casting shoes - temporary repair so can ride ideas/hoof boots

[wizgirl]

Hi, my boy has cast another shoe, and is footsore on gravel etc when not shod.

I need to be able to ride him as he only gets 2 rides a week at present. he needs to be ridden as his breathing gets poor if he is not ridden!

What temporary measures can i use tommorw?? and do any of you rate hoof boots? if so what make? I am thinking about ordering some for these ocassions

 

[Coffee_Bean]

If you are schooling you will be fine, if hacking, try and stay on grass verges etc as much as poss. Maybe try using over reach boots in future to help stop them coming off?

 

[ISHmad]

Hoof boots are excellent. There are lots of makes on the market, some fit certain shaped feet better than others. There is a shop on the internet called The Saddlery Shop. The lady there called Lucy is very knowledgeable about hoof boots and you can hire before you buy apparently.

If your horse keeps ripping shoes off you need to question why. Our horses are barefoot and we started down that route following the same scenario as you. It isn't a route for the feint hearted though and takes a lot of work and commitment on the part of the owner. Bottom line though is that we have horses who can be ridden over any surface, stoney tracks, roads, grass, surfaces etc with no problems at all, following on from all the conditioning work you do initially. With hoof boots you don't have to stop riding at all.

Good luck, whatever you decide to do.

 

[fionic]

Try getting an Easy Boot. Boa boots are nice too, but you need to buy them as a pair and they're much more expensive. My Godmother does trail riding, so they all have boots incase they throw a shoe. I think she's found the easy boots the best at staying on.

Boots website

 

[hairycob]

Pickle went through a phase of pulling off shoes in the trailer. Eventually we worked out she was trying to pull off her travel boots. I used an easy boot epic & then we ended up taking her back shoes off. The easy boot worked really well, but I found it either went on straight away or took 10 mins of faffing around. I probably wan't using it enough to get the knack. Agree Saddlery Shop are excellent for advice about the best type.

 

[crabbymare]

I keep a pair of Old Macs boots in case mine loses a shoe, they are good in emergencies and a much better fit IMO than the easy boot as mine could get an easy boot off in the field but have never lost an Old Mac one.