Turnout boots for little cob with a lot of bone.

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Olderrider

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Can anyone recommend a brand for me? She's only 14h but has 10" of bone, so anything that goes round seems only suitable for something of about 16h. and so far too long for her.
 
I should have said - mud socks. No problem, but would just like to be able to get her in from the field to ride without her feathers being caked in mud. She is not living in a mud patch, has 3 acres to roam in, but it is clay, and it just keeps raining!
 
IMHO mud socks will give you more issues then muddy feet, depending on how much feather she has. I use pig oil, I am on the worse possible clay mud pits and it makes a huge difference mud just slides off. Although I did notice it took a couple of weeks to build up the required layers to work. I oil mane, feathers and tail and I find I can just wash off feathers and ride. I would ride muddy before I used mud socks .
 
I have been using pig oil - perhaps not enough? She does have a lot of silky feather and I have avoided washing the mud off to avoid mud fever. I do also have some reservations about mud socks though.
 
Ok
With the pig oil you need to have really clean feathers to start with, I started using it after I'd been to a show so the toad was really clean. It took about four weeks to start working correctly. I do plaster it on and let it soak in and then brush it in. Makes brushing easier too. My horses are in at night, so I wash off the mud before bed time, they dry out over night. I have never had mud fever with these horses. I had it once with my TBx pony. He had no feather at all. I just started to wash off mud at bedtime then, after the sores had cleaned up. No problems after that and he lived until he was 30.
 
Turnout boots won't work with feathers ime, albeit not my horse. Better with pig oil for feathers.

If you decide you still want to try, give premier equine a phone and they will advise you. I have a 14hh with 8inch of bone (no feathers) and his premier equine turnout boots fit well, with a lot of room left if he was chunkier in the leg.
 
I really think you would need to clip off the feathers if you wanted to use turnout boots.

For mine I use pig oil once a month (after a thorough wash and dry overnight in the stable). Outside of that I do nothing all winter, never wash them. If I want them clean for any reason, I keep him in until they dry out, brush off the worst and then ride him in the sand school when it is damp (cleans them up lovely!). Of course I'm not competing or anything, so can ride with them muddy most of the time (they would get muddy anyway where I hack, seems pointless to worry about it). If I part the feathers, they are always clean and dry next to the skin and I have never had any problems with them.
 
Personally i wouldn't use turnout boots on a horse with a lot of feather, it would just end up making a lovely wet, warm, and possibly sweaty environment for bacteria to go mad in. On a clipped horse i may use them but in deep mud, its more likely to work its way up and cause rubs.
Id much rather just leave muddy and put up with it through the winter months, or hose off every so often.
Wish id have known about pig oil with my old mare who was a cob with lots of thick feather, i do use pig oil on my TB as the gateways are muddy and with now being on a straw bed it dries the mud off lovely and then just falls off or i brush it off. No more chipping away at it! :)
 
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