Hoof Jack

Submitted by Susan Gill, Team Easyboot 2011 Member in Australia

Jenny Moncur and I have just come home from a fantastic weekend which involved travelling 5+ hours each way with another special friend - Colette - to compete at our first 80km endurance ride in a long time.  My last serious ride was the National Tom Quilty 100 miler in 2009.  Since then I've had a bit of a holiday as I've brought along 2 youngsters and just completed 20km and 40km training rides.  Jenny is in the same position but more so, her last long endurance ride being in 2006.  My mare Joby was going to be completing her first 80km ride, and Jen's mare Promise was under the 13-month rule so running to novice times as well.  Colette came along as Camp Boss and strapper, and did an awesome job of organizing us both so we could relax and enjoy the ride.

Weather where we live has been wet, wet, wet.  In the end I decided to wait until we arrived to glue on Joby's Easyboot Gloves because the afternoon was forecast to be quite fine.  Her feet aren't the best barefoot examples at the moment, with dodgy frogs due to persistent thrush from her environment.  I just wonder what so many of the shod horses hooves look like from a worm's eye view!  So glueing on her boots seemed like the hassle free option to provide maximum comfort for the longer distance - Sikaflex cushions make her feel like she is striding across grass when she's travelling along bitumen and gravel roads.  And the ride conditions were very "ordinary" - wet, cold, and plenty of mud - again another reason to glue to minimize time and effort checking boots between legs.  Jen had originally planned to do the 40km training ride but stepped up to the challenge on the day, so she was riding Promise in Easyboot Gloves with hoof pads. 

Never one to be totally in the background, I pre-painted Joby's Easyboot Gloves in bright blue to match my riding colours - it would have looked a picture if my shirt wasn't hidden under wet weather gear!  I approached the glueing process with a typical aussie attitude of "she'll be right mate" which probably should have been refined slightly but got me through nearly the whole ride without a glitch.  Yes Kevin I agree, boot fit AND preparation are key factors - I did lose one boot around the 60km mark but Jen spotted it flying off so it was easy to find!


Each hoof was cleaned up on the sole with a hoof pick and then scrubbed with a wire brush, but remained moist due to the wet conditions of the past week.  I wasn't worrying about the dampness as Sikaflex reacts in a positive way to moisture.  The hoof wall was dry-scrubbed of mud, but possibly a fine residue remained in places - the boots were definitely less bonded then normal.  Perhaps I should have given them an actual wash.

A little touch up trimming, taking off a bit more toe, just to help fit and breakover, and a light rasp on the hoof wall if I remembered.  This is her off-fore.  You can see she's got a few trouble spots, a sad frog, and a bit of a flare to one side - a case of go with what you've got on the day.


Doesn't the boot look beautiful although it got covered in mud soon enough.  The gaitor is still attached at this stage. Again in hindsight, I could have used a greater quantity of glue - I hardly had any oozing out of the boot, and no mess on me at all - a dead giveaway when I think about it.


I just squiggled a quantity of sikaflex onto the sole, into the collateral grooves, and the concave area of her sole, knowing that when her boot was put on, the glue would ooze into position as needed because it is quite liquid under pressure.  Boots actually go on easier too, because it acts like a lubricant on the hoof.



The fit isn't that tight, the vee isn't stretched at all, but she actually needs that size for length.  So 4 boots in places, she snoozes quietly in her yard, and we fill in the rest of the evening.  I think the whole process for each hoof took less than 10 minutes - I was pretty cruisy about it.

Around midnight the rain started - we must have brought it with us.  I listened to the leaks in the horsefloat where we were sleeping, and wondered what else would be getting wet - pretty well everything due to more leaks or just condensation.  A 6am ride start meant getting up at 5am to get organised.  Jen put on Promise's Gloves in the rain.  I was one up on her via glueing the afternoon before although I did need to unscrew all the gaitors (Experience Tip: don't clog up the screw heads with paint, otherwise the screwdriver won't grab and undo the screw!).  We both got equally we saddling up the horses!

Off in the dark to start our first 40km loop.  Apparently it was really miserably cold and wet the whole day but we didn't notice because we were having too much fun!  Joby took it all in her stride like a seasoned campaigner, taking her example from Promise who knew what it was all about.  We rode to the conditions and enjoyed nearly the whole loop.  One section was quite daunting to most riders - it was a very boggy slippery track up a very steep hill, and down the other side.  Yes the boots slipped a bit but we just sat quietly on the horses and allowed them to choose their path, trusting that we were safer on then off them. Promise did a couple of metre long skids on the way down and looked like an elegant ice-skater, totally relaxed and unfazed by the experience - she almost looked like they were deliberate by the way she coped!

Back in camp, great parameters for both horses although Jen was starting to feel the pain from an extremely dodgy ankle.  Out again in continuing wet and cold weather.  Although the rain cleared up intermittently, apparently temperatures never made it to 6 degrees celcius for the entire day (according to the weather chart it actually felt like only 1.5 degrees for most of it) - but the horses just kept going like they were having as much fun as me.  Jen was past it, but her attitude kept her going to the end.  

Joby and Promise vetted through beautifully, with Joby winning the Best Managed Novice Horse Award which kept me grinning.  At a ride where some riders didn't bother starting due to the perceived conditions of the track, we felt really comfortable about going ahead, knowing that we'd all be ok.  Mind-set is everything, setting yourself up in a positive way makes all the difference!  My attitude was easy to maintain - I knew that I'd rather be out riding than not, so I was happy.  Jen's attitude was much stronger - it had to be for her to get over the pain and continue on.  We crossed the finish line together, knowing that the four of us have just passed one milestone and are now set up beautifully ready for our next adventure - a mini marathon in August.

Jenny was a little worse for wear after the event, succumbing to hypothermia, but was much better the next morning after sleeping with 2 hot water bottles and a Jack Russell Terrier :)

Lesson 1.  Dress for the conditions, even if you think you don't feel the cold.
Lesson 2.  Be a tad fussier with preparation and enjoy the results.
Lesson 3.  Attitude makes all the difference!

It seemed like every day I trimmed horses, I was asked the same question, over and over again: “So, how do my horse's feet look?"

It wasn't long before I had an epiphany: Why not teach the owner to evaluate and trim her own horse? If I could do it, why not other owners?

Before long it was me asking, “So how do your horse's feet look this month?” And the owners couldn't wait to answer. Because every month, the feet looked better and better. After 7 months, they usually looked exceptional and I was off the case and on to new students. Vets and farriers alike were asking the proud owner-trimmer, “So who does your horse's fantastic feet?” Oh that was music to my ears! For the vast majority of horses, this is not rocket science. If you want to understand 'all things hoof' at the molecular level, you sure can be. But if on the other hand, you want to put a nice foot on your horse and then hit the trails, by jove I say let's keep it simple!


In the first photo you see a hoof capsule that I cooked down on my outside grill. The primary goal of trimming is to encourage the hoof capsule to grow a strong, protective enclosure for the coffin bone and soft tissue structures(cooked off) which are located in the back of the foot.

Inside the capsule you can still see remnants of the laminae. The coffin bone also had laminae on the surface and the two lamina were connected. See how the coffin bone sits in the capsule. The lateral cartilages are soft tissue structures on either side of the back of the coffin bone; they cooked off. The digital cushion, also gone, was located in the back center of the foot, over the frog. Dr. Robert Bowker has likened soft tissue structures of the hoof to the excellent, gel padding found in running shoes. One of the jobs of the soft tissue structures is to absorb shock.


In step one of a foot assessment, I run my fingers down the hoof wall, feeling the angle of growth as seen in this photo with my first model from Allie Hayes, of Horse Science. I call her 'Honey Bunny', a wonderful horse who gave her life to educate us bipeds. In most traditionally cared for horses, the first inch or so of wall growth is the angle the horse would like; the rest of the foot is what he is stuck with. If shod, plastic shoes included, the poor horse is cast with no hope of growing a good foot. Jaime Jackson calls this good, top connection, the healing angle. With the correct trim and diet, the healing angle grows to the ground within 7-12 months. Let's take a look at the hooves of three horses:

1. Sunny, Off the Track Thoroughbred
2. Eddie, Quarter Horse Cross
3. Daniel, Percheron

Love "Sunny" Days, Off the Track Racehorse


Sunny (a clicker trained horse), now 12, is my Off The Track Thoroughbred; I rescued him as a rising 6 year old.  I gave him a year off to be a horse on full turnout with a small herd in Unionville, Pa. and revisited his ground training. Rebacked as a 6 year old, he immediately came up lame in a sand ring. What a surprise that was. It took another year to rehabilitate his partially torn, high suspensory. 


Above, here we are in June, 2011, at the tail-end of our spring, high-sugar grass season. On the front view, from the hairline to the black, horizontal marker line is the healing angle, the hoof Sunny wants. Below the black line is flared hoof wall where the lamellar connection between hoof wall and coffin bone broke, a sign of laminitis due to spring grass. Spring shots may have also played a part.

