Since Stella seems eager to 'go and do,' and the only 'going and doing' in our neighborhood involves gravel roads, I decided to look into hoof boots for her. I've seen a new-to-me brand referenced on another blog, so this morning I did an internet search just to see what's out there now. As expected, there have been lots of changes in the market since I last bought boots. Interestingly, the kind I got Lance didn't come up in the search. After looking into various models, I finally remembered the brand name of Lance's, and looked them up. Renegades are definitely still available, I'd just forgotten that they are not mass-marketed like many other brands. They have a new style available, too, but when I inquired via email about Stella's measurements (her front feet are wider than they are long, just like Lance's) I was told that style doesn't usually work for her foot shape. Okay then; I headed to the barn to ride.
I was planning on measuring again and taking photos of Stella's feet to get help in sizing (they look small to me, but her measurements put her in "big boot territory"), but she was being unusually squirrelly so I skipped it. After our ride (which had lots of canter departs, but again, squirrelliness), I decided to pull out Lance's boots. Looking inside, I could scarcely believe my eyes; they are size 2WW, the size Stella needs in Renegades! But how can this be??? Lance is a mountain next to Stella; he's taller, wider, heavier, and certainly looks like he has much bigger feet than my little black mare's. I tried them on her and I think they'll work, but the cables need to be tightened so the Heel Captivator fits. I've brought them to the house and found the appropriate tool to adjust the cables; hopefully I can get them to move after years of disuse.
But I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that according to objective measurements, my two very different horses use the same size saddle gullet and the same size hoof boots. It's like being in one of those theme park anti-gravity houses, where nothing is as it seems:
Happy Friday the 13th!
5 comments:
Wow! That's awesome.
I've used the cavallo boots, both the simple and the sport boots, with good luck. Emi and Roz wore the same size, which was surprising to me.
Horse feet are weird. 14.1hh Connor has feet two sizes bigger than his 16.2hh western pleasure-bred QH barnmate. If you ever feel like you want to try Scoot Boots, let me know, there's a private group on Facebook run by an outstanding fitter. She shows you how to take measurement photos and will absolutely be straight up with you if Scoots aren't the right shape for her feet. She also does free returns if she gets the size wrong (which doesn't happen often!).
Well, that was lucky! I'm trying to find hoof boots for wider-than-long feet also, but his feet are about an inch wider, which seems to be 2-3 sizes different than the length. So far, I've had no luck finding potential options.
What do the boots do? Are they like shoes for humans?
It really is, Alanna! Boots that surround the pastern always worry me because of chafing. Even the Heel Captivator rubbed Lance some. But ALL boots now except glue-ons have some contact with soft tissue; I guess the original EasyBoots had enough problems that a hoof-only attachment has been abandoned.
Jen, YOU'RE the reason I heard about Scoot Boots. 😉 I emailed the company and they responded quickly that they've found their product isn't suited for Stella's shape of hoof. 😕
GFH, the Renegades offer a cut-back option; I think that that might work for you. I do like their design as well.
Yes, A. The underside of a horse's foot isn't as hard as you might imagine; they can get stone bruises that can turn into nasty, painful abcesses. Boots protect them from rocks.
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