Transition Tuesday

This is the first post of a weekly series called "Transition Tuesday".  Transition Tuesday is written by Kevin Myers and documents the transition from iron shoes to barefoot hoof care and hoof boot use.  Rocky and Far are both seasoned endurance horses and have been in iron shoes for several seasons.  Transition Tuesday weekly blog posts will document the process and learning curve involved in the transition to natural hoof care.   Feet will change shape, boot fit will improve as feet change and the learning curve will decrease.   The good, the awesome, the not so good, and what happens along the way.  Enjoy! 

Change Management – Anticipation is Always the Worst

Two of our four horses are making the transition from shoes to no shoes. I’ve got good news for all those of you who may have been resisting like I did: it appears to be a no-brainer!

It has now been ten days since we pulled our steel shoes with pads – a set-up we have been using on these young horses in the Sonoran desert for more than two years without ever pulling the shoes and letting their feet rest. Rocky has been showing signs of under-run heels and they were not getting better. Far’s heels were beginning to look unnaturally high – I just did not like what I was seeing. Nor was I enjoying the rising cost of regular re-sets.

The temperature in Arizona is already well into the triple digits by mid-May. Once Rocky’s shoes were pulled he showed signs of being a little tender out there on the decomposed granite we call home. Far seemed not to notice. There is no grass down here in the Valley of the Sun, and the dryness in the ground takes its toll on shoed feet. Nail holes crack and splinter and the false sole gets tougher and less concaved with each shoeing. Pads help keep a little moisture in the foot, but the hoof wall really suffers.

We measured the horses’ unshod feet; then we measured them again; then we had the barefoot shoer come back and measure them again. We transcribed our measurements and used the table to determine the size of boots we would need. The Gloves arrived in a big box – with the very reassuring Fit Kit to confirm one last time which size of boot we would need.

The boot shells in the Fit Kit proved which size was right for each set of feet, and we set about fitting the boots onto each foot. The process was simple – the boots slid on easily; a slight controlled two-hand twist here and there was needed to get the bare hoof completely into the boot and the gaiter wrapped around the pastern. Surely the gaiter would rub? 20 miles of testing would prove this not to be the case.

On Friday morning, only eight days after the steel shoes had been pulled, I set out on my own for a five mile ride from the house with four shiny new Gloves on Far’s feet. His break-over seemed easy and early; there was little sign or sound of weight or clunkiness. He moved out easily and freely as we wound our way along the sandy washes and single track trail heading north and west from the far northeastern reaches of Scottsdale.

I set out slowly and skeptically, gradually increasing speed and changing gait until we made it up to a full canter. The horse was happy, and so was I: this was easy.

At about the third mile mark, Far did a little scooch and both hind boots came off his feet: the gaiters stayed gripped around his pastern. He let me know immediately – the gait changed and he did a couple of bunny hops. I did my own hop – right out of the saddle; re-fit the boots and hopped back on board. A simple application of athletic tape around the hoof would fix that problem on my next ride, but I was hesitant for the next mile or so, and built speed back up slowly, wondering if the boots would pop off again. They did not.

We added Power Straps to the boots last night to get ready for a challenging 15 mile training ride up in the mountains two hours north of here. The straps straddle the split in the front of the boot, preventing the split from opening much at all. I’ve summarized the application of the straps at the bottom of this report.

I’m not convinced we really needed the straps – almost certainly not on the fronts, at least. I was actually more interested in going through the process of installing the strip for the experience. It involved using a hole punch on two places on the front of the boots, then punching holes on the power straps, then screwing the straps to the boots. It took no longer than five or six minutes per boot for the installation process.

We set off from Scottsdale this morning at 7 AM with Bill Bennett to meet our friend, Julia Lynn Elias in Prescott. At 5,000 feet, Prescott is at least 15 degrees cooler than the Phoenix valley, and there are some challenging training trails with good elevation gain and a generous serving of rocks. This would be the perfect location to test our new Gloves in varied terrain with good climbs, rocks and water.

 

We arrived at the trailhead near Lynx Lake at 9:30 and set about fitting the boots onto the two horses. I used athletic tape to ensure a snug fit on Far’s hinds. Rusty tried the tape on Rocky’s hinds, but found he could not fit his tight-fitting boots over the hoof so elected to ride without any tape under the boots.