It is my habit to sharply (60 degrees or so) bevel or angle the outer (dark) and inner wall (bright white) from April 1st to July 1st in an effort to avoid flare. This is called the rehabilitation trim. Although he became gimpy on the gravel driveway this spring, he was rock solid sound when trotting down hills, mounted or unmounted. If he is happy to slam his 1,000 lbs on the back of his feet, on a grassy down hill, I am happy too.

Before evaluating Sunny's hoof, I would like to discuss some terms. In this solar view below, notice the perimeter of dark outer wall. On a white hoof the outer wall is an egg shell color. Inside his outer wall is the inner wall or water line. Most farriers don't talk about the inner wall. When I first started I confused it with the white line. The inner wall is always bright white, regardless of hoof color. Go in one more time and that is the laminae or white line; it's actually off white and often, if you look closely, you can see what looks like scales or leaflets. With a big flare the laminae often pulls apart at the ground level and you can really see the disconnection. A healthy laminae or white line is very thin and tight. Next of course is the sole, then the frog. A healthy foot has a concave sole. Another wall, the bars are on either side of the frog. They begin at the heel and slope gently to mid frog.

     
"So how do these feet look?"  

1. In the first photos, the hoof has a nice cone shape. Good feet come in a variety of shapes, some cone and some more upright. The outer surface is smooth showing no laminitic rings. There are some superficial, vertical cracks along the bottom of the wall created by a response to changes in the environment: wet, dry, wet. In the (hopefully) dry months of July and August, the wall will look like smooth gray granite. Even healthy hooves are on a continuum if your weather and ground vary.
2. As noted, he has flare (disconnected laminae) in the lower portion of his foot. Because of this flare, I would expect some loss of concavity on the bottom, sole view. As an aside, when I am helping a horse grow his first well-connected wall, I have noticed that concavity of the sole will start to form when about 2/3's of the hoof wall has the correct, healing angle.
3. When viewed from the side, Sunny's hair line slopes down, telling me his coffin bone is well placed. The hairline angle may vary a bit depending on his hoof continuum. I do not force any particular angle. However, a horizontal hairline, which we will see in a moment on Eddie, tells me the horse is incorrectly walking on the front of his coffin bone. According to Pete Ramey's research, the coffin bone in an excellent hoof is within the range of 4 to 11 degrees off the ground in the back. (See the photo where I am holding the coffin bone off ground parallel above.) Ground parallel is not correct. You can only see these angles on radio graphs but I have found that if you just do the natural trim, your horse will find what is right for him. As for evaluation, just look for a downward sloping hairline on the side.
4. On the sole view, I have marked his uneven concavity which I expected. Whenever the laminae loses substantial connection: (A) the hoof capsule is too far up the leg and (B) the coffin bone, always under the horse, is too close to the ground. How all this occurs and what actually happens is a heated topic of debate that you can research elsewhere. Again, as I do the trim, the perfect connection will grow in and full concavity will appear. No worries.
5. I also marked, on the sole view, the open angle of his heels at the back of the foot. That is another sign of a good foot. The heels are decontracted. Contracted heels on the other hand, point towards the toe or even angle in; I have seen hooves where the heels actually touch! In effect the horse created the additional structure he needed, almost like a natural bar shoe, in order to protect his unhealthy frog and weak back-of-foot. (Remember our shock absorbers: two lateral cartilages and one digital cushion per foot.) As the frog and internal structures improve, most horses grow excellent, decontracted, short heels. Heels should not be forced apart with an 'opening cut' because the horse will then land on undeveloped or unhealthy structures. Ouch!
6. The frog's central sulcas, in the center back of his foot, is on the mend. I will treat it daily until it is a thumbprint. I treat until it looks healthy. Don't stop just when it stops hurting.

The Before Story: Thin, Shelly, Racehorse Feet are created by people and are not congenital.

1. Notice the perimeter of the hoof wall. As soon as it hits the ground, the paper thin wall chips. Compare this to Sunny's June feet. It does take several hoof capsule growths for a horse to develop correct wall and sole thickness. Lots of movement really helps.
2. Sorry I don't have a sole photo. They were flat and thin. The frogs were pencil-thin and unhealthy. When viewing the foot from the bottom, the outer (dark) wall and inner (bright white) wall were so thin that in areas, one or the other would disappear.
3. That white band you see coming out of the hairline is just the periople and is perfectly normal. When wet it often appears bright white. I have seen draft horses with the periople running half way down the wall.
4. When I first ran my fingers down his front walls, I noticed that they actually angled in, 'inside the vertical' and then flared out. My guess is that due to the suspensory tear behind the right knee, the farrier over-trimmed Sunny's hooves and put him in small shoes to relieve pressure when raced. Of course this was in lieu of rehabbing him. The shoeing job forced the foot to grow in an ice cream cone shape!
5. Below are 4 butt cracks signifying thrushy feet. If your horse's feet touch wet ground or manure, consider investigating and cleaning the foot daily. Treat unhealthy frogs. No frog, no foot. The Horse's Hoof has a great series on frogs. Thanks to that series, I am much better at frog care.

Eddie, Quarter Horse Cross


Eddie is turned out for 18 hours a day and ridden every day in an arena or on trails. He is 17 and is trimmed by his owner who now trims professionally in my area. His diet is primarily forage. When his owner began the rehab process, she trailed out in padded Epic boots but now is using unpadded Gloves. He requires no protection when working on grass.

"So how do these feet look?"

1. They all have a nice cone shape. His toes are short, just where he wants them. (Not based on a formula, in other words.) There is no noticeable flare. We are still in our spring grass season so it's not surprising to see a few laminitic rings. 
2. From the side view you can really see the mustang roll that is critical to a good trim. If you trim the bottom flat, as in the 'pasture or farrier trim', you will never grow a well connected foot without flare. 'The Mustang Roll' is created by rasping the wall from the bottom at an angle; then trimming the wall from the top at an angle; finally by running your rasp around the edge, you round the entire perimeter, from heel to heel. It's amazing how this simple process relieves mechanical stress and allows the wall to grow out perfectly, well connected to the coffin bone.
3. The front side view appears a bit 'bull nose'; I would check the heel height and just make sure they aren't too low. (Range 1/16" - 1/2"over the exfoliated sole if the frogs are healthy. To find the exfoliated or 'live sole plane', just scrape your hoof pick on the sole. The old stuff will scratch off, in most cases.)
4. Notice from hairline to ground, Eddie's short heels, as viewed from the outside. If he were to move to the desert they might become even shorter, as would the toes.  His soles might thicken in response to movement on hard, dry ground. His capsule might move down the leg a nick and on radio graph you would see the coffin bone sitting higher in the capsule, just as we see in the mustangs of the western U.S. I mention this because often we owners don't see hooves in climates dramatically different from our own. Again this is part of the healthy hoof continuum.

  Let's have a look at Eddie's before shots.

1. Once your eyes have seen a few rehabbed feet, you will immediately gasp at these long toes and may even faint when you see heels the long. Poor Eddie is walking on the front of his coffin bone.
2. See how horizontal the side hairline is? Ouch! The coffin bone within the capsule is standing on it's toe. Dr. Bowker has said that you will find remodeled (worn down) coffin bones in most domestic horses. Instead of a nice smooth edge, Eddie's coffin bone is most certainly 'moth eaten', just like the majority of our domestic horses. See the bumpy perimeter of my coffin bone in the beginning of this post.
3. On the side of Eddie's left front foot can you see the bulge above his hairline. It begins about one third back from the front, and continues to the back, over the heel bulbs. Internally that is the lateral cartilage that is being shoved up the leg by the incorrect structure of the foot.

And the view from the sole:

1. He appears to have full concavity which is great. I love the round shape that is often the sign of a horse who hasn't spent much time in shoes.
2. Eddie is trimming his own toe back to where he wants it. (Toe at 12:00 to 2:00) Some people will see that and immediately call for shoes thinking that he might wear down his whole foot! No, he is just attempting to self trim into something he can walk on.
3. Heels take some discussion.
   
   • From the side view, when Eddie was standing, the heels were definitely long; the horitzontal hairline is a dead give-away. Looking at the heels from the sole view, they are also standing too far over the sole. 1/16" to 1/2" is the norm, if the frog is healthy.
   • Also check out, from the sole view, the length of heel from hairline to the actual heel he stands on; it is also long. The good news is that he has a healthy frog so we can confidently rasp his heels down and back where they belong. I wouldn't lower them more than 1/2" on one visit.
   • But what if his frogs were thrushy? I would leave enough heel to protect them then rigorously treat the frog. Forget about heel height; it will come along as frogs rehab.
   • Make sure the horse can walk off sound. Never trim a horse lame. That's nuts in my view.
   • Just as the coffin bone can be too close to the ground, so too the lateral cartilages and digital cushion, back-of-foot. When this happens, a lot of rehab has to happens as the heels grow towards what Eddie wants.
4. Take a minute to compare Eddie's before and after photos. During the transition, Eddie never took a bad step. As in all things related to Equus, the time it takes is the time it takes. 
5. The bars are another hoof wall. They begin at the heels and slope down towards mid frog. If the bars stand over the outer wall, I trim to the correct height, a bit over sole. Please don't excavate into the sole. When bars become too long, they may dig into the ground or 'lay over'. According to Dr. Bowker, they do not 'impact' or press deeply up into the foot. His conclusions are based on thousands of dissections.
6. Eddie also has 'sole ridge' that is located next to the frog, on the sole. It begins where the bar ends, at mid frog and runs the length of his frog, on the right side. I scrapped the sole next to it so you could see the ridge more clearly. On some horses, it can run around the entire frog, on the sole, from the end of each bar. This hoof created more structure  because it is needed. If the ridge is still there after 3 months, I may begin to trim it, however normally it exfoliates on its own. I have never seen sole ridge on a good foot. Pete Ramey used to trim the sole ridge in his book, Making Natural Hoof Care Work for You,  but over time has stopped the practice because he made too many horses tender as noted in his book-update article, Making Natural Hoof Care Work.

