Horse Boots

[Rod]

Winter is coming and I am thinking about my horses feet on snow and ice. We plan to use them for sleighing and some light wood lot work through the winter but are adverse to shoeing them as they are barefoot and have real nice feet. I have though about studded boots as an option and wonder if anyone here uses them in winter and what thoughts you might have about them. Boots seem like a cost effective long range alternate to winter shoes for occasional uses if they work.

[jen judkins]

A topic near and dear to my heart, Rod.

I’ll bet I’ve triied every boot on the market with my saddle/skijoring horse, Manny. He either hates them and won’t move in them or they are impossible to keep on. We are in love with the Renegade Ice Boots however after a long time looking. http://www.renegadehoofboots.com/ In fact you will see Manny’s flying legs on the home page in his bright orange pair of ice boots…quite the fashion statement. 😎

The only drawback I see is that the Renegades are sort of new and have limited sizes. I doubt they have a standard size that would fit a draft yet. The people who make them are really nice though and I’ll bet would be up to a custom order if you asked.

Otherwise you might need to stay with easyboot epics and put studs in them, which is pretty simple to do.

What size feet are we talking here? Jennifer.

[Rod]

Hi Jen

When you say put studs I assume you cannnot buy them with studs which is fine, how is it done and did you like the easyboot epics?

[jen judkins]

Rod, I’ve tried all the easyboots and the epics are the best as far as fit and keeping them on. They won’t stay on reliably at a canter or gallop, but I assume that won’t be necessary pulling a sled.

You can buy studs from easycare, but you still need to drill holes in the shoe to fit them. They might pre-stud them for you now, but I always just bought the studs (glorified screw and nut) and drilled the holes myself. Jennifer.

[Rod]

I ended up buying one pair of Old Mac boots to try and because of the size of my horses feet. They are wider than long and the Easycare site recommended these boots for that hoof shape. They go on and off real easy and I think my horses like them. One of them after I put the boot on one foot and before I could even get up to walk around to the other side lifted and waved his empty foot at me like “how about this one too”. They walked ok in them after a few stumbles figuring out where their toes were now. I haven’t given them a real good test yet but they seem like they would be hard to knock off the foot.
BTW I found them a lot cheaper on ebay after I bought the pair.

[Rick Alger]

How did the hoof boots work out for you?

[Does’ Leap]

or anyone else who might know, but Jenn seems pretty boot informed. Why would someone choose the easyboot over the old mac, they seem very different in design but I can’t seem to find why one is more suitable than the other in different circumstances.

thanks -Kristan

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