Hoof boots rubbing - any ideas?

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Holtons Hollywood

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Afternoon all,

It's been a while since I last posted, but I hope some of you will be able to help me.

My mare has been barefoot all of her life, but since we moved yards and are hacking on different terrain she has had a few episodes of lameness owing to stone bruises, and is currently lame due to an acute bruise of the navicular bone.

I had bought cavallo hoof boots previously, and they were fine for short and/or slow hacks, but as soon as I upped the tempo they rubbed the heel area quite badly and made her bleed.

My questions are:-
1. I paid £90 for these boots, is there any way of 'rescuing' them for my mare?
2. If not, is there anything I can do to stop this happening again with a different type of boot?
3. My mare has small, upright feet - which type of boot would suit her best?

Thank you in advance for any answers!
 
Not familiar with Cavallos - but can you get gaiters to go inside them? I use Old Macs on my boy, and as he's very unhairy in the feet department - I use gaiters to prevent rubbing.
 
you can get gaiters/use socks (gaiters wise most people seem to prefer the old mac ones to the cavallo ones. But equally I would not personally be keen to use cavallos for faster work, I don't like the break over on them compared to say easy boot gloves (and those with the same sole, renegades, scoots are ok too).

The best thing for you to do at this point would be and if I were you I would take photos of the sole of the hoof with a tape measure for length and width and take a good perpendicular shot at ground level to show shape. Then send the pics and say that you have had issues with the cavallos and what would they choose for your mare.
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The alternatives will be more ££ but still cheap compared to shoes!
 
Socks or tubi grip would be the first thing to try.

Second, do you have pads in them? A foam pad might help with the fit enough to alleviate rubbing depending upon exactly what is rubbing where. Alternatively if you have a thick pad a thinner one might help.

Are the boots well worn? If they are quite stiff try some leather balsam to soften the leather a bit.

If none of that helps then look into different boots.
 
I would try socks with the cavallos and se if that works. If not, consider another kind of boot.

I recently bought a TB off the tracks, and she's doing well barefoot now, but after the first farrier visit, she was very sore for af couple of weeks and could barely trot outside, even when running on grass, so I thought I'd give boots a shot, and if it did'nt work, I'd get her shod. As this was boots for turn out, she'd have them on for roughly 8 hours a day, so I was a bit apprehensive, but ended up buying easy boot glove back country for her - they fit her meassurements perfectly, and even when having them on every day for 8 hours, there has been no hint of rubbing and they stay on, even in the mud, so even though we dont need them for turn out anymore, I'll keep them for hacking in the future.
I'd consider these boots IF they fit your horse - the fit needs to be just about perfect, otherwise they wont stay on (we've had the easy bloot gloves for my old horse, and that just didn't work at all)
 
Cavallos are not the best for the long distance stuff - best for rehab/transition though.

Invest in a new pair of better long distance ones if the hooves have now reached their natural shape.

It's not expensive if you think about it - shoes are about £80 every six weeks so a pair of boots every year at £90 is nothing.
 
I had a pair and had to get the pastern wraps as they rubbed quite badly. Found the Cavallo wraps quite fiddly though as they rode up unless fitted just right.

I’ve now invested in a pair of scoot boots which sit much lower and no rubbing at all
 
Cavallos on mines hinds rubbed - I am now super happy with Scoot Boots all around - actually they say that they don't work with flare - mine has some flare on his hinds and they are fine - really like Scoots although previously I was very snobby and hated the plasticy effect of Scoots but they suit mine better front and hind rather than Renegades.
 
You will also be able to get a good bit of your money back by selling the Cavallos. I'd recommend always buying second hand where you can until you find the right boots for you, it is a bit of trial and error until you find what suits you and the horse best.
 
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