     
And below, Just beautiful! The damage to the coronary band, although still present, is less evident in the wall when the correct hoof capsule is grown. How long does it take? As long as it takes. Growing out cracks is straight forward. Shoes make cracks worse and do not 'hold the foot together' as I have been told countless times.


There is a widespread but incorrect belief that big horses need big, flared feet. When you look at severely flared draft hooves, from the sole view, they will look triangular with points at the toe and on either side. As always, with correct and patient natural trimming, the feet come around. They're still big feet! If you have a draft horse, you might be interested in Pete Ramey's latest That's My Horse: Drafts.

Below, look at the width of the back of the frog! Now that's a central sulcas shaped like a thumb print. Talk about decontracted, healthy heels. Danny's owner couldn't have done it without her Hoof Jack! Can you imagine holding this big guy's foot for a trim?


In conclusion, rehabilitation of the equine foot occurs at each horse's pace and is heavily dependent on:

• The diet,
• The environment,
• Movement and
• The trim, in that order.

Please remember that even exceptional feet exist on a continuum.

On occasion your pony may get a laminitic ring or a quarter crack or a chip in the wall or an abscess. Be patient yet knowledgeable with her rehabilitation and always do the best you can. As long as your horse is sound, in good weight and has a shiny coat, life is good. 

I hope I have given you some useful information to assist you in the evaluation of your own horse's hooves.

Next month I will post a pictorial discussion of many common 'oddities' you might see in barefeet that are: just out of shoes or poorly trimmed or good feet having a bad day.

Until then, see you on the trail!

Here are some resources that you might be interested in

For a more in depth understanding of the hoof and how it all works here is a small sample of resources:

•  The DVD set Under the Horse by Pete Ramey
•  Clinics with Dr. Robert Bowker
•  Courses with the Equine Science Academy
•  Whole Horse Symposium in Missouri on October 15-17  Dr. Bowker and Dr. Tomas Teskey among many others, will be presenting. This is a priceless opportunity to talk to the best and brightest.
•  I have free, basic trimming videos for applying the rehabilitation trim on my site at 4sweetfeet.com
• The Horse's Hoof.  Note that all trims are represented, not just the natural trim based on the wild horse model. Personally I don't agree with the more invasive trims. It's a nice resource though and worth reading with a critical eye.

Here's what our customers are saying about Easyboots:

"Gloves and Mueller's Athletic Tape lasted 30 miles at the Pinetree Ride in Maine with no mishaps."

"Love, love, love my Gloves - A little athletic tape, pop on the Gloves and we are all set to go."

"Tested out my Gloves today at Happy Jack. Gloves Rock!"




"Epic boots make it possible. My horse had thin soles, weak hoof walls and had foundered - now barefoot using Epics to absorb concussion during competition and Gloves during training."

"Check out my Epics! We are going through really tough terrain at Beaver Creek Trail."



"Finally rode my horse in the new Trails and I love them! They actually stay on my horse."

"The Trails are the easiest boot to put on!"

"Recently bought Trails for my dressage horse. He responded greatly and acquired better footing."



"My horse and I love our Glue-Ons. Great traction, no rubs and no worries during endurance rides."

With EasyCare's protective horse boots, you can ride anywhere, on any terrain, at any speed with 100% hoof protections.

With the recent EHV-1 outbreak, we're more or less on lock-down here waiting for the all-clear. Two of the confirmed cases are within 30 miles of us and with half the equestrian world saying "well, I don't have cutting horses so I'll be OK" it doesn't fill me with confidence that people are taking the situation seriously. So for now, we stay home.

Normally I wouldn't mind so much. Giving Uno time off between rides is part of our usual protocol. But we're due to do NASTR 75 on June 4th and I was hoping to do that ride a little faster than our standard putzing-along-at-the-back speed - which would mean conditioning a bit harder than usual to ramp him up for that. My reason for wanting to go faster is that the NASTR ride was to be our last test before deciding if we were going to sign up for Tevis this year - which is six weeks after NASTR. ...Well, best laid plans and all that. I'll just sit tight and see how things develop and keep repeating the mantra that "a well-rested horse is better than an over-conditioned one".

So this weekend saw me with some unaccustomed time on my hands and I turned my attentions to "Project Horse" Hopi.

Hopi slightly less fat than he is now (but only slightly)
grazing on the lawn last year.

Hopi came to us when we were horse-shopping for Patrick back in the fall of 2007. He wasn't suitable for Patrick, being too green, but I loved the horse, saw so much potential in him, and he has a walk to die for (something I always wanted in a horse). I reasoned that since Roo was going so well and Jackit was too young to ride, I could buy Hopi as something to play with in the interim. A week later, we acquired Uno and after he dumped Patrick four times in a row, he became my project horse instead. So Hopi has stood in the wings, #4 horse in line for the last three and half years.

Hopi is the most peculiar mix of horse. Once you're on top of him, he's actually very solid and doesn't feel like a green horse at all. But on the ground he's a mess. Despite living with us all this time, he's still convinced we're "out to get him". He's difficult to catch because he doesn't want you near him. He is very thin skinned so doesn't like to be touched or brushed. He's explosive and doesn't like to be contained in small spaces or constrained - say by being tied-up or cornered. He will run right through or over you if necessary. He is uncomfortable having his foot gripped between my knees to trim him. He's scared of anything you bring up to him - never mind if it's a small brush or a large blanket. If you duck under his neck while he's tied to the trailer to pass in front of him, he'll pull back in alarm. The first time I fitted an Easyboot on his foot, he took one look at it and reared to get away from it. He's frightened of people walking towards him on the trail or in the arena. As a result of all of the above I've been run over, kicked, and stood on. Needless to say, he needs work - and lots of it. But through it all, you can see he tries. He wants to be secure. He wants to have the attention. And he has a nice soft eye. So he's still here and still holds the "Project Horse" title.

Because of all this and despite my best intentions, trimming Hopi is one of my least favorite tasks (see above re. being run over, kicked, and stood on) so his feet become woefully long. I usually enlist Patrick to hold him and every foot is a struggle involving dodging and manipulating, trying to do the best job possible in the shortest amount of time (i.e. the nanosecond Hopi will hold his foot up and be compliant). The saving grace is that he has really good, round feet so even when they are long, they grow out nice and evenly without any weird distortions.

So there we were on Saturday, no Patrick in sight but Hopi and his way-too-long feet standing in front of me, so I decided to spend some quality time with him.

To begin with we played "Softly, softly, catchee monkee" involving pretending to catch Uno and Fergus, all the while keeping up a running commentary to Hopi about how awkward they were being and how wouldn't it be nice if they'd just stand still? Not being the object of interest, Hopi stood in the way and surprisingly accepted some butt scritches and tail tugging. He would move out of the way, but wasn't his usual explosive self. After about five minutes, I haltered him before he knew what had happened and took him up onto the driveway for some groundwork refresher.

One of my biggest weaknesses is lack of consistency - which is probably one of the things Hopi needs most and probably why we haven't progressed very quickly. But he does respond to groundwork when I manage to do it with him. During this 20 minute session, I insisted that he kept his attention on me, asked for some backing, asked for some gives, worked on asking him to move his butt away from me, worked on giving to the rope from the wrong direction (i.e. walking all the way behind him until I stood on the other side and put gentle pressure on the rope), etc. Satisfied that he was at least somewhat primed, I took him down to the barn.

I trim all the other horses in an empty 12 x 12 stall in the barn - place a hay bag in front of them - accessible from both sides of the panel - and they cheerfully hang out with their buddies - and I often trim them loose. On the other hand, trimming Hopi in an enclosed space is not usually something I'm comfortable with. I'd much prefer to have as many escape routes as possible by which to vacate the area when he has one of his frequent melt downs. But I figured I'd give it a go.

Rather than embark upon trimming right away, I decided to go for extended grooming. He looked a mess with much of his shedded out coat still clinging to his body in fluffy clumps, so out came the furbee - the perfect de-shedding tool. I ran it all over him very, very carefully so as not to poke or pull in an unpleasant manner. A few times I hit one of his sensitive spots and his whole skin rippled with discomfort, so I knew to be more gentle. At the end he looked a lot better and seemed relatively relaxed and comfortable, so I decided it was time to start trimming.

