Submitted by Sue Basham, Team Easyboot 2015 Member
Every January I am out of town for three weeks of work. During this time my horses get to experience Wyoming winter as “wild horses.” They are turned out to fend for themselves, with plenty of grass hay, but no TLC. My neighbors check on them and my husband watches over them when he is home. Every year a bad storm blows in and they get to hunker down and contemplate how much better life is when they can go in the barn. Never-the-less they always survive and forgive me.
This year I returned to find my chestnut Arab mare, Tayyara, walking cautiously and uncharacteristically avoiding the other mares. It was apparent that her feet hurt. Was this a symptom of bruising due to the hard frozen ground? Had she gotten into the feed room and helped herself? Did the bad weather limit her exercise yet increase her “healthy” appetite? Its hard to know what’s happened when you’ve been gone so long. After bringing her in the barn I noticed her already robust figure was heavier than when I left and her neck seemed a bit cresty as well. My diagnosis was a touch of laminitis coupled with hard winter footing.
My first thought was to get her in some Easyboot Gloves with Comfort Pads to give her some cushioned relief. I dug around in my supplies and came up with one size too big Gloves and some original soft 6mm pads. Wearing the padded Gloves she moved better but still tentatively. Barefoot at night in her well bedded stall and Gloves during the day during turnout seemed to be helping. We followed this routine for four days while waiting on her new Cloud boots to arrive.
Admittedly, this winter Tayyara’s hooves had gotten a little flared so I went to work on trimming them. I was a bit more aggressive than usual as I knew she would have the Cloud boots to protect her hooves. She sure gave them the once over as if to say “what are these new boots on my feet?”
I led her outside into the decomposed granite paddock she shares with the other mares and turned her loose. The Cloud literature says they are good for light turnout so I felt comfortable just letting her go. Wow! She took a few walking steps then exploded into a big rollicking trot complete with some snorts and bucks for good measure!
Look at that stride! She just threw that hoof out there and the boots stayed perfectly in place.
Her feet must feel so much better in the Clouds. I’m very grateful to EasyCare for making this amazing therapy boot. Increasing her comfort level will in turn increase her movement which we all know is important to horses. Makes me happy to see Tayyara feeling so good and moving like her old self again! Hopefully in a few weeks her hooves will be back to normal and she can go out barefoot again but in the meantime, the Clouds are giving her the protection and comfort she needs.
