Hoof boots, your experiences?

[HBFsFriend]

I have a Welsh x Shire,
I got him the Boa boots, it was the funniest thing when they first arrived and i put them on, in the picture on the advertising for these they are on a little arab with teeny feet and I thought they did look pretty cool (like trainers for horses) my boy looked like he was wearing 4 flower pots on his feet! it took me about 10 minutes to get on him cos I couldn't stop laughing...

He absolutely loved wearing them, would stride/stomp across the stones, and he would also go through puddles in these (would normally tip toe around)

Fit is everything- i did use a rasp inbetween trims to get rid of any raggedy edges

I did have him shod again as I had a sharer who couldnt cope with putting these on and we moved to a yard where all the hacking was very stony.

 

[soloequestrian]

That's interesting, did the welshie over reach onto the buckles?

I'm pretty sure that's what he did - he managed to rip the buckle off (thankfully easy enough to sew back on!). He doesn't normally overreach though, so I think it was that the buckles stick out further than anything else he ever wears - he moved normally and caught the boot. He was only wearing them because with his new barefoot supplements, his feet have stopped flaring like they used to and he has shrunk out of his Boa's. Since he wrecked the Old Mac though I've stopped putting boots on him and he has been fine - thundering over stones with no issues!

 

[somethingorother]

Thanks, that's really useful. Has given me some ideas as to what might be best to try him with first. He's pretty patient about his feet so fiddly boots don't bother me if they are a better fit.

His owner really isn't keen though so will have to see how his feet go for a bit. She has images of boots flying off, spooking the horse and hitting someone in the face, thinks they are dangerous. But as far as i see it, this coudl technically happen with ametal shoe which would surely be more dangerous. His other sharer is all for it though. See how it goes i guess, but if they get any worse it might be worth a try. The initial costing might cause a heart attack though!

 

[soloequestrian]

His owner really isn't keen though so will have to see how his feet go for a bit. She has images of boots flying off, spooking the horse and hitting someone in the face, thinks they are dangerous. But as far as i see it, this coudl technically happen with ametal shoe which would surely be more dangerous. His other sharer is all for it though. See how it goes i guess, but if they get any worse it might be worth a try. The initial costing might cause a heart attack though!

The (very) small number of times mine have come off, they've always landed somewhere behind us. And obviously if they do come off, they don't take half the foot with them! The cost is big to start with, but the boots last really well - most of mine have done at least two years of hard hammering around forestry tracks, so they work out very cheap in the long run.

 

[tallyho!]

I've just bought some Cavallo Simple's. Dead easy to put on.

My dream boot would be the Renegades but alas, my horses feet are the wrong shape too! Blast!!