We began with the right front. First I brought over my hoofpick and hoof knives for him to inspect. Predictably he snorted at them, looked alarmed, moved away from me, and acted like something very bad was about to happen. So I stood there waiting for him to conclude that they weren't actually torture implements and once he settled down, I picked up his foot and kneeling on one knee next to him, propped the foot on my other knee. That way I wasn't constraining the foot or alarming him unduly with my hoof-stand. This went very smoothly and I was able to progress to the nipping stage - again, introducing him to the nippers politely by allowing him to sniff them and stand quietly for a short while with them in sight before starting the torture, uh, I mean trimming.

With that part done, I needed to work from the top to remove extra toe and any flare. The [evil] HoofJack was going to be necessary. The normal modus operandi for the hoofstand is I get his foot up on it and start to rasp. He tolerates it for a short while before rearing up and pulling back (thus he is always tied on a Clip). This then spirals into a a "you will behave" battle of wills. But this time around, things went much better. He only removed his foot once from the stand and did so relatively politely. One foot done, three to go.

Half-way through the right rear, things started to degenerate in the usual way. He'd tolerated propping the rear foot in the cradle and I'd trimmed about 80% of it before he decided he'd had enough, removed the foot (and having been kicked in the past for having the audacity to hold onto the foot to prevent its removal, I wasn't going that route again) and then refused to pick it up again. No amount of pushing and pulling resulted in compliance. Hmmm. Time for more groundwork.

Off we went, up to the driveway again (not much flat on my property, so the driveway is usually the groundwork location of choice). This time I asked him to turn tight circles around me, stopping every so often and asking him to pick up the rear foot. If he didn't, then he'd be turning circles again. After a short while, he got the idea, so we went back down to the barn whereupon he promptly forgot the lesson and ignored my "foot up" requests.

O-kay... I guess we're going to be trimming on the driveway afterall. I took all my tools and him back up and had him turning tight circles around me and the equipment. Again, fairly soon he got the idea and decided that maybe he could allow his foot to be worked on.

And here was the great part. Once he'd concluded that he was going to have to do something unpleasant (turn small circles) if he wouldn't allow me to pick his feet up, he also realised that standing quietly and being compliant might be the way to go. I was able to trim both back feet, using the cradle on the HoofJack with him standing basically ground-tied and relaxed while I did it. Nice!

Once we were done with the back feet, I rewarded him with a short grazing session and then we went back to the barn to finish up the last front foot. At the end, I had a nice relaxed horse, neither of us were at the "argghhh" stage and his feet looked really good. Yay!

To finish up, I gave him a haircut (he'd rubbed the middle part of his mane off on the fence, so had long sections top and bottom and a short section which stood up in the center) and (courtesy of quarter of a bottle of ShowSheen) brushed out his tail which was a felted mess containing quite a bit of gravel and twigs.

And then off we went up to visit Patrick up in his shop, still relaxed and contented, allowing me to lean on him, scritchle his nose with enjoyment, and generally hang out.

This is the best session I've ever spent with Hopi and I was so very pleased at the end. Hopefully this will be the shape of things to come - maybe we've finally turned a corner and he will actually start to enjoy being interacted with - in turn making interacting with him a pleasure - and thus breaking the cycle of us avoiding each other.

Neel Glass embraced change But by nature, some people like change and some don't.  I believe the people that are optimistic about life embrace change.  They believe that change will bring something better.  For those that live in the "life will get worse" world, change is hard because the expectation is things will get worse. 

In the world of hoof boots it's all about change.  Horse boots are a change from traditional hoof protection methods and they are rapidly being embraced for lost shoe protection, laminitic and founder rehab, total hoof protection and many types of medicinal uses.  Without change, I wouldn't be here to write this and your horse wouldn't have an option. 


The Easyboot Trail was launched by EasyCare in April 2011.  The Trail is a change of direction for EasyCare and a renewed focus on trail and pleasure riders.  Many of our past hoof boot designs have been targeted to the competitive long distance sports of endurance and competitive trail.  Although we will continue in that market segment, you will notice more attention given to non-competitive trail riders who are looking for an easy-to-apply boot at a competitive price point. 

We are hard at work in several areas and 2012, we will bring more change.  Some of our less popular hoof boot models will be phased out and our more popular boots will be improved and enhanced.  The Easyboot Epic will be one focus area of 2012.  The Epic has been one of our most successful hoof boots in our line-up and it's time for the boot to go to the next level.  Buckle changes, tread changes and gaiter pattern changes are a few of the many upgrades that will be introduced sometime in 2012. 

What change would you like EasyCare to focus on in the future? 

Jack Peacock has been in the equine products industry for 31 years. When he and his wife, Mary Jo started The Stagecoach West, they owned no horses, no hat and no boots. They simply got into the equine world as a business venture. Jack says it was the second-best decision of his life (marrying his wife was the best one).


Jack and Mary Jo soon got involved with horses and the game has been on since then. “I love them,” says Jack”. “I love everything about them.”

When asked about the secret to his business success, he says when someone comes to him, he likes to think they will get honesty, sincerity and an answer from his heart. “I have reached a point in my life when I know who I am and I would always like to help someone along the way.”


Jack believes nothing could be more different at The Stagecoach West of today compared to the company 31 years ago. “It’s not business as usual: you’d better know what you are doing and know your products, because your customer certainly will,” said Jack. He attributes the company’s success to consistently focusing on doing the right thing. “In the end,” he says, “That’s what counts.”

The company now employs some 24 people and operates from a 24,000 square foot facility in western New York. They sell a wide range of outdoor clothing and Western wear as well as saddles and other horse tack. They have carried EasyCare products for more than 20 years.

He is astounded at the changes in hoof boot technology. “Just think of the changes we have seen: we have gone from a basic Easyboot through a series of changes that are now shaping how we think about hoof care. Barefoot was not even mentioned years ago and today it is an integral part of our horse management program.” Jack and Mary Jo currently own ten horses. Two are booted, three are barefoot and the rest are shod.

He credits the biggest reward of this business as being the friends they have made along the way. He is most proud of The Stagecoach West being named Best of the Best: Western Retailer of the Year by Tack n‘Togs in 2009.

Jack’s creative approach to all things business has also led to a very gratifying relationship with Tom Seay of Best of America By Horseback. The Stagecoach West now administers Best of America By Horseback’s Trail Club.

“I can say this, I have never seen any company in this industry keep their foot on the accelerator more than EasyCare. We have carried every EasyCare product as it was developed and today, the Easyboot Glove is number one with us.”

Jack believes the barefoot horse industry can only continue going to continue to grow. “I do believe it will level off at some point, but I think that is a ways off.”

Look for Jack at Equine Affaire Massachusetts next year: it’s his favorite event.

2010, what a year!  We are blessed to be involved in a business where customers become friends and family.  The EasyCare team thanks you for your friendship in 2010 and looks forward to a healthy and prosperous 2011.

Here are some of the many memories of our Easyboot family and friends in 2010. 

January was the opportunity to see many of the EasyCare dealers at the WESA Trade Show in Denver Colorado.  The show starts our year and gives us the opportunity talk one on one with many of our important partners. 


February had a quick trip to see some of the North American Trail Ride Conference folks in Taos, New Mexico.  On the way we stopped in Pojoaque to see the original EasyCare building and where the Easyboot concept was started.  Thousands of Easyboots were made in the original facility before being relocated to Oro Valley, AZ. 

March was the start for Kevin Myers as Director of Marketing.  EasyCare announced new sponsorship partnership with the American Endurance Ride Conference.  Jacke Reynolds Granny wins the Easyboot Facebook slogan contest with “iBoot, Do You?”. 


April was a blur of trade shows and dealer trainings.  We added a new corporate video to our website.  Stuck in airports because of the ash cloud.  EasyCare blogs exploded with content, Amanda and Duncan are some of the favorites. 

May was a great family month.  Mom, Dad and I did a 50 mile horse race together. We all finished in the top ten using Easyboots.  My daughter won her first bike race at 3 years old.
June was the month for altitude training and hoof boot testing in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado.  A bunch of the Easyboot gang headed to the Strawberry Fields endurance race to test hoof boots in muddy conditions.  Debbie Schwiebert and Sandra Fretelliere flew into Salt Lake to help test more boots.  Alyxx did her first solo ride.  Several Easyboot horses are selected for the World Equestrian Games.

July was the month for endurance.  Both travel and the sport of endurance racing.  The 4th of July weekend was spent in Germany with Bernd Jung and Christoph Schork.  Hoofboots were the main priority of the weekend but we had the opportunity to see German’s head to the late rounds of the World Cup.  The Tevis Cup 100 Mile Endurance Event was next.  EasyCare had 35 horses with Easyboots start the event.  Two Easyboot horses finished in the top ten.  20% of the horses in the top twenty completed the event with Easyboots.  One of the highlights of 2010 was crossing the finish line with my wife after the grueling 100 mile event.  Thank you Mom for getting our family into horses and endurance. 