We climbed and trotted and cantered walked and climbed and trotted and cantered and walked. The hills were long; the views were breathtaking; the rocks were prolific and the trail was everything we had hoped for. The horses glided along the rocky trails – quickly realizing they did not have to avoid the rocks in the same way as with shoes. I did not feel one tentative step – not even one sudden head bob when they hit the sharpness of the flint rocks on the trail. Sweet.

At the halfway point, as we began the descent back down towards the trailhead, I pulled opened the Velcro and pulled the gaiter down so I could investigate for the inevitable rubs around the pastern. Surely there would be a rub? There was not: the skin and hair showed no sign of any friction whatsoever. I could get to like this.

 

We wound our way down – mostly at a trot – still with no signs of the rocks giving them any sore steps. We came to a creek that was beginning to dry out: the horses drank and we made sure they stood in the water. The next test was about to begin.

We followed the shrinking creek for a half mile or so; letting the horses stop to drink in the deeper parts and enjoy some of the rich grass along the bed. We set off back up a long climb and whoosh – Far’s right hind boot popped off completely. I re-applied athletic tape around the hoof and slid the boot back on. I suspect I had not tightened the gaiter enough when we started – I was too worried about rubs on the pastern. I checked the left hind and noticed that the gaiter was looser than when we had left at the beginning of the ride. I tightened it and we were off again. Far would not lose a boot again.

Rocky would lose each of the hinds within the next few minutes: each definitely a victim of not having any athletic tape around the hoof. With the addition of tape, neither of the boots would come off for the rest of the ride. Lesson learned: athletic tape is a must on the hinds. I think added thrust of the hind legs changes the dynamic of the boot. The resulting torque is quite something.

We finished our 15 mile training ride without issue – we were a little over-heated once we got back to the trailers, but the horses did not seem phased. There was no rubbing on their feet; no build-up of mud or sand in the boot, and the hoof walls remained completely unscathed by the boot.

Good deal! Next stop: the Easyboot Glue-On for the Ride The Divide 50 in New Mexico.

Comments

[Lucy Chaplin Trumbull]

Garrett? Are you using plain Gorilla Glue or the "2 x Faster Formula, Dries White"?

Roo and I did our first 50 in boots at the weekend - lots of climbing and lots of mucky, creek crossings at the bottom of each climb.

The boots didn't do badly considering the conditions, but next time, athletic tape and glue.

[Dana Johnsen]

Hi Kevin
Glad to see you going down the barefoot trail!
How do you like riding in Arizona compared to Maple Ridge? I'll be watching to see how you guys make out with the boots.
Cheers

Dana

[D'Arcy L. Demianoff-Thompson]

Looking forward to Transition Tuesday column additions. Thank you for the opportunity to study this transition with you.

D'Arcy

[Garrett Ford]

Lucy- I'm using the regular Gorilla Glue not the 2 X Faster stuff. It is setting up fairly quick.

Garrett

[Dawn Carrie]

I'm finding this very interesting...keep the column coming, Kevin. One of my geldings is between sizes for E-boots - wide, round foot. I'm interested in the idea of going barefoot and using Gloves. Question about the glue - is it hard to clean out of the boots? I remember the horrors of the old Easy Boot Foam...uggh!

Dawn Carrie, Texas

[Sandy Bolinger]

Will you explain in a little more detail how you are applying the athletic tape. Is that the tape that looks like ACE wrap but is sticky??

[Kevin Myers]

Dawn,

I will let you know how easy it is to get the glue off after this weekend! Watch this space.

Kevin

[Kevin Myers]

Dana,

We miss the mountains and the summers and the waterfalls, for sure. After five years down here, I am beginning to like rain again!

Nice to hear from you!

Kevin

[Kevin Myers]

Sandy,

The tape is just as you describe it. The brand I am using is Mueller. Wrapping it three times around the hoof seems to do the job, obviously staying away from the coronet band. It also seems to be dependent on a tight boot fit, and the tighter the boot the more likely the boot is to stay on. I think we may all have a tendency to go for larger boots than we should at first. I'm going down a half size this weekend compared to last weekend's training ride.

[Garrett Ford]

Sandy- The tape is like the ace wrap but sticky on the one side. All you do is wrap the hoof wall twice with the tape. Sticky side toward the hoof. Apply the hoof boot and away you go. The heat in the hoof helps the sticky part of the tape migrate through the tape and it then gets sticky on the tape side.

Hope that helps.

Garrett