"Strawberry Fields has A LOT of mud.
Since it's been raining daily for the last three weeks, we knew going into the ride that the footing wasn't going to be great, but since Friday dawned clear and blue, we saddled up, booted up (with another brand of boot) and went out to ride the beautiful Uintah mountains. I lost my first boot when my horse Bo had an "I wanna go faster" tantrum and bucked for five minutes going down the trail. Since it couldn't be fixed and he couldn't go out on three boots, I pulled the other back boot and thought, "oh well, it's soft, he'll be fine with just the fronts." We went a few more miles then we hit a really bad bog. The cable broke on boot #2 and I had no choice other than to pull all of his boots and send him out barefoot.
We finished the day with him sound, but he'd been a little wincy on the gravel roads and I didn't like the idea of him doing two more days without boots. I went looking for boot help in ridecamp and Dave Rabe took me to see Garrett Ford of Easy Care. Bo has big, wide, round, flat feet and is not an ideal candidate for Easyboot Gloves. Even Garrett agreed that it would be a lot better to custom cut glue-ons for him, but it was way too wet and muddy to glue boots on so he fitted him in Easyboot Gloves with adhesive tape underneath.
Day 2 dawned gray but dry and we headed out with four brand new Easyboot Gloves to brave the mud. It started to rain about 11 am and kept raining until dark. What started out as mud quickly turned into slop, little streams turned into big streams, bogs into death pits, and we had to cross them all. Going up and down hills turned into exercises in slipping, sliding, digging and skiing. When we finally got back to basecamp, all you could see of Bo from the belly down was slimy, goopy mud. BUT the great news is that all four Easyboot Gloves were still on! They had not twisted or slipped and had helped my horse get through some of the worst possible conditions. And all with him not having easy to fit feet.
Thanks Garrett and Easyboots!"
Melanie Olmstead
Since it's been raining daily for the last three weeks, we knew going into the ride that the footing wasn't going to be great, but since Friday dawned clear and blue, we saddled up, booted up (with another brand of boot) and went out to ride the beautiful Uintah mountains. I lost my first boot when my horse Bo had an "I wanna go faster" tantrum and bucked for five minutes going down the trail. Since it couldn't be fixed and he couldn't go out on three boots, I pulled the other back boot and thought, "oh well, it's soft, he'll be fine with just the fronts." We went a few more miles then we hit a really bad bog. The cable broke on boot #2 and I had no choice other than to pull all of his boots and send him out barefoot.
We finished the day with him sound, but he'd been a little wincy on the gravel roads and I didn't like the idea of him doing two more days without boots. I went looking for boot help in ridecamp and Dave Rabe took me to see Garrett Ford of Easy Care. Bo has big, wide, round, flat feet and is not an ideal candidate for Easyboot Gloves. Even Garrett agreed that it would be a lot better to custom cut glue-ons for him, but it was way too wet and muddy to glue boots on so he fitted him in Easyboot Gloves with adhesive tape underneath.
Day 2 dawned gray but dry and we headed out with four brand new Easyboot Gloves to brave the mud. It started to rain about 11 am and kept raining until dark. What started out as mud quickly turned into slop, little streams turned into big streams, bogs into death pits, and we had to cross them all. Going up and down hills turned into exercises in slipping, sliding, digging and skiing. When we finally got back to basecamp, all you could see of Bo from the belly down was slimy, goopy mud. BUT the great news is that all four Easyboot Gloves were still on! They had not twisted or slipped and had helped my horse get through some of the worst possible conditions. And all with him not having easy to fit feet.
Thanks Garrett and Easyboots!"
Melanie Olmstead
SLC, Utah
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