August brought a series of EasyCare educational webinars with Duncan McLaughlin.  A bunch of Easyboot family went on to climb a 14,000 foot peak in Colorado. 


October was the 40th birthday celebration for both myself and EasyCare.  Easyboots have accomplished a great deal over the last 40 years.  Many more to come.  Christoph Schork sets a World Record with 200+ endurance wins. 

November was the opportunity to travel to Australia and help EasyCare DownUnder at Equitana Asia.  The Aussies are barefoot nuts and have a real passion for horses.  The North American Trail Ride Conference announced a rule change that would allow hoof boots with gaiters in competition. 

 
December brought more travel to approve new molds, mold changes and prototype discussion.  EasyCare hires a new US engineering firm to accelerate new designs.  The EasyCare Hoof Boot Contest logs a record 41,000 miles in 2010.  Dave Rabe wins the AERC National Mileage Award in Easyboots.  The year ended with our annual holiday party. 

For many of the endurance riders, this riding season is coming to an end. A lot of riders in northern latitudes have already seen the first snow on the ground. A good time to revisit the removal of Easyboot Glue-Ons so we can all safely remove the boots and let our horses enjoy some bare hoof time.


The Tools
Useful tools are a very large flat-headed screw driver and a rubber mallet.

Step One
Insert the screwdriver at the quarters first. That area might already have seen some weakening of the adhesion and display a small gap between hoof wall and boot.
Tap with the rubber mallet and loosen the bond all the way to the bottom of the boot. Too many times we have seen people not loosening the bond all the way to the bottom, with the result that is getting very difficult to pry the boot of the hoof.
















The Hoof Glue is all the way loosened to the bottom of the sole.

Step Two
Many of us have experienced that our horses want to lift the hoof off the ground when we are touching the hoof with the screwdriver. They are so conditioned to give the hoof for us to work on but it is not a favorable position to insert the screwdriver and using the mallet effectively.


A little trick will help keeping this leg planted firmly on the ground: place the front leg on the cradle of a Hoof Jack.


If you just happen to be without a Hoof Jack at that time, you can use your calf to rest the front leg of the horse. It helped me many times.


Or, if you just don't want to deal with it, use them as a dog dish.


I am now in Germany to teach a Hoof Care Clinic near Kassel in the state of Hessen and also assist Bernd Jung during his Hufschuhe Coach Seminar in Oberrot for a couple of days. The clinic will consist of barefoot trimming and proper usage of EasyCare Glue-Ons and Easyboot Gloves.

In my next post at the beginning of December, I will tell you all about this experience and share some of my observations from overseas.

Whether we are teachers or students, we are always learning. That is the basis for success.

So long

Your Bootmeister

Education is a big deal here at EasyCare. Part of our mission is not only to equip you with the best protective hoof boots in the industry but to help you succeed in using them. We recently launched a three part webinar series to help the general public understand some of the aspects of owning and maintaining a barefoot horse as well as the intricacies of applying Easyboot Glue-On hoof boots. 

When it comes to leaning more about hoof care be it the horse owner or someone with professional aspirations there are many barefoot hoof trimming organizations out there to choose from. All are doing a fantastic job of bringing up the next generation of trimmers. One such organization that seems to be drawing quite a crowd these days is Pacific Hoof Care Practitioners. This group has been offering a hoof-care training program since 2008. Not only are they helping train up the next generation of of barefoot trimmers but are offering a means for those seasoned veterans to stay connected and armed with the lasted information in the industry. 

I met up with this group in Los Angeles where they were holding their Annual Meeting and Member Conference Aug. 12-15. In addition to meetings, the conference offered a series of mini-clinics covering the Business of Hoof Care, How to Take Good Hoof Photos, and the Nuts and Bolts of Hay Analysis and Mineral Balancing.

The highlight event was a day session by Brian Hampson, who presented his fascinating wild horse research, done under the auspices of Dr. Chris Pollitt’s Australian Brumby Research Unit of the University of Queensland. One facet of the research involved putting GPS collars on feral horses in five different Australian geographic areas, and tracking them over periods of time. They collected “tons” of data that have inspired numerous studies and ongoing scientific investigations, not to mention quite a few publications in various journals. Some of their findings are surprising! www.wildhorseresearch.com.  

Research is incredibly expensive and the group was excited to present Brian Hampson with a $3,500 donation to support the ABRU’s wild horse research. The donation was a combination of attendance fees, proceeds from a fund-raising drive, and a donation from the PHCP treasury. The donated list of items was impressive to say the least. Donations were made by Brian Hampson; CA Trace Minerals/Sally Hugg; Easy Care Hoof Boots, Dr. Eleanor Kellon; EquiCast; Equine Wellness Magazine; Freedom Feeder; Cavallo Hoof Boots; Gold Haven Studios/horse jewelry; Hoof Jack; Hoof Rehab/Pete Ramey; Phil Morrare; Renegade Hoof boots; Swedish Hoof school; The Horse’s Hoof Magazine; Thin Air Canvas/Nibble Net and Uckele.

The event was a great success and learning opportunity. PHCP is just one of the numerous barefoot organizations that organize events and offer trimming instruction.  Whether you live in the U.S. or half way around the world. Don't become complacent, there is always more to learn. Get plugged in to a school, chat group or find a mentor near you. The more you know about how the equine foot functions the better off your horse or client's horses will be. The horse is depending on you.

Where do you go when you need hoof care answers?

This was the area that I was concerned about pre-ride when selecting my choice of boots for Uno's funky-flared rear feet. As it turns out, I had no reason to worry - the Glue-ons stayed firmly glued on and still weren't keen on parting company with his feet on Sunday afternoon when I tried to remove them with two large flathead screwdrivers and a mallet.

To say I was amazed by this would be an understatement. As if by magic...

Thursday evening I got home from work with only an hour of daylight left. Scuttled out to the barn and began prepping Uno's back feet - meticulously cleaning them with denatured alcohol, carefully removing some little hangnails on the backs of his heels that would prevent the boots from seating properly, applying thrush treatment to his collateral grooves (just in case), and dry fitting the boots to make sure everything was going to go smoothly. By the time I'd inspected the glue, inspected the glue-guns, inspected the feet again, it was definitely dusky.

Then I got to the gluing part - let the fun begin. Remember I'd never used Adhere before [snort].

Friend Leslie (who'd glued earlier that day) had warned me that the Adhere would set up fast in the warm temperatures we'd been having, so I was expecting it. I just wasn't expecting it to set up *that* fast. First I carefully squooshed out a triangle of Goober Glue into the bottom of the boot to make a nice sole pad, then began applying my neat bead of squiggly toothpaste-thickness Adhere around the top edge of the shell. Once satisfied that it was applied as desired, I entered the stall where the unsuspecting victim was standing and proceed to carefully push the boot on... this was then followed by copious expletives, frantic whacking with the mallet, more expletives, before realising there was no way the boot was going on properly and having to rip it off again.

More expletives.

Then I realised what had happened. The Adhere had set up long before I even got near the horse, so all that happened was the neat beads of (solid) glue were pushed chunkily to the bottom of the boot (hence why it wouldn't go on) [grrrr].

Faithful helper (husband) didn't say a word, just looked decidedly uncomfortable and acted like he'd rather be somewhere else - anywhere else - rather than in the barn with me, expletives flying.

(Note to self: next time glue alone. Faithful husbands will not stand for repeat performances.)

I went indoors and fetched a headlight. Then I sat for ten minutes on a bale of hay, regrouping, before going in for a second attempt.

Having established just how quick you have to be with this glue, for the rest of the gluing procedure I squatted next to Uno's back-end so that I didn't have to move further than 27" to get the boot on.

Ta-da! Two boots glued on...

Came indoors a bit sad - not having any conviction that said boots would stay on since I'd been so hopelessly inept for that first boot.

So as usual at the Ride I took four sparesies along on the saddle - and finished the ride with those same four sparsies still in their saddle bags. Carrying extra unnecessary weight is good. It'll make Uno strong. Yes. All the boots stayed on, despite many water crossings, climbing, scrambling (up and down), and speed trotting along the lakeside road. 


Before you start any endurance ride, it's important to up your energy level and make sure you have the requisite amount of adrenaline surging through your body.

The trouble is endurance rides start so darn early in the morning - when my particular energy level is almost non-existent. For reasons unknown, we had to start Bridgeport at 6 am which meant stumbling out of bed at 5 am (Uno is installed in front of more-than-he-can-possibly-eat amounts of food overnight, so it isn't necessary to get up extra-early to give him more). By 5:15, I was sleepily patting and scritching the pone and decided the first thing to do was to put on his front Gloves.

Except they didn't fit.

As mentioned in past articles, Uno grows toe at the same rate that my truck sucks down diesel when hauling three horses in the mountains - that is to say, faster than a fast thing. I had diligently rasped him ten days previously, but that wasn't recently enough. Uno doesn't just grow toe, he grows Spatula Toe. The longer the toe, the more spatula-like it is, so no-way, no-how were those boots going on his front feet.

