued each tab with the Easycare version of superglue, pressed the tabs against the foot, and then wrapped with shrink wrap as the instructions stated.

Four weeks later the shoes are still on. I have had some tabs pop loose and I used the wire brush to clean as best I could between the tab and the foot and the blow dryer to dry, then re-glued the tabs. The shoes have not shifted at all despite some of the tabs popping.

Management notes:
My horses all stay in stalls during the day so they are not stomping flies. All of my horses that wear shoes also wear bell boots for turnout and riding, and this horse did as well with the Octos. BUT, it has been raining a lot since the Octos were applied, and the horse has been turned out all night in the rain and the mud. And the shoes are still on. Most importantly, the horse appears very sound, even offering to trot on the gravel driveway on his way in and out of the barn. There is a huge difference in his comfort level and for that reason alone I’m willing to keep learning technique to make the process more successful.

This horse has some flare in his feet and I think that was the main reason the tabs popped loose as the contact of the tabs from top to bottom was not flat and even. The farrier comes back in a week and I’ll remove the shoes prior to that and ask him about addressing the flare to help the glueing/tab mechanism work better hopefully.

The Octos have a very thick tread and sole so they are not something I would use on a horse in the show ring necessarily as they changed the horse’s style of movement quite a bit, adding a lot of knee action. But the horse is so much more comfortable I’m pretty excited about the possibilities with this shoe AND I feel pretty confident about doing it myself. My first attempt was messy, but still effective.
Initial application:

Three weeks later:

[2bayboys]

So I really like the Octos and I’m intrigued by the idea of the 3-D glue-ons, which are much more similar to a traditional horse shoe. They are also very very light.

On horse #2, I was facing a 2-3 week layup period because she is recovering from a nasty laceration. In injuring herself, she also pulled off a front shoe. Since this happened two weeks into her 5-week shoeing cycle, I figured this was the perfect opportunity to try the 3-D shoe and see if I like it enough to reset it in three weeks, or just have shoes put back on. So I removed her other front shoe and applied the 3-D’s this weekend.

I did things a little differently in this application. To help dry the feet out before glueing, I put a pair of old socks on over her front feet, and filled the socks with uncooked rice. (It works for cell phones, right??) She stood in the rice filled socks in the stall for a couple hours. Then I followed the same preparation of sandpaper buffing, wire brush, blow dryer. I did not wipe the feet or shoes down with alcohol, but I did lightly sand the inside of the tabs to roughen them up a little.

Since the mare has a slightly clubby foot on the RF, and that was also the shoe that she pulled off, she had damage on the outside wall that made the shoe have a gap on that side instead of fitting snug. So I glued shims to two of the tabs, using an extra set of tabs from Easycare. This helped, although the fit on the RF is not nearly as good as the LF. If I continue with these shoes, I might try using a hind shoe on the RF instead. Since this horse does not have the issue with flares that the first horse does, the tabs all fit nice and snug with almost no gapping anywhere, except for the outer wall of the damaged RF.

Overall, I’m happier with this application than with the first horse. And there is no change in her movement at all. She is getting turned out in a small paddock alone because of her injury, but there is still enough room to trot around, which she did and showed me some lovely flat kneed movement.

Another thing I did differently with this one is I rasped the shoe so that the heels fit very close. This horse has a huge over reach and gets double bell boots in her normal turnout situation, so for this experiment I deliberately made it less likely for her to step the shoes off.

One note about the 3-D shoes in comparison to the Octos, the 3-D shoes really get packed with mud. I pick all my horses feet when they come in to the barn in the morning, and the 3-D shoes are FULL of material and not easy to pick out. The Octos have not been that way on Horse #1, even though I removed the debris guard from the shoes before applying them.

I get to start very lightly riding Horse #2 this week since her injury is healing so well, so I’ll get a week of riding in the 3-D shoes before the farrier comes next week and I decide whether or not to keep on with these.

RF, the x’s mark the tabs where I added shims:

[gnu]

Thanks for sharing! I just finished gluing on octo’s and came inside for a break. I had success the first round, but none of my resets have lasted more than 10 days. I too use 60 grit sandpaper on a block, as well as a rasp, and a heat gun and wire brush to prep the hoof wall. My horse moves very well in the shoes. I have used an angle grinder and a bench grinder to shape the heels, and find that a bit tricky as the plastic melts, gumming up the tool. My rasp took ages to make a dent on the shoes. Please share your experiences going forward as I am certainly not the only one using these shoes. fyi my horse lives outside and we have been dry this spring.

