Karen's EasyCare & Endurance Musings

New technology for horse foot wear

ABC News recently did a short story on advances in hoof care including the use of EasyCare hoof boots in place of iron shoes.  Click here to view. 

Updated EasyCare catalog off to the printers

The newest version of the 2008 EasyCare catalog is off to the printers.  It contains a few updates and will be available soon. 

To download a copy in .pdf, click here.

There are lots of products in there ranging from EasyCare hoof boots to items to help with natural hoof care as well as accessories like comfort pads and replacement parts.

There are also lots of great products for the trail horse and rider - everything from EZ ride stirrups to nice comfy sheepskin saddle covers to stowaway saddle packs, gear and a wide range of accessories. 

Don't forget that EasyCare offers a 30 day money back guarantee on new hoof boots - so you can shop with confidence.  Now is a great time to look into natural hoof care and weighing the benefits of keeping your horse barefoot and using boots when they are needed. 

EasyCare Hoof Boot Upgrade Program

To learn more, click here or go to hoofbootupgrades.com

EasyCare is seeking a Graphic Design Specialist

I really hate having to post this because it means that our Jessica is going to be leaving us.  We are really going to miss her and know it'll be extremely difficult to find somebody as talented as she is. 

I'm so sad!  Here is a graphic showing some of the creative work Jessica has done, in addition to putting together our catalogs, brochures and lots of other items.  Anyway....here is the job opening that we will need to fill soon. 

New Equestrian Products - Videos at horsecity.com

Here is a link to some videos from horsecity.com.  These videos are showing new horse products from the WESA show in Denver in January.  Below is the video they made at our EasyCare booth on our new product updates, including the new Easyboot Edge boot. 

New Survey - Easyboots in Colors

Google just introduced a really neat new feature to their Google Docs.  They now will allow you to create surveys and it automatically fills out a spreadsheet for you to see all of the results.  So I'd like to try it out with this question:

Would you like to see Easyboots in colors?

Please answer even if you have done so previously - we'd like to know how much interest there is.  You can see that we did previously have regular Easyboots in red, and they are still very popular and I see them used at every endurance ride I go to. 

A new EasyCare ad

Email server is down

We just changed email servers at work, and it's not working.  If you need to reach me, use my gmail address.  I'm sure they will get it fixed asap, but in the meantime I am not able to receive or send email with my work address.  Sorry for the inconvenience. 

New Symposium added to EasyCare Event Schedule

The EasyCare event schedule has been recently updated and now includes the AANHCP Symposium for the Humane and Natural Care of the Horse. 

It is going to be in Reno, Nevada February 24-26, 2008 at the Nugget. 

This event is now also open to the public and would be a great educational opportunity for those that are interested in the topic of hoof care! Click here for more information.

See you there! 

EasyCare money back guarantee

This is actually old news (over a month old, to be exact).  If you buy an Easyboot (or an Epic, Bare, Grip, Boa, Old Mac, G2, Soaker) -- TODAY -- you can try it out and if your horse absolutely hates it or it doesn't fit, you can send it back for up to 30 days for a full refund.  Seriously. 

My horses are all thinking "you aren't sending MY boots back!"  They all really seem to like their boots.  I know Chief is a dedicated Easyboot fan because one time I tried to use a competitors boot on him, and as soon as he saw me coming towards the barn with them, he immediately whacked his leg and caused it to bleed.  You think I'm making that up, but I'm not - he really did!  And aside from that incident, he has never once done that.  Weird, huh?  ;) 

Getting the booth set up

Several of the EasyCare staff is at Denver, CO this week for a tradeshow - here are a couple of shots of some of the booth as we are getting it set up.  We should be all set to go tomorrow!  We are sure lucking out with the weather here, it's been great!  I can't wait to check out some of the other items here, love looking at horse stuff. 

If you'd like to provide feedback on EasyCare boots, here is how.....

If you are having some issues or problems with your EasyCare hoof boots (that would include the entire Easyboot line: original Easyboots, Epics, Bares, Grips or Custom; Old Mac's original or G2, Boa Horse Boots, or EasySoakers) - fill out this form and submit it.  You can even attach photos.  If the form doesn't work for you, you can email (or call) customer service. 

Another way to participate in providing feedback is to apply for a spot on Team Easyboot.  Applications are here, and more information on what we are looking for can be found here.  We have received close to 100 applications so far and will start the selection process in a couple of weeks. 