Out came the HoofJack and the rasp and a few minutes later, after some vigorous, energy-enhancing rasping – voila – boots that fit and a Lucy that is wide awake and ready for the day.



Here we are on top of the first ridge - the temperatures are cool and Uno's got horses ahead in his sights. We passed several sets of people during this time - a rarity for me - and Uno managed the fastest stop-n-pee I've ever seen - by the time I'd jumped off to start the half-mile walk down to the trot-by, he was done and we were off again, leaving poor Kaity in our wake, fumbling with a tack adjustment (sorry Kaity):


Because of Uno's lack of drinking and our subsequent slow pace, it gave us more time to admire the breathtaking views. I'd like to say that here you can see Uno admiring the view, but he's actually looking worriedly at a long line of horses below and behind us on the trail on the opposite side of the valley, making sure they aren't about to "get" him:


This whole section of trail is pretty narrow and continues to climb endlessly, as poor Uno discovered, leading a handful of horses. Uno is not a leader, but he did his best:


Remember the part where I mentioned the trail was technical? Here's an example of some of the stuff we clambered over. The horses need to be surefooted through this and not fiddle around:



This loop culminates in the most stupendous view of the Sawtooth Mountains:

Back at camp at the end of the loop, I'd hoped that Uno would gobble up everything in sight. Instead, he delicately drank a little, ate a slurpy - not exactly ravenously - and munched on some hay. The only thing he showed real enthusiasm for was the green grass, so we hand-grazed. At this point he was still getting quite good vet scores which surprised me.

Off we went on Loop 2. Like having to eat your vegetables before you get the dessert, this loop starts with a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggg climb that takes about an hour. The horses think it sucks. You think it sucks. It's hot. It's dry. There is general desultoriness all round (yes, that *is* a real word - I looked it up).

Here's Uno not drinking at the trough at the bottom of the long climb - he'd be sorry later. Instead he's gawping at a 30-mile rider who has just passed us on their way in to the finish. Keeping his mind on the matter at hand is not one of his strong points. Notice Kody in the background, drinking:


So we climbed and climbed and finally, after cresting the top of the mountain, we came across this lovely oasis where we spent about 15 minutes letting the pones munch their fill. The pones thought this was very fine and all spirits were revived for the long downhill to get us to the valley floor:


From here everything got better. On the way off the mountain, hallelujah, Uno decided to drink - 30 miles and 24 hours too late - but at least he got around to it. The whole time he was sucking down water, he would quickly glance up at regular intervals to make sure that crocodile wasn't creeping through the bushes. 

We zipped through the vet check (first time round we weren't required to stop) and overtook about five riders who'd gotten out ahead of us at lunch because we stayed 15-20 minutes longer so Dopey could eat more, yay. Off we set, down the Valley with Kody out in front setting a great pace. At every creek crossing we sprung our sponges and flung them about on strings - sometimes successfully hitting the water source, sometimes not. 



The horses were quite cheerful, even when we took the strange (ribboned, I might add) detour into the small aspen grove and clomped around in there, ducking to avoid branches and wondering why the trail had a multitude of fallen tree stumps lying around like chinese puzzles for the pones to step through.

Once again, the views were wondrous. Here's Nick Warhol and Don, and Judy Long and Color (the spotted one) who got past us when we took the scenic route:


At the far end of the valley, we crossed a big creek (where we would have gladly spent the rest of the afternoon paddling without too much persuasion) before turning back up the valley towards the vet check. We tried putting Uno in front to give Kody a rest, but he immediately turned slug-like so we abandoned that plan based on the fact we'd never get done in time. 

This part of the trail winds through aspen and is extremely entertaining (provided you aren't travelling at Crawly Pace).

Back at the vet check, once again, Uno gawped at everything around him instead of munching on the nice green grass:

I did finally persuade him to eat a slurpy by pulling out the secret weapon - rice bran. Apparently anything is worth eating provided it contains over 50% of rice bran. Notice the lovely glow to Uno's coat? Yup... rice bran. But even tucked into that, he was still peering around at all the other horses. I can't decide if he's Mr Nosy or Mr Paranoid. 


Anyhoo. His lack of drinking earlier in the day finally caught up with him - his vet scores at this point were lousy, necessitating a fit of angst from me, regardless of the fact that he was now eating and drinking just like a grown-up. All we had to do was about six miles back to camp - and we had an hour to do it in. Ack. 

So off we went again, Kody leading the way, Uno cheerfully zooming along behind him, quite willing to do big trot (and even pulling out to pace next to him a couple of times), me on top monitoring his every ear twitch to make sure he wasn't about to drop out from underneath me. In the last half-mile, five riders came up behind us (one cantering - that set poor Uno off again, leaping sideways and jumping about) and passed, putting us firmly in, I believe, last place. Hey ho. 

But like I say, we finished. Uno got good scores at the final vet check, he was now (of course) interested in eating everything in sight. And all our boots stayed on. In fact, it was a 100% successful Booting Event for Team Paranoid. Leslie's four glue-ons stayed on Eagle's feet even though they zoomed through the whole ride to come in 13th. We are now smug, almost experts, in our gluing skills. Hah.

It wasn't perhaps one of Uno's most stellar performances, but hey, we finished - and best of all, I learned a great deal about how to get him hydrated before we even start, how to keep him that way, and just how useful those fat reserves are. :)   Hopefully that'll stand us in good stead for his next excursion - endurance gods willing - Virginia City 100. He seems to have the physical capability - now we just have to see if cunning can overcome his mental shortcomings. Big hugs to that pone.

There are many reasons for that development, but the fact is that more and more riders and horse owners are now trimming their horses hooves without the help of professional hoof technicians and farriers. Protective horse boots are replacing traditional horse shoes in ever increasing numbers. The Glue-On horse hoof boots and Easyboot Gloves are being used more and more in all equestrian disciplines.

Besides acquiring the necessary knowledge and training for hoof trimming, the horse owner also needs to know what tools to get for starters. Looking through tool catalogs, a newcomer might get quickly overwhelmed.

Out of all the available tools, I've selected five that I consider essential for successful hoof trimming:



These five are a must. Without having all five available, do not even start trimming your horses hooves.

Hoof rasps come in a range of prices from $5.00 to $25.00; hoof knives from $3.00 to $75.00; nippers from $35.00 to $225.00. Like in many areas of the tool market, you get what you pay for. Do not buy any cheap tools: you are wasting your money. They will not work well, make life hard and sooner or later you will throw them out to get something that works. Believe me, I have been there and learned the hard, or I might say, the expensive way.

Get some good tools, GE nippers are arguably the best, depending on your hand size, get nippers between 12 and 14 in. 15 in are also available, but I would only recommend them if you have very large hands and long arms. SaveEdge rasps are a good value. Get a handle with it. Purchase a hoof knife that fits your hand: middle to upper price range will suffice here; there are a lot of good knives around. Before buying a hoof knife, spend several minutes holding it, feeling it. Carry it around the store for a while, mimic trimming movements to get a feel for it. It has to feel right in your hand.

The hoof jack is a one time investment, yes, somewhat pricey, but you have to have a hoof stand. The hoof jack is one of the best. It comes with a cradle as well, so it saves your back. You would be wise to get one right away, not after you suffered already for a year and your back is out. By then, you already will have spent more money than the hoof jack costs on body work, massage and chiropractic. The big advantage the Hoof Jack has over other hoof stands is the stability. It won't tip over if you have an unruly horse or one that constantly tries to pull the hoof away from you. Furthermore, you can stabilize it even more by placing your feet over the base. It is really solid then, no other hoof stand lets you do that.


These five tools are necessary to do good and effective hoof trimming. At the Global Endurance Training Center in Moab, we have been using and testing these tools for years and found them to be very useful and also sufficient for most hoof trims. They all have quality and they all last well. Let's say you invested $400 to $500. Now you need to take care of them to increase their life expectancy and usefulness.

Below are some maintenance tools that are inexpensive to acquire but will save you lots in the long run.


We have sharpening tools for your hoof knives, the Swissistor tool works the easiest. Chainsaw sharpening files are also popular, work really well to sharpen the curve of the hoof knife. Stones and metal files do not work as well for the curved tip.

Your rasp should always get stored in a piece of cloth or a protective sleeve. I like to use piece of irrigation pipe. It works great and doesn't cost more than a dime at the most.


A new rasp should last you for about 20 horses; let's say about 80 to 100 hooves. Provided you are following a few tips and tricks to extend the life of a rasp:

1. Always clean the hoof before rasping. The hoof below is in no shape to put your expensive rasp to work.


First use your hoof pick to clean as much as possible, then the wire brush to remove all sand and grit.


Now the hoof is ready for using the nippers or the rasp.


2. Use your nippers more than your rasp. It is easier and time saving.

3. Use the whole rasp. Too many people have a tendency making short strokes, make long and smooth strokes.

4. Use the rasp in a singe direction. No back and forth scrubbing, but instead in the forward cutting way, the way the rasp pattern is designed to cut. Look at the rasp so you understand the way it cuts.