[2bayboys]

Do you mean you’re not having success after you remove the shoe and re-set fully after your 5-6 week cycle? Or you’re not having success when you have to re-glue a tab?

I thought it was very challenging just re-glueing the popped tabs since there’s no good way to prep the foot with the shoe still in place.

But I haven’t yet removed the whole shoe and re-applied, I expect my next learning curve will be figuring out how to clean the tabs well enough to get a good bond again.

[barnesthenoble]

I’ve had the best luck using a dremel with a sandpaper bit for cleaning the tabs. Using that method I’ve actually been having better retention on the resets than with the initial set.

I really, really like the octos and grip glues. All of the horses on my schedule need the greater support of the versas, but I’m super intrigued by the 3Ds and wouldn’t hesitate to use them.

Here’s a picture of the second reset of a pair of Octos with the rocker attachment on an OTTB with a ton of bone loss and damage. Slowly working him down to more “normal” versas (would like to eventually just have the regular versas with a rim pad), but for now he’s super happy in this setup.

[2bayboys]

Thanks, that is helpful! I’ve been looking at dremel tools, since I know at least the first horse is going to stay in the Octos based on his soundness. Is there a particular brand you like that works well?

[Heinz_57]

If you’re buying one just for this, the Walmart brand rotary tool (Hyper Tough, I think is the name) works just fine and it’s under $30 for a cordless rechargeable. From experience, I recommend wearing eye protection and mask or face cover, though… it’s kind of a tedious process. Or at least it was for me.

I have been watching the 3D’s with interest but I have so many pairs of Octos floating around that I’d like to use up first.

[2bayboys]

Thanks @Heinz_57 !

[Pehsness]

a friend in Australia is love with these and is having great success. She’s given me the confidence to invest some money in them. She also actively shows.

I’m looking forward to giving them a try.

[2bayboys]

I know lots of people are using them but they’re not talking about it!

[MsM]

How do you remove them when the they need a reset/new set? The only glue ons I saw personally were a nightmare to remove and damaged the hoof wall!

[2bayboys]

The Versatile Versa Grip Octo: How to Remove and Reset - EasyCare Hoof Boot News

[Pehsness]

if they do the trick they are revolutionary. The perfect hybrid between boots and shoes.

[SusanO]

This sounds really interesting and I am impressed that you could apply them and get them to stay on. Kudos to you for taking the leap and being successful. This is inspiring for those of us with horses that need shoes but have hoof wall so crappy they can’t be nailed on.

[phantomhorse]

For any of you using these shoes, how do your horses do on wet grass?

A few years back, a friend sent her horse home with me for a month of boot camp while she was away. She had him in some kind of easycare shoe (though it was nailed versus glued) and trying to ride that horse on dewy grass was scary. My steel shod horses were fine on the same surface, so it was quite a shock to me. I wound up only riding that horse in the afternoons after the grass had dried because I was afraid we would both be hurt.

I love the concept of these shoes, so would love to hear the wet grass issue is resolved.

[SusanO]

They are for sure cheaper than hoof boots. My mare is not rideable but I have to use boots for turnout because her soles are so thin. Her boots rarely last beyond a month or two. Ka-ching! I don’t know if these would stay on but they are not an expensive experiment.

[2bayboys]

@SusanO

This sounds really interesting and I am impressed that you could apply them and get them to stay on. Kudos to you for taking the leap and being successful. This is inspiring for those of us with horses that need shoes but have hoof wall so crappy they can’t be nailed on.

For me it’s a practicality. I have a horse that’s not really sound except for very light occasional riding but it seems ridiculous to spend $100 every month to keep him shod. I want him as comfortable as possible and I’m willing to make the effort to learn how to make these work.

[2bayboys]

If interested heres horse #1 in the octos. This is the soundest I’ve seen this horse go in almost two years.

IMG_9929

[Heinz_57]

@2bayboys

I know lots of people are using them but they’re not talking about it!

If you are on FB, there is a glue on composite shoe group that has a ton of info and tips - and feedback, if you want to post your work for the pros to review. A large percentage of the posts are about Octos, and now with the 3D coming out there have been some on those too. I know it says it’s for “hoofcare providers only”, but as someone who is now applying glue on composite shoes, you’d be welcome.

Glue-on Composite Shoe Group | Facebook

[tabula_rashah]

I have the Versas on the fronts of the bay mare I had at Muckleratz and they are fantastic. She feels so good in them- and she’s missing a part of her LF coffin bone and has previously foundered. So far I have not noticed her slipping on wet grass or slick mud in them at all (she gets Easy Boot Gloves behind and I can feel her occasionally slip behind but not in front)