Submitted by Tennessee Mahoney, Team Easyboot 2011 Member

This past weekend, Sean and I headed to Pingree Park and 12 miles up and back the steep and rocky Flowers Trail to find the old B52 Bomber that crashed up there during WWII.  My husband, Sean, a pleasure rider by nature, rode his 17 hand Quarab gelding “Rocky Top,” dawning his 60lb saddle with a 30 pack of Coors Light distributed evenly on each side in his saddle bags.  It was their first adventure in the new Easyboot Trails.  Being the endurance rider that I am, I had “Gloves” on my horse’s feet, who had already put about 20 training miles on that week.

Sean was skeptical about the Trails, when his size 4s arrived, he said they were just too clunky-looking to be any good.  Sean is very familiar with high performance booting and has seen a lot of boot blowouts, having crewed for me in endurance for years, I tend to push boots to the max.  But Sean and Rocky go on more relaxed rides, they still do all the crazy, technical, challenging terrain that our rough home states (Colorado and New Mexico) present, but they cover the ground a bit slower (don’t want to shake up the beer,) and they cover a little less of it (don’t want to end up with warm beer.)  Nonetheless, we always end up trotting several miles and cantering a few too, one can’t resist.

The Trails were ridiculously easy to put on, making Sean even more skeptical, especially since I had slacked off on Rocky’s trimming schedule, and he was overdue for a trim.  I was so relieved that I didn’t have to throw my back out doing a last minute trim, the boots went right on and we could get on with our ride. 

The weather was perfect, classic Colorado; lush creek bottoms lined by aspen and climbing into lodgepole pine and craggy snow-capped peaks.  The trail was steep, all crushed granite, with some boggy crossings thanks to the cattle.  On the way back, in classic Colorado fashion, the wind suddenly picked up, the temperature dropped 10 degrees, and a rumbling black cloud came over the peak headed straight for us.  So we headed back at an ambitious pace, especially considering the terrain. 

I was proud of Rocky and Sean, he kept right up with the now-endurance-style-pace I was setting, I wasn’t stoked about the idea of getting pelted by hail in my tank top.  But as the saying goes here, “if you don’t like the weather, wait 5 minutes!”  After a couple miles of trail blasting to escape the cloud of doom, it turned east, and we were back to a relaxed walk, swatting mosquitoes and soaking up the sun, the beer wasn’t harmed.

Mountain

We were both very impressed by the Trails, they worked perfectly, weren’t clunky at all.  Did everything they were supposed to do and, even though we hadn’t used them before and we did a tough 12 miler, Rocky didn’t have any rubs.  He cruised right along in them like they were Gloves, but even better because they slipped right on a due-to-be-trimmed-hoof.  That alone makes these boots a perfect match for a pleasure rider; just get out and ride!

Beer

Sean loved them and said he would be using them during hunting season and on the upcoming “guys ride.”  I am sold on the new product, and I’m going to buy Easyboot Trails for my parents’ horses asap.

Thank you EasyCare for creating such an “Easy” boot for pleasure riders, I highly recommend them!