5.When switching from using the nippers to the rasps, don't just toss your tools around on the ground. Place them carefully on a soft towel or board. You can also use the magnets of your hoof jack to lean the tools against when not using them.

6. After finishing your trim, brush your rasp clean with a non metal brush. Wire brushes will dull the rasp. Then store them in a dry environment. Rust will shorten their life.

7. Have all your tools protected when in transport. Don't let them bounce around in a box.


A word on the nippers: good nippers can last you many years. The same rules apply for protection as with the rasps. Don't use them on a dirty hoof, treat them with great care and use some oil or WD 40 to keep them protected from moisture. Rasps should not be oiled, however, it compromises the cutting and makes them collect dirt. Even when you take good care of your nippers, eventually they will dull. You can send it in to have it refurbished. Do not attempt to sharpen the nippers yourself. You will end up ruining them. Guaranteed. It takes great skill and knowledge to sharpen nippers. There are also mail-to services available to sharpen your rasp, but to make it cost effective with shipping, you should mail in several rasps together.

After you are done with your trim, wrap your nippers in a sleeve or protective cloth piece.


Hope these tips will help you getting most out of your investment.

Till the next time,

Your Bootmeister

My son, Joe (15), packed up with Ronnie Eden and Bonnie Swiatek and left Laramie late last week to head for Horse & Rider in Western Colorado. Joe was riding Scooter, an 11 year-old Grade gelding that he's been riding for eight years now. They've really got quite a bond, and the two did well again. Scooter continues to use the EasyCare Glue-Ons for hoof protection.

It wasn't always that way, though. Scooter used to be shod, but we had some difficulty finding a good professional farrier. He ended up with very long toes, and very contracted heels. Long toe cracks developed, extending from the toe all the way to the coronet band. I could stick a wire in through the crack 1.5 cm. After several farriers were unsuccessful at rehabilitating him, we took him barefoot, and really got to work on that toe length. The cracks healed, and his heels widened again.


Although he does well barefoot, we now boot him for particularly long or rocky rides. He's never had any lameness issues, and we don't want to start now. After three years of being barefoot, Scooter's health has never been better, and he continues to do well at distance events. At the Bighorn 100, we learned from Keven Myers and Rusty Toth a bit more about proper application of the boots, and we haven't had a bit of trouble. Although "just a Grade," he took 8th in the 50 on Saturday, and 1st in the 25 on Sunday.

It's off to Happy Jack (Laramie, WY) this weekend for another 50 and a 25 ... and we're so proud of Joe and Scooter ... and so glad that we found EasyCare Glue-Ons, which have really extended the range of events in which this great little gelding can excel.

Name: John Haeberle
City: Laramie
State: WY
Country:
Equine Discipline: Endurance
Favorite Boot: Easyboot Glue-On

Sprung from the recent Easycare Webinars are discussions left and right regarding trimming and maintaining the trim, as well as the status of Duncan's bachelorhood (he is a hottie-patottie and could probably find 864 dates in 0.2 seconds given the comments on the webinars). I have heard things such as "Trimming should be left to a professional" and others such as "I want to learn as much as I can about this." Some people want to learn and fully take over the trimming duties, and others want to gain knowledge to know what is going on with their horses' feet, despite not being the main trimmer. Others, like myself, are submerged in Cowboy Country or rural areas and lack competent barefoot professionals. While things are progressing around here, several years ago, there weren't many options in barefoot trimmers unless you wanted the dreaded "pasture trim" from a farrier. 


I started trimming about six years ago, under the guidance of a good friend, who had been doing her own trimming for several years prior. She went through a barefoot trimming course and was truly one of the very first barefoot endurance riders in our area. Although I listened intently, and read/watched all the literature I could find, I didn't truly *GET* it. I was terrified to mess up, scared to really rasp and wouldn't touch nippers or a hoof knife. I don't know when exactly things changed, but once they did, I was hooked. I think it was about the time I purchased a horse with naturally good feet. You see I had been learning to trim on my sweet gelding, who had horrible feet. Not only did he carry a classic case of high/low syndrome, he was borderline clubby on the right front, and eventually was diagnosed with navicular syndrome, backed up by radiographic changes with the navicular bones of both front feet. Not an easy set of feet to work with. Coupled with the dramatic difference in hooves, my gelding was never truly comfortable barefoot, which was not good for my confidence. 

When I started really trimming my big National Show Horse gelding, my confidence grew by leaps and bounds. Not only did he have large, gorgeous feet, he was never footsore and went beautifully barefoot or in boots. Although he was generally a pain in my *$@, his feet taught me so much. Because he has amazing feet, I knew I didn't want to put shoes on him. And as I didn't have many options for barefoot hoof professionals, I had to get in there and do it myself. Luckily I had my friend to check my work, even though the only thing she really told me was that I could take more off. I learned that you really have to be aggressive to cause harm to your horse, and that you can generally always take off more toe!! 


A few things are imperative when trimming or even maintaining your own ponies trim. The number one thing I can think of is having good quality tools. As a fairly small woman, I have to giggle when other girls say they aren't physically strong enough to trim feet. While, yes, it may be more difficult than it would be for a stronger man, it is possible!! Most of the problems stem from an old rasp, a dull knife and a cheap pair of nippers. While I am nowhere near qualified to offer trimming advice, I feel like I can offer insight to technique. As stated above, get good tools! I use my rasps for far too long, and every time I get a new one, I ask everyone in sight, giddy, why I didn't replace this rasp a long time ago? A sharp hoof knife is also a necessity, and I have the scars on my wrists to prove that. My hoof knife has since been prohibited from use, and I am a bit spooked to purchase a sharp one, and have resorted to using my nippers during the "hard hoof season." Nippers are another tool that you will eventually need. My husband gave me a pair of GE Forge 14 inch racetrack nippers which are completely appropriate for my small hands, and my ponies hoof growth, as I never let a month go by without doing some trimming. 


Aside from some gloves, those are really the necessities for trimming your own pony. Of course there are some luxuries that really make things easier. Now I don't own a Hoof Jack, but sure wish I did! I got to use my friend's Hoof Jack the other day and realized how much easier it made things! Dang!! I *really* need one of those! The other optional tools include a dremel, which you can use to maintain the bars, and an angle grinder, which takes the back-break out of rasping. I haven't purchased any power tools for trimming as I only trim three head and am constantly keeping up on their feet so an overhaul is rarely needed. 

Right now our horses feet are rock hard from living in the arid desert. I have found that the best time to trim my mare is right after pulling her glued-on boots, or after a rare summer rain.


Regarding trimming after pulling off boots, of course if you wait longer than an hour or so, her feet are as hard as they would have been if she hadn't had boots glued on! This time I waited a few days after pulling her boots from the Pink Flamingo Classic due to time constraints. I was surprised to find her exfoliating her sole, again! My youngster (who has never been booted) was ALSO exfoliating again, so it was not due to having boots glued on for five days. 


Happy Trimming!
~ Amanda Washington
SW Idaho

You've always wanted to learn more about hooves and hoof health. You may have toyed with the idea of becoming a hoof care provider, or maybe you just want to trim your own horses. Whatever your interest level in natural hoof care, Equine Soundness may have just the program for you.

The course for horse owners offers the same instruction that their professional students receive: detailed internet-based lectures, online and phone support, and two full days of private trim instruction to teach you how to trim your own horse.
  
Contact them at this link for all of the info to see if this is the program for you.

Your EasyCare hoof boots will fit better if you gain the knowledge and have the desire to learn maintenance trimming.

We carry hoof rasps, the ever popular HoofJack, hand gloves and Pete Ramey DVD's to help you take this venture even further.

Do you need help fitting your horse with boots?

If you reside in or near Tucson, Arizona where EasyCare headquarters is located, or you are here visiting, give us a call at (520) 297-1900 or (800) 447-8836, we will be glad to schedule you for a free boot fiiting.

We have an area just outside our office building set up with a portable pen and plenty of room for your horse trailer. We will measure and fit the boot of your choice such as the Easyboot Bare or Glove, our latest and greatest new boot! We will also give you the opportunity to install/remove the boots on your own if you choose. 
  

Customer Service is here to help you with the correct fit and boot style for your horse. Be sure to arrive with a fresh barefoot trim in order to provide you with the best possible fit.  

If you have old boots to trade this would be a great opportunity to  take advantage of our hoof boot upgrade program, maybe purchase a new hoof jack as well!
 
Come on in, we would love to meet you and your equine partner.

We've all seen it: the horse with sensitive sole, the tender footed horse that gives, sometimes almost collapses when stepping on a rock. There can be a variety of causes for sensitive soles.

- Excess moisture in the hoof. An average hoof sole should have about a 33% moisture content. With lots of rain and on soft or wet ground this percentage can increase substantially, which then softens the sole and increases sensitivity.
- Knife-happy trimming. Excess paring of the sole beyond removing flaky dead sole can increase sole sensitivity.
- Dropped soles and flat soles. Soles with little concavity will be more sensitive to rocks.
- Bruised soles are sensitive. Horses exposed to too many rocks without proper toughening of the soles.
- Genetic. Often flat soles and thin soles are inherited. Examine the hooves of dam and sire before breeding.

