Submitted by Sally Tarbet, Team Easyboot 2016 Member
Last year we sold the ranch and moved the horses off 160 acres of dry rolling hills to 5 acres of green, irrigated pasture. Two of my four horses had never been on green pasture before and one had never even seen green pasture before so hoof maintenance has been different. I have come to rely on Easyboot Gloves even more for riding.
DA Desert Hawk, my Arabian, was born on 860 acres of dry rolling hills. He ran with a band of mares until they finally rounded up the mares and brought them into the barn when he was three months old. He should have the best hooves of all my horses. Nope, he has been the tender foot of the herd and requires hoof protection while riding. Hawk loves his Easyboot Gloves.
So this Spring I decided to glue on the EasyShoe Sport, without frog support, so I could get to Hawk’s frogs and central sulcus to treat them for thrush; plus give him some 24 hour sole relief/protection until the weather changes and the mud dries. Last night at about 4:30pm I decided I needed to get this done, so I drug out my box of supplies and neatly lined up my Adhere, tips, EasyShoe Sports, an old towel (of course I can’t find a roll of paper towels anywhere, better put that on my shopping list…), disposable gloves, my new Hoof Buffy, hoof pick/brush, rasp, Hoof Jack, and nippers.
The aftermath of my tools spread all over.
I had just trimmed Hawk a couple days ago so I didn’t need to do much but freshen up his trim, check his bars, check/trim/treat his rotten frog, and clean the gluing surface.
Parker, my Shetland Sheepdog, supervising my work.
The EasyShoe Sports went on really easily, though the gluing job isn’t as pretty as Christoph’s. This was my first attempt at gluing on Sports, although I have glued on tons of Glue-Ons and can do those in my sleep now. And, it helps to have a helper available to hand you the Adhere gun that is just five inches from your finger tips. Do you put the hoof down or lay on your side while holding up the hoof to grab the glue gun with your foot? Safety first. HA! Of course I didn’t put the hoof down, it was prepped and ready to glue! LOL
Taaadaaa! Hey, that was really easy!
Helpful Hints
- Enlist a helper to entertain your goofy gelding while gluing.
- Enlist that helper to pour you a glass of wine if you get stressed out thinking you can’t glue these on yourself, it’s really easier than you think…(refer to #1).
- Enlist a helper to hand your Adhere when it’s five inches from your reach.
- Make sure you have plenty of disposable gloves and lots of paper towels handy if you are as messy as I am.
- Ask your husband to drag your heavy rubber mats to the tie post so you aren’t working on soggy ground. (I can see a Easyboot Zip boot will be in my future.)
- Have some hay entertainment/reward for your goofy gelding ready so he will stand quietly to let the glue set soundly.
- Wipe up your purged Adhere before your 4-legged assistant steps in a glob.
Whoops, Parker stepped my purged Adhere glob.
Thank you EasyCare for all your great hoof protection solutions!
