And I’m not talking about the sparring gloves – I’m talking about the Easyboot Glove! Although, it may feel like we (CSR’s) are sparring with you when you try to order the Glove, what we are actually trying to do is get the very best fit for your horse. Here is the way some of our conversations go with customers ordering the Glove:

“Good Morning, this is Dee, how may I help you?”

“Hello, I’d like to order the Easyboot Glove and I need it for a ride this weekend. It’s only Monday,so we can do that, right?”

So, I ask for her horse’s measurements and she gives them to me . . . in inches. I explain that to measure for the Glove, the measurements have to be done in millimeters, that there is no conversion chart that will accurately convert inches to millimeters. And the measurements have to be in millimeters because the Glove is such a precise fit. (Unlike our other boots, there is no hardware on the Glove to adjust when the measurements are not exact.)

When she calls back on Wednesday (she didn’t have time to get to the barn on Tuesday) (I’m from Arizona, what’s a barn?), we find that the width and length are a size apart and I suggest to her to order a Fit Kit. Realizing that this pretty much ensures that she will not have the Gloves for the weekend ride, she is now very unhappy.

We don’t want unhappy customers; however, we do want you to have the best fitting boot for your horse. If it’s the Glove, that’s great, but there are times that the Glove just doesn’t fit a horse. If your horse’s width is four sizes away from the length on the size chart, you should probably start investigating one of our other boots. And, when planning to order the Glove, please give yourself adequate time before a big ride.  Measure your horse’s freshly trimmed hooves in millimeters, order your Fit Kit (which we send to you through Priority Mail, usually taking 3 days) and when you order the Glove, for standard shipping, plan on three to six days depending on where you live from Tucson, Arizona.

And then there was the time my customer did everything correctly. She gave herself plenty of time when ordering, she measured her horse in millimeters, she ordered the Fit Kit and sized her Gloves accordingly. The first time out, she ripped the gaiter. I asked her to send me a picture of her horse’s hoof in the Glove. As you can see, this horse wasn’t a good candidate for the Glove. (I wish that CSR’s could see through these headsets!)

If you talk to me when you are ordering the Glove, I’m going to tell you that you also need Power Straps These little straps snug up the Glove so that you don’t have the tremendous torque on the gaiter when you are at a flat-out gallop straight up the side of a mountain. They help keep the Glove on when you are going through knee-high mud. They are well worth the small investment.

If you tell me that you do long distance riding or endurance, I’m going to tell you to get a couple rolls of Mueller’s Athletic Tape. One of our CSR’s, Shari, wrote the best blog on how to wrap the hoof with Mueller’s and you can find it on our Customer Service Blog about three or four pages in.

By the way, you should read the blogs every day because they are a wealth of information for all aspects of natural horse care like secrets to rasping, barefoot trimming, transitioning from shod to barefoot, natural hoof care, nutrition and of course, protective horse boots!

When I said, “The Gloves Are On” it was a little play on words; however, please remember that is the CSR’s job is to give you the best fitting, most durable boot on the market and to give you the best customer service that you have ever had in your whole life.  We all really love our jobs at EasyCare because we are doing what we love to do = we talk about horses all day long and we talk to people who love their horses.

Dee Hoime

easycare-customer-service-dee-hoime