Be that as it may, there are steps we can take to mitigate tender soles.

- Keep the horse in dry corrals with sand or small pebbles.
- Apply daily iodine or turpentine solutions to the soles.
- Pack the soles with Venice Turpentine or Hoof Sole Pack, then glue the boots on.
- Follow the steps for transitioning to barefoot as outlined in the blogs of Kevin Myers, "Bootlegging".


This horse had sheared the bars off. He was extremely sensitive, the sole was very thin.

I applied a layer of Sole Pack and glued a Glue-On EasyCare boot. He was immediately more comfortable.


At last week's Strawberry Fields endurance event we all encountered a lot of rocks. In spite of having Glue-on boots and Easyboot Gloves on all our horses, after the first day, one of the horses with already sensitive soles was really sore when stepping on rocks. The horse was otherwise sound and in good shape. What to do?

We wanted to start the horse, but had to come up with a solution. That's when the Bootmeister put on his creative hat and started thinking. What if we double boot this horse, would that work? With nothing to lose, I gave it a try.

First, I rasped off the front of the existing glue-on boot and beveled the bottom edges around the existing boot.


With the help of a Hoof Jack, I took the dorsal wall of the existing boot all the way down to the hoof wall. The sandals are not mine, in case you are wondering whether I work with sandals around horses. Another rider was watching my work.


I then selected a pair of Glue-on boots one full size bigger than the old one, the horse had a #1, I selected a #2. A #2.5 would have worked even better. After cutting the walls of the new glue ons flush with the bottom, I fitted it so both boots were even in the heels.


After roughening up the existing boots outer layer and cleaning it with a wire brush, I applied Vettec Adhere to the second pair of boots inside walls and glued them on.


The heels of both boots are flush: this is really important for heel support. The second pair of boot should not be shorter than the original one, it could be a bit longer for better heel support. This photo was taken after the 50 mile ride.

Before the second boot was applied, the horse was very tender on the pre ride trot out. We could not have started her. With the double boot system, she traveled comfortably over the whole 50 miles, part of which was a 12 mile gravel downhill road and lots of rocks over the climb and descent to over 10,000 ft. The horse finished 2nd, never missed a beat and showed sound for the BC judging.

This is not an ideal situation, the horse is elevated in front by about an inch, but it can save the bacon if needed. Another trick up your sleeve. One Glue on boot weighs half as much as a steel shoe. So with two glue ons, the horse still only carries the same weight as with a steel shoe. Not bad at all.

With all the different EasyCare boots available, we can really solve problems when we put our heads together. Let's face it, there is nothing out there on the hoof protection market worldwide, that comes even close to the wide variety of boots and hoof protection products made available to the riders by EasyCare, Inc. A big Thanks to Garrett Ford and all the EasyCare staff for providing so much education and such great products for horse and rider in all equestrian disciplines.

Success through Learning, that motto was proven true again last week.

As a parting shot, Double Zell at 10,300 ft on day 3 of Strawberry ride. Double Zell won on day two and three, back to back, wearing the same Glue-on Boots. He was not foot sore.


For more detail on the results of the 2010 Strawberry Fields four-day endurance event day ride, visit our blog at www.globalendurance.com.

So long,

Your Bootmeister

I spoke with a lady on the phone today that had pulled the shoes off of her horse a week ago.  She said that when she rode him last weekend, he was sore and now she was looking for hoof boots. I was more than happy to put her guy in Easyboot Gloves! Easy for her, very easy going for him.

Well, what is transition? Transition is the time period after you pull the shoes off of your horse until he is sound enough to walk on gravel. This rehabilitation period of several months to a year, depends on the internal damage to your horse's foot and how you provide natural hoof care. Increased blood flow starts to rebuild internal structures that were damaged by the shoes. Until the rebuilding is complete, many horses can be sore and will need hoof boots to ride in different types of environments. Hoof pads will also help your horse immensely during the transition period.
   
Transition is the reason why so many horse owners have said that their horse can't go barefoot. It can be an inconvenience for the owner and some of us just don't have the patience. However, once you understand that horseshoes really do weaken the hooves and (I know it's hard to admit) that we thought we were doing the right thing by keeping our horses shod and instead we've caused damage to our beloved friend's feet, you can sit back and go through the transition time period. And you can do mny things to make your horse more comfortable and rideable while he grows out his new and improved hooves. You, the owner and his friend, made the decision that barefoot is better. Now is the time to exercise patience and trust that your horse will heal. And he will - better than you can even imagine.

The transition period is over when the sole regains concavitiy, which means that the white line has tightened up completely. In general, it takes about a year of good natural hoof care before the hoof returns to complete soundness. The issue during this time period is about your horse and good natural hoof trimming and natural hoof care to rehabilitate his feet. Not about the ride that you wanted to go on (pout).

Most barefoot horses become barefoot rideable within a few weeks of pulling their shoes, given their conditions and natural hoof care. Some are rideable immediately.  A non-evasive natural wild horse trim every week or so will help. Read, read, read! Act like a sponge and soak up every article about barefoot and wild horse trimming. Got a rasp? Got a Hoof Jack? Get familiar with barefoot trimming and do it yourself!

Mustangs are often referred to as wild horses, but since all free roaming horses now in the Americas descended from horses that were once domesticated, the correct term is "feral horse." The English word "Mustang" comes from the Mexican word "mesteno" which means "stray livestock animal." The first Mustangs were of Andulusian and Arab history and were brought to Mexico and Florida. Some of these horses escaped or were stolen and rapidly spread through western North America. For the purpose of this article, we will refer to either "wild horse" or "Mustang."

Wild horse feet are a product of a combination of genetics and lots of use over hard terrain as young horses mature and their feet develop. The end result is usually a very durable and easy to maintain foot.

As the Mustang adopter, you may find it difficult to find a farrier to trim your horse. On the other hand, you might find a farrier who doesn't have a clue as to barefoot trimming, natural hoofcare or how a Mustang should be trimmed. Fortunately, most wild horse feet don't require experts to maintain them and increasing numbers of adopters are doing their own trimming.

Most Mustang feet are very hard. You need good quality tools in order to cut through them. You will need high quality professional grade nippers, a hoof knife and a rasp. The cheaper nippers will be a struggle to use. You will need a small round file in order to keep your hoof knife sharp. Break the pointed tails off the rasp and either get a bulb or wrap the ends with vet wrap to avoid accidentally poking the horse in the belly. A set of leather chinks with a hoof knife pocket will also make the job easier and protect your pants from the rasp and the nippers. In addition, you can use EasyCare nitrile tough gloves to protect your hands.

You will likely need to use two hands on the nippers and we have found it very useful to have the EasyCare Hoof Jack. The EasyCare Hoof Jack consists of a standard base with 2 magnets, one standard cradle and one straight post with rubber cap. Along with the Hoof Jack, use the EasyCare Hoof Pick, which is magnetic and will stick to your hoof jack for convenience and are super strong.

Mustangs walk on the soles of their feet, not their hoof walls. If you had long fingernails, it would be very uncomfortable for you to hold yourself up on the tips of your fingers when on "all fours." Your fingernails are designed to protect the ends of your fingers, not bear weight. The same goes for the Mustang's feet. He needs to bear weight on his sole.

Mustangs need a short forward toe length and beveled edges. Natural wild feet resemble what's known as a "four point trim." They have rather blunt toes and primarily bear weight on the four quarters of the hoof. You need to be careful about not geting too much horizontal toe length when trimming Mustangs, particulaly in the front feet.

In the domestic environment, the Mustang will not wear down his hoof walls nearly to the extent that he would in the wild. For that reason, you need to bevel, or round off the bottoms of the hoof walls so that they will wear appropriately. Beveling also reduces cracking and chipping. Naturally, the degree of beveling would vary accoring to the use of the horse. If the Mustang is used in rough country, we might want to leave a little more hoof material on the ground. 

Mustangs need a balanced "touch down." How your Mustang's foot strikes the ground will tell you what you need to do to finish your trim. At a brisk walk, the foot should strike down just slightly heel first and be even on the medial-lateral axis. If he touches down slightly toe first, his toe needs to be taken back a bit more. If his foot rocks to the inside or outside when he touches down, the edge that touches ground first should be trimmed off just a little more. When the hoof glides onto the ground evenly with the heel kissing the ground first, then you know you have it right.

If your Mustang's feet are trimmed so that he supports himself by his sole, his hoof walls are beveled and his feet strike the ground evenly and slightly heel first, you will have feet that will generally maintain themselves well and you will have a horse that is likely to preserve his native balance and surefootedness.

After last year's successful hoof care clinic in Oreana, Idaho, The Bootmeister will conduct another educational seminar at the Fandango Pioneer ride in southwest Idaho.


Christoph will teach his hoof care clinic on Thursday, May 27th from 1 pm untill 4 pm. He will introduce new techniques on barefoot trimming, show you the newest research and developments on the hoof protection market and will demonstrate how to glue on EasyCare boots as well as how to use the Easyboot Gloves with ease. Christoph Schork