Submitted by TeamEasyboot member Stacey Maloney
The WildTimber CTR is an annual event held in the foothills of Alberta’s Rocky Mountains in Western Canada. The terrain is challenging and technical with lots of hills, root and rock double track, footing changes from grass to gravel and everything in between. I had prepared by conditioning my horses three to four times a week over similar terrain and lots on the gravel roads close to home as well. I had entered two of my horses: Marina to ride the Novice division on the Saturday and KC to ride the intermediate division on the Sunday.
As mentioned in a previous post, all my conditioning miles are done in our Easyboot Epics. They have been my go-to boot for years and these boots have seen many many miles.
Before the ride I was super excited to finally be able to try out the new EasyShoe Performance. I enlisted the help of our local expert barefoot/glue guru and hauled Marina up to his place one week prior to the ride. Using the EasyShoe Bond glue, we applied the EasyShoe Performance with relative ease and we were sent on our way. I was excited to watch and learn how this is done and left feeling confident I could apply them on my own next time around.
Ride day with Marina in her Easyshoes went off without a hitch. The shoes gripped, flexed, provided excellent protection over the varied terrain and helped us achieve an excellent score of 296/300 and place second in our division.
Post ride, Marina’s EasyShoes looked great and it was obvious they had many many more miles in them. The EasyShoes are a product I am excited about and I’m already planning my ride season for next year with them incorporated.
Sunday was day two of the WildTimber CTR and I saddled up KC and put on his trusty Easyboot Epics of his. The Intermediate class is paced faster than the Novice but KC had no issues keeping up as he roared up the gravel, over the hills and down the old logging roads.
The Epics performed the same as they always do for us – flawlessly. They stayed put and provided traction and protection. KC moves great in his Epics and we had lots of compliments and questions about them. The gal in front of me kept looking behind all day to see if I was still there because we were so silent she said, no traditional shoes banging on the rocks. We indeed were always right there, keeping time with the best of them and finishing with a score equal to the day before even though the pace was faster. We earned 3rd place in our division!
It is safe to say this Team Easyboot member had an awesome weekend.