New EasyCare hoof boot gaiters, and hoof boot design

I've been really happy with how the current Easyboots have been working on my horses this year, especially at the last few endurance rides I've done.  Tigger just did 50 miles last weekend with four Epics - two with existing gaiters and two with a pair of trial gaiters.  They all did super well, and didn't cause any problems - here is a photo of one of his pasterns that I took after finishing.  No rubbing anywhere, which is great.  The new gaiters were also super easy to get on in the morning, in freezing cold temps -- even on a horse that is not the most cooperative about having his feet handled.  He is getting better and I got all four boots on him fast enough to warm up inside the trailer and avoid getting frozen hands and feet. 
Lots of new stuff is in the works at EasyCare.  Check out the latest on some of the new gaiter designs in Garrett's blog.  Stay tuned for more info on upcoming hoof boot developments.  My horses can hardly wait!   
 

Stagecoach Ride

Looks like Tigger will get to do a 50 on Saturday.  I have to admit that I'm not particularly looking forward to doing this ride.  It's three days/155 miles -- I'm just going to go out and do one of the days.  Fortunately it is a close ride, only about 60 miles from my house.  I think the reasons why I'm not really excited about it (like I am for other rides) is because 1)  I'm not very fond of the trail and riding alongside highway 50 in a 65 mph zone  (been there, done that), and 2) because I'm not going to be riding Chief,  ;)  and 3) because I have been gone a lot and really want to have some time to spend at home for a change. 

I promised Chief that he would get a couple of months off between the ride seasons, after he did 5 days at Grand Canyon.  I like to let the horses have breaks after they have a big ride season, and Chief did do 1370 miles in 2007.  It will be good for Tigger to get to do this ride for conditioning purposes.  He has been really coming along well and I am really happy with how well he has progressed this year.  And, I did get to ride Chief yesterday so it's all good.  We had fun trying out some of the new boots that EasyCare is working on. 

The New Easyboot Name is......

The winner of the contest to name the new boot -- Pete Ramey!  Pete was the only person to suggest the name Easyboot Edge.

It took a lot of time to narrow the names down.  We had nearly 1600 names submitted, in which over 1200 were unique (not duplicated).  We narrowed them down, then voted, narrowed down and voted some more.  Discussed which ones we liked or didn't like, and why.  Then FINALLY late this afternoon we came up with the name of the new boot.  Easyboot Edge!!! 

We will be doing more testing of the new boot and only when we are satisfied that it passes all of our tests will it be released to the public.  I am already confident that this boot will be better than any other boot on the market.  It's going to be a really nice boot! 

Applications are still being accepted for Team Easyboot, for those that are interested in helping out with the testing process. 

EasyCare Press Releases

The latest EasyCare press release is about Team Easyboot.  Check it out.

For those of you into contests - check out Garrett's blog in the next couple of days for your chance to win a pair of Easyboots. 

EasyCare Video Contest

We are going to announce the winners soon of the 2007 EasyCare Summer Video Contest.  There will be ten winners.  Which videos do you like best?  You can view all of the submissions here. 

Congratulations Garrett and Cyclone - BC on Day 3 of Bryce!

Here are photos of Garrett with Spyder at the Bryce Canyon XP this last week.  On the day after these photos were taken Garrett finished in 8th place with Cyclone and received the Best Condition Award!  Way  to go, Congratulations!  Cyclone is barefoot and used Easyboot Epics, and Spyder is also barefoot and used regular Easyboots. 

I'm working on putting up an album right now of photos from the ride.  It is taking awhile because there are over 500 even though I deleted at least that many.  I'll post the link as soon as the upload is complete. 

Bryce Photo Shoot Photos

Here are a few photos that Jessica took during our photo shoot before the XP ride started.  She did a great job!   Thanks to everybody that volunteered their time and put out so much effort to help with this.   We got quite a bit of variety as you can see.  The scenery here is truly spectacular.  The Bryce XP ride is definitely one of the best.   

EasyCare Press Releases

The EasyCare website is kept current with the press releases I send out.  I try not to do more than two a month.  Sometimes it's hard to narrow it down to the two topics that are the most newsworthy.  The most recent PR was about our new German distributor. 

Name the new EasyCare Boot update

Here is a list of names submitted so far.  It's close to 1200.  When you see duplicates it is because more than one person submitted that name.  You can submit more name ideas to us at this email address.  We'll keep accepting entries until September 15, 2007.  The first person to submit the name that we choose will win a year supply of the new hoof boots!  The new boot is shaping up to be very promising but will be kept top secret until all necessary paperwork has been completed as well as passing through a very thorough testing process.  I want this boot to hold up to extreme conditions and be an improvement over the current EasyCare line of boots, which is asking a lot. 

Book List, EasyCare stuff

I just updated a couple of the newest books to my book list -it's in the right hand column of this blog.  I read about half the books and listen (audio books) to the other half when I am traveling.  I haven't been adding some of the ones I've read recently that were chores to get through though.  Most of the time I get through at least two books a week, more when I am doing a lot of driving.  I get many of the audiobooks from my library, download them to my laptop and then over to my Zen for listening. 

