Written by EasyCare Customer, Beth R. Lajza Equine Services and Hoof Trimming
I was grateful to receive a pair of EasyShoe 3Ds in the mail from EasyCare and anxious to try them out! I applied the EasyShoe 3D to my Quarter Horse mare, Beretta. We had a barrel race Friday night, so I was a bit nervous about making the change so soon before, but figured I’d go for it.
I had already pulled the Versa Grip Octo off of her, which had been on 5 1/2 weeks, and trimmed her. She did great in them and her feet looked excellent! They grew a lot and looked much better than when I used nail-on aluminums.
The Versa Grip Octo was great on all terrain – mud, grass, and the road. The EasyShoe 3D is more of a typical rim shoe with space to ‘cup’ the dirt which is what keeps a horse standing up around a barrel. Although it has appropriate traction, I added studs for peace of mind as I anticipated the arena to be wet after we had a week of rain.
The rain had caused muddy conditions, so my first step was getting the horses into the barn and getting Beretta’s hooves clean and dry. My barn is like a big run-in shed. My horses get tied twice a day for feeding and they are used to standing tied a bit. It’s important to have your horse used to a relaxing routine when you plan on working on feet or having your farrier out. They need to be in a relaxed, quiet situation, with clean and dry hooves.
I’ve been glueing and nailing on shoes for over 10 years and the Super Glue is by far the simplest, least stressful application I’ve ever tried. This was the 3rd set I’ve done and I still can’t get over what a miracle it is. The cost of the glue is minimal and no mixing tips needed.
Hoof prep takes the most time and is key to success- there are so many great application videos on EasyCare’s social media. I don’t have a Hoof Buffy attachment, so it takes me a little bit longer, but the rasp, sanding block, and wire hoof brush get the job done. It’s particularly important to use the torch and sand 3 times – you can feel it when the foot is dry enough and ready for glue. After the prep, the glueing part is simple and no stress! Just steadily get the glue where it needs to go, plastic wrap to hold the tabs flush, and 10 minutes later, it’s all set. Lastly, add more glue to the hoof wall to seal it.
That night, we got to the barrel race early enough to warm up in the arena for 10 minutes and continued to warm up on a grassy hill afterwards. This was our first run of the season. Last season, we got pretty solid on the pattern, now we are trying to add more speed. We ran in, the ground felt great, no hesitation or slip at all!!! That was our best run yet – and we ended up 6th in the 3rd division out of 80 people! I am extremely happy with her and with the performance of the EasyShoe 3D!
This feels like such a huge deal because it’s been over 10 years I’ve been working on finding the ultimate horse shoe. When the EasyShoes first came out, I put many miles on my Arabian mare with the Versa and Flex, many 10 mile hunter paces and lots of trails. Years later, we did the Versa Grip Glue and those were excellent. This Super Glue method is amazing and unbelievably affordable. This is very exciting technology and I’m happy to take part in a better way for the future of shoeing horses! I will continue to use the Versa Grip Octo and EasyShoe 3D on all of my horses!
