EasyCare Graphics Department

Photo of the Week

Saturday, October 29, 2011 by Gabriel Luethje

This week's photo comes to us courtesy of Kevin Lange Photography, whom EasyCare was lucky to work with for this year's photoshoot in Durango. It was taken on the now familiar Easyboot stomping grounds on Engineer Mountain north of Durango, CO.

We had superb weather all three days, and the blazing fall colors were still in full effect. An early winter storm had moved through the week before (the same one that dumped massive amounts of snow at Tevis), but the aspens in the area survived it, giving us the perfect backdrop for our photos.

Kevin Lange brought some new perspectives and techniques to our Easyboot photo shoot and I had a camera in my hands as well, so keep an eye out for some very interesting images in the near future.

Gabriel Luethje

Graphic Design

As the graphic designer and photographer, I am responsible for the design and implementation of all of the EasyCare visual marketing materials including website, blogs, catalogs, brochures and packaging for our products.

EasyCare Website Update: All of Our Hoof Boots in One Place

Friday, July 15, 2011 by Gabriel Luethje

The EasyCare Graphics Department Blog has been quiet for awhile, but that's because the graphics department itself has been very busy. We've been working on a number of things, and one of the most exciting projects was recently completed: a brand new "Our Boots" page on our website that brings information on every boot in our hoof boot lineup together in one place.

We're always looking to improve our website so that it provides our customers with easy to access information on all of our hoof boots, hoof care and other horse related products.

With a total of 12 different horse boots in our lineup, it became clear that we needed to create a single place where our customers could easily find information on each boot. We feel like the brand new EasyCare "Our Boots" page doe this very well.

Let us know what you think, and stay tuned for bigger and better things on the EasyCare website.

Gabriel Luethje

Graphic Design

Photo of the Week

Friday, March 18, 2011 by Gabriel Luethje

This week's photo, like many of our best equine lifestyle photos, was taken in the wilderness near Durango, CO, by Patitucci Photo.

Three back country trail riders take a moment to rest in the late afternoon sun, taking in an amazing view. The horses are content and comfortable after a day of riding over the varied and sometimes rough alpine terrain because their hooves are well protected by Easyboots.

EasyCare continues to drive innovation and advancement in hoof boot technology, and 2011 will be a special year. Stay tuned for some exciting announcements in the coming months.

Photo of the Week

Saturday, March 5, 2011 by Gabriel Luethje

This week's photo comes from Tevis 2010. For those not familiar with Tevis, it is also known as the Western States Trail Ride, and is rated by Time magazine as one of the top ten endurance competitions in the world. Its 100 mile course is rugged and challenging to even the fittest horse-human teams.

At Tevis 2010 the barefoot horse and Easyboots made history. Garrett Ford guided his horse The Fury to a top 10 finish and, even more impressively, The Fury won the Haggin Cup for best condition. This was the first time in history dating back to 1954 that a horse wearing hoof boots has won the coveted Haggin Cup.

EasyCare Marketing Director Kevin Myers at Tevis 2010

EasyCare marketing director Kevin Myers attending to a horse at a vet check and sporting one of our iBoot T-Shirts.

EasyCare's New eCatalog

Friday, February 11, 2011 by Gabriel Luethje

We've got an exciting new way for you to browse our extensive line of products, from hoof boots to saddle packs and stirrups.

For 2011 we've replaced our printed catalog with an improved version of our online catalog: one that gives you the experience of flipping through the pages and a number of other handy features. In the past we've offered a standard PDF version for download, which works fine, but we think you'll agree that the EasyCare 2011 electronic catalog is a whole new experience. You can still download the catalog as a PDF if that's what you prefer.

Take a look and let us know what you think. Also, keep an eye out for enhancements coming soon, like "buy now" links that to go directly to the product pages on our website. This way, if you're ready to shop online, but want the convenience of flipping through our catalog, you can have the best of both worlds.

If you subscribe to our blog via RSS, click here and click on the catalog image. And while you're there, please post a comment at the bottom of the page and let us know what you think of this new version.

