Ditto this.
Great thread. I am currently ordering a pair for my mare. Glad someone asked these questions and there are all these helpful answers.
I have a horse with advanced seedy toe. He was 5/5 lame with slight rotation because of it. Evidently, he has bruised his navicular from having to bear so much weight on the sole of his foot. Vet was worried he’d rotate the other coffin due to being completely non weight bearing. He loaned me a set of Soft Rides last Friday and by the next morning he was 100% weight bearing and 1-2/lame. Yes I am buying these boots. My horse moves fine in them and they don’t seem super heavy or clunky. They haven’t moved or shifted. I do have to clean shavings out daily. Vet said limited turnout is ok in them. Since he’s barefoot for a few months, the price is justified as trade off for a full set of shoes–and a comfortable horse.
I purchased a set of these boots for my broodmare who developed laminitis post foaling. Lost the foal too…sniff!
They did make a huge difference for her. Although we are now 5 months out and still on full stall rest we have just recently put bar shoes on the mare and are not using the boots. They were literally a life saver for her I believe. Yes they are expensive (especially with the 30% Cdn exchange rate) but if its the choice between relieving pain and comfort or just watching your horse not be able to move…the choice is quite obvious. I don’t think I would trust them to stay on for turnout though.
Used soft rides in pasture turn out for my old, stall intolerant TB. Worked fine, no rubs. Took them off if it was raining. My younger horse had a minor cannon bone injury that made him non-wt bearing lame. At vet on fracture precautions - once he got into his soft rides he got better quite quickly. Love them. Keep them in the trailer so if we are away from home he can have them if he loses a shoe.
