Barefoot horses - boots?

Kirstineridesagain

Kirstineridesagain

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When I eventually start riding again I’m not really wanting to put shoes on my mare. She’s been barefoot for at least two years, maybe more. The hacking at our new place is great - a mix of soft grass along fields, woodland paths, stone tracks and some kind of artificial, soft surface along a long path, as well as roads and hills. I’m thinking of trying to keep going barefoot and see how she is, but I’m guessing we might need boots?

I like the look of the Scoot Boots, but what other boots are good? Do you tend to just need two for the fronts or for all four? Is there the equivalent of a saddle fitter but for boots so that we could see which is the best fit? My horse is an Icelandic by the way. So not huge hooves.
 
There are hoof boot fitters around but not near me so you'll have to wait for an English person 😂 I had a great experience with the Hoof Boutique remote fitting. They tell you how to take pics with a tape measure, they suggest a fit kit of 3-6 options I think which is expensive but worth it and some credit goes towards the boots you buy. Then put them on the horse, take videos of how they fit and they give you more feedback! Absolutely fabulous service!

We cope okay with just fronts, will very much depend on the horse and the work. Same goes for which brand, don't get hung up on one as the one that fits your horse is guaranteed to be something different 😂
 
She really sounds as though she should do fine without boots, as long as you build the mileage up sensibly, which you would do anyway as part of the fittening :) Just don't suddenly do a load of road work if all you've done is tracks for a while.

Make sure her diet is suitable - doesn't need to be fancy, just low iron and enough Cu, Zn, Se and biotin are my basics.

Hoof Armor is worth investigating if you thing she needs a bit of help.

Boot-wise, choose the brand which fits best. I love Flex and Renegades on different horses, and studded Magic Explora's for fast work/ jumping on slippy ground.
 
There's a boot fitter in my area that goes around a larger area when she gets enough people wanting boots.
She measures the hoof, has lots of different shells (the hoof part of the boot so you can see how it will fit). Same as rugs etc, when it says x measurement should fit this size of this brand or that size of that brand it isn't accurate as the ones that should have fit my pony didn't and we had to size up or down in different makes.
We then found that Renegade Vipers were the best fit for my mare. A couple makes didn't suit her hooves at all. Her fronts are almost identical with one being a couple mm smaller than the other.
Same pony had easyboot gloves fitted to her 4 years ago and her hooves have changed so much they don't fit any more.

I would try barefoot, see how you go and get boots if needed but you may find they aren't.
 
Contact a reputable hoofboot fitter/supplier for advice. Different styles/models suit different hoof shapes. eg Hoofboot Boutique, who will ask you to send specific photos and measurements, then advise what boot style will fit best, and can hire you fitting kits so you can check fit before you buy. Keep and use a rasp lightly (just as you would on your own fingernails) inbetween your farrier or trimmer's regular visits, and keep their trimming interval short (no more than 6 weeks as foot grows and changes balance over that time).
 
Both the Hoof Boutique and Urban Horse offer a service whereby you can take all the measurements of your horse's feet after a fresh trim (they have info on their set on exactly how to do this), plus suitable photos, then they will advise on a few makes and sizes that might work. Then you can hire (by mail order) a box of appropriately sized "shells" from them (i.e. the main part of each of the recommended boots, just without straps and fittings etc). You try the shells on your horse's feet, see which fits best, order yourself a pair, and post the shells back. They will give advice, discuss, answer questions via email along the way.

I used Urban Horse and would 110% recommend them; I found Hoof Boutique very slow to reply but I know others have had great success with them too so I think they both offer a good service. They made it very easy to make a confident decision; obviously it will always be easier if your horse has relatively "normal" feet, which mine does, but the Scoots I ended up with are doing a great job several years on.

That said, your horse may never have been shod and should have rock hard little feet, so as others have said I would start slow, build up, and you will hopefully never need boots. From my experience stone tracks are the nastiest surface for unshod horses, but if you don't mind leading her along those / walking her on the verge etc, you might be able to work around them.
 
If you only need boots for certain long / stony rides you can often find second hand ones very reasonably priced.

Getting a fitter in or buying fit kits can all really add up - where as £40 second hand pair that you can sell on if they don't suit could well be more cost effective - if they are just for a one off.

The best boots are the ones that fit - so some people love one brand and others hate them, it's mostly dependent on the shape of your horses feet.
 
I would only use a boot fitter that carries several brands of boots. No use if they only have one or two of the more popular ones unless you know they will a. fit your horse and b. those are one of the brands you want.
I used a boot fitter who had a massive collection of boot brands and all their sizes. She then showed me and explained why although boot X fitted she wouldn't recommend it (one boot was due to the back of it not being the best for my horses bulbs). One fitting fee, I could see all the boots on my horse and we tried each on each front foot (as it was fronts I wanted) and she took notes of how each fitted leaving me with a summary of the top 3 boots and sizes she would recommend. I then went and found second hand boots of that make and size.
 
I used the Hoofboot Shop and ended up with Explora Magic. Great boots. A bit like taking your child to Clarke's shoe shop. They try on the shells from multiple makes and go up and down half sizes until they find a shell or shells that fit and you take it from there.
 
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Polos Mum said:
If you only need boots for certain long / stony rides you can often find second hand ones very reasonably priced.

Getting a fitter in or buying fit kits can all really add up - where as £40 second hand pair that you can sell on if they don't suit could well be more cost effective - if they are just for a one off.

The best boots are the ones that fit - so some people love one brand and others hate them, it's mostly dependent on the shape of your horses feet.
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Where on earth have you found good quality second hand boots for forty pounds?! I can never find them for less than about ninety a pair. And even then without checking, it's a total gamble as to whether they'll fit (been there, done that, lost £50 on a pair of Cavallos that "fit everything" - apparently except my horse). Although at least teeny little boots for Icelandic feet are less quickly snapped up than the size 6 Scoots I'm after....
 
Widgeon said:
Where on earth have you found good quality second hand boots for forty pounds?! I can never find them for less than about ninety a pair. And even then without checking, it's a total gamble as to whether they'll fit (been there, done that, lost £50 on a pair of Cavallos that "fit everything" - apparently except my horse). Although at least teeny little boots for Icelandic feet are less quickly snapped up than the size 6 Scoots I'm after....
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It was exactly a pair of standard Cavallos that I got for £40 on facebook. They had some wear but I only wanted them for a couple of particularly stony rides that we do maybe once a week. Used once a week they lasted more than a year - which I thought was great !!

I found Cavallos quite forgiving on sizing and a good starter boot - too clumpy for some, hence they come up cheap on FB.

I think the more close fitting and hence thinner they have to fit perfectly
 
Landcruiser said:
I also got a pair of cavallos for £40 recently, and a pair of Old Mac G2s with very little wear for not much more :)
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Maybe the more old fashioned style ones are cheaper. I bought an almost new pair of Cavallos thinking they'd be useful as a "spare tyre" for a multi day trip, but actually they rubbed so badly they made my horse bleed. So I went back to Scoots only - fiddlier but they fit his feet properly. The big problem was the postage, boots cost quite a lot to post so I ended up losing out quite badly.
 
She may well be fine without. My Exmoor mare never needed boots on anything, but my Exmoor gelding did (he was EMS, though). My cob only struggles if his feet are thrushy or unbalanced (sadly they were both when I had a farrier doing them last year). I'd personally hang fire for a while until you know that she needs them. For smaller hooves, my favourites will always be Easyboot Backcountry, as they were easy to apply, forgiving on fit and ideal for if I needed to do a thrush treatment (I put the paste in and went off for a ride, to maximise contact time).
 
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