Speaking of traveling, I just spent several days last week in Tucson at EasyCare headquarters.  We've got a lot of work ahead of us with new product launches planned for 2008.  Next week I'm leaving for the Bryce Canyon XP ride where I hope to ride all 5 days on Chief and Tigger, and where we'll also be doing one of our annual photo shoots, for the upcoming 2008 catalog and other graphics needs. 

Need Easyboot Parts - Cables, Buckles, Heelstraps?

During the month of August, EasyCare will be offering a two for one special on Easyboot parts. Limit of four free items of equal or lesser value per customer (one free for each item purchased). Website orders only.  Simply place your order online (Aug 1-31st) for each part you need and your order total will be adjusted so that you will be charged the correct amount. 

Parts included are for the Easyboot and include standard buckles, cables, and heelstraps.

Parts included are: SB-CABLE/05, SB-CABLE, SB-CONLY/05, SB-CONLY, SB-STRAP, SB-STRAP/05, SB-CLEATCOV, SB-BUCKLEPIN and SB-SCREWSET

This is a great deal if you have an Easyboot, or even an Epic that needs a new part.  The cast buckles are now made out of an even stronger metal so are not likely to break.  Check out this video. 

EasyCare Event Schedule

As you can see, EasyCare has a fairly busy event schedule with various events.  We've got tradeshows, hoof care clinics and endurance rides coming up.

While I am in Australia in November for Equitana, I'm going to be attending some endurance rides (and riding!).  I'm most excited about the opportunity to do a 160 km ride in Victoria that will be on the same trail as the 2008 Quilty.  :)  Since it's a FEI only ride I've got a lot of paperwork to do with the USEF. 

Dave beats easyboot buckle with hammer. Result: Buckle 1, Dave 0.

Dave Rabe submitted this video for the EasyCare Video Contest.  He took a boot that had done a 155 mile endurance ride and beat the buckle with a hammer, trying to break the buckle.  If you'd like to submit a video for the contest (you could win some cool prizes) click here, there is more than a month left! Here is the result of Dave's battle with the boot buckle....

EasyCare Weekly Special

This is a really great deal.  If you like Comfort Pads, that is.  ;) 

Hoof Boots in Action Photo Album & How to get your own photo in the 2008 EasyCare Calendar

We've received many great photos since this album was put together, so while it is a little outdated it still shows how many different ways equestrians are using their EasyCare hoof boots. 

We're currently collecting photos to choose from for the 2008 EasyCare Calendar.  We don't pay for these photos, or give anything away to those that we do choose (except for maybe a few extra copies of the calendar), but still -- it's pretty cool to get your photo published in a calendar! 

If you've got a good high quality photo that you'd like to submit for consideration, please click here for details on exactly how to do that.  We'd love to get a variety of users from all over the world.  Last year we had a few photos from riders in Australia, South Africa and mainly the United States featuring draft horses, driving horses, endurance and trail/pleasure horses.  We'd love to show a greater variety but need to get photos that are good enough quality.

Hoof Boot Commentary Straight From The Horse's Mouth

In case anybody thinks we only thoroughly test our own hoof boots -- Click here for the latest on EasyCare hoof boot R&D!

Weekly EasyCare Special

WEEKLY SPECIAL

July 8-14, 2007.  To celebrate the 53rd annual Tevis Cup 100 Mile Endurance ride the next 53 website orders over $53 will receive a FREE EasyCare Gear Bag!

These bags are really nice, I love them for keeping my boots organized, and also for storing horse blankets in.  They can also be handy on rides where you have multiple out vet-checks and need to send a few things separately. 

 

Easyboot Bares on the Rocks - Video Contest Submission

This is a great video submitted for the EasyCare Video Contest!  If you'd like to see what the contest is all about, check out the EasyCare Video Blog.  You've still got plenty of time to enter, so get out there and have some fun being creative with your horse!  Hope everybody is enjoying their 4th of July holiday in the USA! 

Happy Dance - Ooga Chaka

This is the closet thing I could find to a Happy Dance, to celebrate the good news for EasyCare! 

EasyCare made THREE Equestrian Magazine covers in one month!

What timing, huh?  EasyCare had three covers of different magazines feature our hoofboots on the covers - in the same month!  Our newest EasyCare product catalog also happens to have a photo from the same photo shoot on it's cover as the one on Trail Blazer.  It's great to be getting so much publicity for our products that have been so well received (and so necessary!) in the equestrian industry! 

New stuff at EasyCare

Some news from