Photo of the Week

Sunday, January 23, 2011 by Gabriel Luethje

This week's photo is a little different from your usual photos of horses and riders out in the wilderness. This one was taken in Silverton, Colorado, a tiny town situated at 10,000 feet elevation in the Rocky Mountains. Silverton has a rich history of silver mining that goes back to the 19th century.

EasyCare President & CEO Garrett Ford and his wife Lisa are seen here riding next to the Durango-Silverton Train, an authentic steam driven train that runs daily between Durango, CO, and Silverton, CO.

As you can see, both horses are sporting Easyboot Glove hoof boots, which are equally at home on the pavement as they are out on the trail.

Gabriel Luethje

Graphic Design

Photo of the Week

Sunday, November 21, 2010 by Gabriel Luethje

This week's photo is from the archives. It was taken back in 2004 on a photo shoot in stunning Moab, Utah by Patitucci Photo.

EasyCare President and CEO Garrett Ford and former EasyCare Team Member April are pictured enjoying a perfect sunny day in the high desert. Garrett's horse is enjoying the comfort of the Boa Horse Boot, and April's horse is sporting the tried and true Original Easyboots.

Boa Horse Boots and Original Easyboots in Moab, UT

Gabriel Luethje

Graphic Design

Photo of the Week

Sunday, October 31, 2010 by Gabriel Luethje

This week's photo is another winner by Patitucci Photo near Durango, CO.

EasyCare President and CEO Garrett Ford and his brother Cole take a moment to enjoy the spectacular view after a ride up the Engineer Pass trail on a perfect fall morning. The horses are happy and their hooves are well-protected with Easyboot Glove hoof boots and Old Mac's G2 hoof boots.

When they're at home in the pasture, the horses will go barefoot and continue to enjoy the benefits of natural hoof care and the barefoot lifestyle that are at the core of EasyCare's philosophy.

Gabriel Luethje

Graphic Design

Photo of the Week

Monday, October 25, 2010 by Gabriel Luethje

This week's photo is another from stunning Durango, CO, taken just a couple of weeks ago. EasyCare once again had the pleasure of working with Dan & Janine Patitucci of Patitucci Photo, and as usual they did not disappoint.

The fall colors were just starting to to really blaze, and the day of the photo shoot was cool, clear and crisp. Our very own Kevin Myers is enjoying a trot through the trees in this photo, and his horse is enjoying the comfort and protection of Easyboot Epic hoof boots.

Gabriel Luethje

Graphic Design

Photo of the Week

Sunday, September 26, 2010 by Gabriel Luethje

This week's photo was taken in the desert, not far from the EasyCare office in Tucson, AZ. It shows the Easyboot Glove handling some rough hard rock terrain with ease.

The Easyboot Glove is our favorite boot and has quickly become our most popular, by no accident. This hoof boot is affordable, light weight, and has proven itself over 21,000+ miles in the last year alone, conquering all types of terrain. From rocks and cactus to mud and water crossings, a properly fitted Easyboot Glove can handle it all.

Gabriel Luethje

Graphic Design

Photo of the Week

Friday, September 17, 2010 by Gabriel Luethje

This week's photo is one of my favorites from Tevis 2010. EasyCare went to Tevis this year with big plans. We created the Ride Tevis for Free program that compensated riders who finished the race riding horses fitted in Easyboots.

We saw great success with our booted riders, with a 62% completion rate, and 7 riders in the top 20. But the true crowning achievement came when Garrett and Ford The Fury were awarded the Haggin Cup for Best Condition.

I was stationed at various points on the trail this year to get photos of our booted riders as they made their way down the challenging 100 mile course known as the Western States Trail. This photo was taken at the end of the day, when I had gotten all the shots I had set out to get. I decided it was time to experiment and see if I couldn't capture the feeling of motion in some photos.

Duncan McLaughlin in good spirits as he flies by:

Photo of the Week

Friday, September 10, 2010 by Gabriel Luethje

After a bit of a break, it's time for another EasyCare Photo of the Week. This one was taken on a recent trip to the EasyCare R&D facilities located in Durango, CO.

The focus of the trip was shooting some brand new hoof boot instructional videos, and broadcasting 3 live webinars, which featured in depth discussion on hoof boot application, barefoot hoof trimming, and equine nutrition for the barefoot horse.

