Boa Boots

[Caritas]

My horse has recently gone barefoot and is doing relly well, however, I have been using size 2 boa boots on his front feet when hacking out. I realised these started to get harder to put on and decided to measure his feet, sure enough he had gone up a size. I purchased him a size 3 but when hacking then slightly turn, but then they right themselves again. obviuosly this is not good, I then used them the 2nd time with the gaiters and it still happened? Any advice, I ccant go back to using the size 2s as they were starting to bruise his heals, many thanks

p.s the bos boots are more ideal for his feet than other makes as unlike other horses his feet are narrow and long, not short and wide, thanks again!

 

[mrdarcy]

What are his foot measurements? I'll be able to advise better if I know the actual sizes.

 

[Caritas]

Im not sure on the width, but the length is 5 1/2, think the width is 4 3/4!! Many thanks

 

[mrdarcy]

Gosh - that is a big difference in length v width. Are you definitely measuring the length correctly - I always struggle with figuring out where exactly to measure to.

Looking at the Boa boot sizing chart your length and width is not covered by the same size boot, which is probably why the boots are twisting.

I've never used the Boas but have lots of experience with the Easyboot range. If you look on here you can see the different shapes of all the types of boots:

http://www.easycareinc.com/our_boots/whatboot.aspx

Perhaps one of the Easyboots (Glove/Edge or Epic) would be a better fit as they have the fixed gaiters? You can hire them from the Saddlery Shop which gives you chance to test ride then to see if they actually do work for you.

There is also a little trick you can try to fix the boots in place better. Get some athletic tape (sticky tape that boxers use to strap up their hands before putting boxing gloves on) and wrap that three or four times round at the bottom of the hoof wall
http://easycareinc.typepad.com/from_the_horses_mouth/2009/04/athletic-tape-update.html
Then put your boot on as usual. The athletic tape gets tacky when heated up and forms a seal with the inside of the boot, holding them in place.

Hope that helps. Well done for what you've achieved so far. It's an excellent sign that your horse's feet have grown bigger already

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

I find Boas are better with round shallow feet than long ones so you might want to consider other types too (even tho I use boas and love them)

 

[soloequestrian]

As the other posts say, probably just need a different kind of boot. I use Boas and Old Macs on my horses - two of them have similar sized feet but the slightly different shapes of the boots suits them better. I'd try the Gloves but their feet are too big.....

 

[Kallibear]

Boa's suit round wide feet best, so if you're horse has longer feet, try a different type of boot. The Easyboot versions (bare, epics etc) are good for longer-than-wide feet.