Transition Tuesday Week 16

Week 16:

A Taste of Research and Development at EasyCare

Prototype boots at 10,800 feet.

There is magic up in the mountains north of Durango,Colorado as you head towards Silverton. It is the kind of magic you felt all around you when you were a kid. It creates in you an awe of your surroundings and a sense that you are more alive and more aware than you have ever been. The aspens rustle in the wind; their white bark leaves a chalk memory on the palm of your hand as you brush by it and the contrasts of primary colors stimulate your eye. The peaks stitch their patchwork from one valley into the next, calling you ever upwards towards their summit. It is powerful stuff.

I had the privilege this weekend of seeing some of the field testing going on behind the scenes at EasyCare. I was impressed with the ongoing commitment of the team to perfecting the product and testing the various design elements to their limits. But more than that, there is genuine excitement about the current technological advances in boot design and what the evolution means for us all, whether we are hardcore endurance enthusiasts or riders who just love to be out on the trail with our horses. We all benefit from this.

The staff at EasyCare are testing all kinds of subtle and not so subtle prototype component changes in the Gloves as well as various (and virtually limitless) choices of adhesive for applying the Glue-Ons.

A boot user’s fantasy. Each of these boots will play their own role in shaping the evolution of the Easyboot product line.

All but one of the horses we rode this weekend have been barefoot for some time: their feet look healthy; they have good hoof angles, nice wide frogs and good concavity to their soles. One of the horses used for boot testing was shod until two weeks ago and his feet are remarkably different. It was good to see first hand that these boots work for feet at both ends of the spectrum of transition.

Cleaning up the feet on the horse that is new to barefoot.

Work started with a little clean-up of the feet. A hand grinder was used to balance out the hoof wall: it was fascinating to see this method and seemed to be less challenging than using a rasp, providing you knew what you were doing. The feet were cleaned with a wire brush – no additional cleaning or drying took place.

The hoof wall is rasped in preparation for gluing on the boot. It will be interesting to observe changes in the angle of the hoof wall as this horse adapts to barefoot.

We removed Glue-Ons from one of the horses before re-applying a different set. This shoe had Goober Glue applied in the sole area. You can see how this boot could be re-used: the Goober Glue peeled right off the boot, leaving very little need for clean-up.

This is one of the horses that has been barefoot for some time. The feet are healthy and hard even in the wetter pasture environment of the Durango valley.

Compare the angles and lack of waves at the coronet band here to the foot of the gray horse, above, that is just now transitioning. Which foot do you want to put miles on?

The EasyCare team leaves no stone unturned: look at all the various types of glue they are experimenting with.

We tried several different types of glue on several feet with the Glue-Ons. Some of the glues require an additional step in mixing before applying, and some just go straight on the foot out of the tube. Each glue took a different length of time to set up, and each glue had a different index of softness once it had set up. Check back at the EasyCare website to get the most current fitting and application advice.

On with the boot.

I got to ride Cyclone – what a cool horse. He had some prototype Gloves on the front and Glue-Ons on the back to test a couple of the glue options.

We rode many miles at great speed – trotting and cantering up and down some very rocky trails.

We pushed the horses and the boots all weekend. Try as we might, none of us could lose a boot.

These were some fun twisting trails – we even came upon some elk.

The trails in the Durango area provide challenging mountainous terrain with a variety of conditions to ride in.  There is a good combination of rock, water, mud and everything in between.

Day Two

Cyclone’s feet get a good soaking in the deep mud and water.

There are some remarkable views from up there.

I came home feeling very alive and brought with me some good memories: 20-somethings doing yoga in the street at the farmer’s market; splendiferous mountains; good food; clean air: a healthy lifestyle for humans and horses alike.

Do the right thing: keep up the boot legging and create your own magic.

Kevin

Comments

[cindy King]

Guys, Where are your helmets? thanks for the ongoing dialog!!
Cindy King