Tevis has come and gone. As in years past, EasyCare provided a free service and applied Easyboot Glue-Ons to the hooves of over 30 Tevis horses during the prior week. EasyCare staff and Team Easyboot 2013 members provided the actual work in Auburn at the fairgrounds and at Robie Park. None of the riders who took advantage of this free program lost any boots during the race. Not only that, four of the riders for whom EasyCare glued boots on, finished in the top 10. That does not include the Team Easyboot and staff members who also finished in the top 10.

Kevin Myers getting ready to apply Adhere to a boot at Robie Park.

The key to success with Glue-Ons is preparation; I believe the thorough preparation of the hooves and boots is essential. The boots were never touched by any bare hands, thus stayed totally clean and uncontaminated. The hooves were thoroughly cleaned, brushed and roughed with the rasp. If necessary, we used denatured alcohol to clean off any dust and dirt from the hoof walls. Because we operated on natural ground without the benefit of a clean surface like concrete or pavement, after each hoof preparation, we protected the clean hoof with an Easyboot Trail to keep it dust free untill we had glue applied inside the boot.

The Easyboot Trail is very suitable to protect your clean hoof from the elements before you apply Easyboot Glue-Ons. We used one mixing tip per hoof, instead of gluing four or more boots with one application tip, like we can do under other circumstances. Also, we only used recently manufactured Vettec glues. In my previous blog from June, The Last Two Percent, I shared some more little tricks to help you achieve 100% success. Tevis 2013 saw a high success rate among the booted horses. Kevin Myers will provide hard and fast numbers in his next blog and I’m very much looking forward to it.

Booting is an essential element in your preparation for Tevis but it is not everything. While I was critical of myself after last years Tevis, for not being totally prepared and, furthermore, not being  prepared early enough, I took my own criticism to heart and took meticulous efforts to get all Global Endurance Center’s four horses ready for this years Tevis. Last year I wrote The 8th and 9th Steps to Succeed at Tevis, where I elaborated on my feelings and observations from last year’s Tevis.

This year’s preparation did pay off. Not only did we not loose any boots during the event, but all four GETC horses finished top 20, sporting red Easyboot Glue-Ons in front and blue ones in the back. Does color make a difference? Only if you believe so.

Stars Aflame and Rose Ross from Australia climbing easily up Cougar Rock. They finished in 11th place.

GETC horses after Tevis on Sunday.

Be critical of yourself, evaluate, learn and listen and most of all, be prepared! Then success will follow close behind.

Your Bootmeister

Christoph Schork

Global Endurance Training Center