Hoof Boots - your advice please!

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ChocoCornflake

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Ok, Im planning on buying a pair of Hoof Boots for my boy for hacking, as although he is fine on grass and surfaces, he can get a bit foot sore on tarmac or gravel (he's barefoot!).

My trimming lady highly rates the Swiss Horse Boots, and they do look pretty good. I havn't had any experience of hoof boots before, so any opinions or advice on whats good and whats not would be great before I buy some!
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hoof boots are a pain through and through.
They take twenty mins to fit and slip alot.
Only ones i now that are half decent are old macs.

Sorry your talking to someone who beleives greatly in the use of shoes for horses which are ridden on tarmac and go foot sore..
Dont get me wrong, if your horses goes barefoot and stays sound then good on ya.. but if it goes foot sore it needs shoes.

I trim for a few people and the moment they tell me the horses is foot sore i give them my farriers number and tell them to get atleast front shoes fitted..

At the end of the day, i trim the horses for the horses benefit not my on personal gain and see it as a necessity to get shoes put on.. so i loose a set, but the horses will be more comfortable

Lou x
 
Hoof boots have their place loobie_lou. Just because you've had a bad experience with them, doesnt mean they're all crap!

ChocoCornflake - One of mine is barefoot (well 3 are, 2 are shod) and he also can have times in the field when he goes a little footy. I got Boa's for him and they're brilliant. Never slip or rub and he loves them! A day or two in them (I turn him out in them) and he's perfectly ok again, they sort of give his hooves a break.

May I also point out to loobie_lou that this pony above can be sound on grass but tiptoe across gravel which he did barefoot AND when he had shoes!!
 
I have marquis boots for mine they did take quite a bit of getting the fit right. I only use them in the winter as I have her shod during the summer
 
Fair point, if a horse is foot sore when it is barefoot, then ok it may need shoes back on again. However, mine is NOT sore all the time, only on gravel really, and with the summer coming up, I intend to start doing alot more hacking, but I do not want his shoes back on as for me, the beneifts of being barefoot far outweigh the cons.
Eg., prior to being barefoot, my horse was shod by apparantly one of the best farriers in the area. When the decision came to have him barefoot, my 'trimmer' found abscesses in many of the nail holes, neither the front pair or the hind were the same shape, and both fronts and hinds had different angles. Not ideal. Now barefoot, my horse is moving straighter, does not forge, no longer has swollen legs when stabled overnight and does not need to wear boots all day in the field to stop him cutting himself. Oh and also I dont need to call out the farrier every week to put lost shoes back on.
 
I use Boa's with comfort pads on my barefoot TB's fronts for roadwork. They are fab, and unbelievably quick and easy to get on and off
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Perhaps ask your trimmers advice though the different brands all suit different hoof types (boxy, shallow etc etc), so she should be able to advise.
 
I don't know about the Swiss boots, but I have a set of Old Mac G2s as recommended by my EP. The big advantage with Old Macs is that they are so quick and easy to fit, like 5 minutes to put all 4 on once you have done it a few times. You need to make sure you buy the right size by measuring the sole as per the instructions on the box or most vendors' websites. If you go too big, they may twist, too small and they may rub. The disadvantage is that they do soak up water.

You can go over any terrain in Old Macs without risk of bruising, even rocky surfaces that a shod horse would have difficulty over, and of course you wont pick up rocks in the shoe.
 
I was asking my farrier about these yesterday! He recommended Old Macs as several of his clients use them without hassle.
 
I asked for Old Mac's at Robinson's and they were discontinuing them due to too many complaints of them falling apart!!
So, I bought Boa Boots. Make sure you measure your horse's feet properly and they should fit fine. I used them on my horse for about a year while his feet got stronger (he is terrible for over-reaching his front shoes off). They are reasonabley easy to put on/ get off, but I would say your horse needs to be fairly good with holding his feet up, not too fidgety. In the end though, it's just as not as easy as having shoes on, as they do need cleaning and very clean feet to put them on, all hassle you could do without if your trying to fit in a quickie after work!!
 
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