I always have the still camera ready, and in Durango there's sure to be some amazing scenes to capture. Just after we wrapped up the final webinar broadcast, the sun came blazing through the rain and gave us this incredible view:

Gabriel Luethje

Graphic Design

Staying Ahead of the Curve

Saturday, August 28, 2010 by Gabriel Luethje

At EasyCare we strive to stay ahead of the curve in the equine industry. Now more than ever it's clear that hoof boots are the future, and we're proud to be the leader in hoof boot innovation and design.

We're always looking to improve our products with year round testing, tweaking, and listening to suggestions from boot users in out on the trail, at events, or around the farm. We also take pride in having the best tools for communicating our ideas and innovations with the world.

We work hard to to make sure our photos, print media like catalogs and brochures, website, blog, etc., are top notch in the equine industry. In keeping with that trend, we recently rolled out some notable changes on our website and blog:

On our website, we've redesigned our hoof boot product pages to make them more informative and easy to navigate. You can now purchase items straight from the product page. We've also added real time inventory and pricing status, so you can see if the boot you need is available at a glance, without having to start the checkout process first.

You can see the new pages by clicking on the boot icons on the EasyCare home page, or under "Our Boots" in the navigation menu.

Also, as you may have already noticed, we've also added a toolbar to the bottom of this blog that adds some great new features like browsing our video and photo libraries, translating the current page into different languages, and connecting to your social networks, all without leaving the blog.

We're just getting started, so stay tuned!

Gabriel Luethje

Graphic Design

Video of the Week: Clouds in Time

Wednesday, August 4, 2010 by Gabriel Luethje

In another big week for EasyCare, we're shooting brand new instructional videos for our hoof boots and featuring a series of live webinars on our Facebook page. We've built a lot of momentum over the last year and a half, and we're excited to share it with you.

While shooting the product videos here at EasyCare's R&D facility in Durango, CO, I had another camera rolling, capturing the amazing cloud movement outside.

I've always been fascinated with time lapse video, and after years of experimenting I feel like I finally have the right mix of knowledge and equipment to create the mesmerizing sequences that I've envisioned.

Clouds always make great time lapse material and this video is, without a doubt, my favorite so far. Enjoy!

» Click here for the high quality version on our Facebook Page «

Gabriel Luethje

Graphic Design

Photos from the Trail: Tevis 2010 in Easyboots

Friday, July 30, 2010 by Gabriel Luethje

High hopes, jitters, excitement, and fear were heavy in the air at Robie Park the day before the start of the 55th annual Tevis cup.

With a lot on the line, Easyboots once again performed wonderfully, with 6 booted riders in the top 20, and a 65% overall finish rate

The crowning achievement, though, was Garrett Ford and his horse, The Fury, winning the Haggin Cup for Best Condition. Only the top 10 finishers qualify for a chance at the Haggin Cup, and in an amazing final surge, Garrett Ford and his wife Lisa moved up from 16 and 17th to 8th and 9th place over the final 6 miles.

Enjoy the photos!

Gabriel Luethje

Graphic Design

Tevis Bound

Friday, July 23, 2010 by Gabriel Luethje

Tevis is the talk of the town these days, and with good reason. The Tevis Cup is regarded as one of the most challenging and prestigious horse endurance races in the world.

In fact, Time Magazine recently ranked Tevis alongside extreme endurance competitions like the Iditarod, the Tour de France and the Dakar Rally in its list of the world's Top 10 Endurance Competitions.

As anyone who has ridden Tevis can tell you, that's no surprise. The weather, the terrain, and the sheer distance of 100 miles all conspire to challenge even the most seasoned horse and rider teams to their breaking point.

I was there last year as part of the easycareinc.com crew, to support the riders we fitted with Easyboots and to take some photos when I could slip away from a vet check area.

This year I will be focusing a bit more on getting some good photos of horse and rider teams using Easyboots for hoof protection. Last year we offered to fit EasyCare hoof boots free of charge for any horse and rider team competing in the event. Our idea was that if Easyboots could perform well in the toughest of endurance events, it would show that they could handle just about anything.

Booted riders fitted with Easyboots performed better than we could have hoped, so this year we stepped it up and offered to reimburse the Tevis entry fee for any horse and rider that completes the race on Easyboots. We have over 30 takers on that offer, so it should be an exciting race. Stay tuned for Tevis 2010 photos!

Gabriel Luethje

Graphic Design

Product Placement

Thursday, July 8, 2010 by Gabriel Luethje

Sometimes things just fall into place. Most of the time, though it may seem like a lucky coincidence, it's the result of determination, hard work, and an unwavering belief in what you're doing.

The success of the latest EasyCare hoof boot designs can be thought of this way. Things seem to be falling into place left and right for the Easyboot Glove and Easyboot Glue-On in particular. From the amazing real world success they're seen in endurance riding, to the worldwide acceptance that they've gained, it's clear that we're onto something big in hoof protection and natural hoof care.

At first glance, this may seem like a run of good luck for EasyCare hoof boots. While we do feel quite fortunate to be experiencing the amazing success we're seeing lately, we're also keenly aware that it's no coincidence. We've been working hard for years, decades even, to refine and perfect the hoof boot design.

We've patiently but firmly spread the word that metal horse shoes, while currently very popular, are based on ancient technology that has changed very little over thousands of years, and that hoof boots are the way of the future.

Now we're coming full circle: just this month we published an advertisement in a magazine that is mainly focused on metal horse shoeing, The American Farrier's Journal. As luck would have it, our ad was placed directly next to an ad for metal horse shoes, and we can't help but smile at the "coincidence".

Gabriel Luethje

Graphic Design

Photo of the Week

Friday, June 11, 2010 by Gabriel Luethje

This week's photo comes form the 2009 Western States Trail Ride, also known as the Tevis Cup. Garrett Ford and Duncan McLaughlin are preparing a horse's hooves to be fitted with the EasyBoot Glue-On hoof boots prior to the race.

Last year, EasyCare brought a team to Tevis with the aim if showing the world that Easyboots and natural hoof care were not some soon to be forgotten fad, but a real alternative to iron shoeing.

We believed that if our boots could perform well in the Tevis Cup, widely regarded as the most difficult and most prestigious horse endurance race in the world, people would see what we already knew: Easyboots can handle just about anything a horse and rider can throw at them.

We brought boxes of Glue-On and Glove boots and offered to help riders competing in the race properly fit the boots to their horses. The success of riders wearing Easyboots was amazing, with over 70% of horses wearing Easyboots finishing the race. With an average finish rate of a little over 50% over several decades it's hard to argue that Easyboots shined at the 2009 Tevis Cup.

Since then hoof boot success in endurance racing has steadily grown. Check out these incredible statistics from 2009, and then consider that 2010 is shaping up to be even bigger.

Our momentum continues to grow with new programs like our Ride Tevis for Free promotion, the EasyCare Gives Back to AERC campaign. It's going to be an exciting summer!

Design of the Week

Saturday, June 5, 2010 by Gabriel Luethje

This week's post from the EasyCare Graphic Design Department shows a finished product. Previous posts have featured photos or parts of designs, but this week I wanted to share a finished design.

This is a an advertisement layout that will be featured in on the back cover of the Horse's Hoof, a popular natural hoof care publication. The foundation of the layout is a photo I took of Garrett Ford riding his horse Cyclone (fitted with Easyboot Glove horse boots) through the alpine wilderness near Durango, CO.

Our print advertising campaign this year focuses on the continuing increase in hoof boot success, particularly the Easyboot Glove, which has proved itself with over 21,000 miles of endurance riding competition over the last year.

Photo of the Week

Friday, May 28, 2010 by Gabriel Luethje

After being out of the loop for a while with the birth of my daughter, it's time to post another EasyCare photo of the week.

This week's photo is another from the stunning Red Mountain 2008 photo shoot, featuring the amazing photography of Patitucci Photo. EasyCare president and CEO Garrett Ford and EasyCare veterinarian dealer & hoof care practitioner account manager Debbie Schwiebert are enjoying a perfect summer day in the high alpine wilderness above Silverton, Colorado.

Both of their horses were sporting prototypes of the new Easyboots introduced in 2009 to protect their hooves from the extreme rocky terrain. Each summer, EasyCare relentlessly tests and develops new hoof care products over this challenging terrain.