Easyboots at the Kentucky Cup North American Team Challenge

The Kentucky Cup North American Challenge is just around the corner and will be held on the October 14th weekend.  Riders from more than 20 countries will compete in the Kentucky Cup Endurance Race. 

One of the challenging things about the Kentucky venue is the miles and miles of grass.  Many of the sections will be slick and slippery for all the horses despite the use of iron shoes or hoof boots. 

Several of the top US riders including Christoph Schork, Jeremy Reynolds, Heather Reynolds, Tennessee Mahoney and Farzad Faryadi will be racing the 100 mile event in Easyboots. 

The slippery grass conditions call for extra traction.  Expect to see iron shoes caulked or studded.  I've just shipped several pairs of Easyboot Glue-Ons and Easyboot Gloves to the Kentucky venue.  I've called in the expertise of our Swiss EasyCare distributor to stud the boots with a unique stud and system developed for the grass and slippery conditions found in Switzerland.  Sibylle Krieg of HoofGroove has a great deal of experience with studs and has been providing horses traction with her stud system for years.

The two photos above show booted horses in action.  Both photos are of Swiss horses using the HoofGroove studs in demanding events with lots of change of direction in slippery grass.

The studs are a unique design that provides grip but not excessive grip.  HoofGroove has also fabricated a unique machine to counter sink the head of the stud so not pressure is put on the hoof in any area.

I'm really impressed with the studded boots and plan to discuss adding the studs to the EasyCare line.

Here are a few photos of the unique studs developed and installed by the HoofGroove team. 

The inside photo shows how the studs are recessed. 

Bottom view showing traction.  Good traction but not excessive.  It's important to not have excessive traction over the 100 mile event. 

Another view of a studded shell. 

Comments

[Angela]

I really like the look of these studs. Here in the UK we have lots of grass which is often very slippy, due to our lovely British weather, presumably similar to the conditions they have in Switzerland. I think these studs could prove very popular over here - not just for endurance (I can think of many rides where they would be very useful) but for hunting and jumping too.

[Kerry Greear]

We already have several inches of very wet snow here in South Dakota which is on top of grass. Very slick! I've been riding "very" cautiously. Please keep us informed on these studs-----I want to be able to ride year round.

[Erika Mørup]

I WANT THOSE STUDS! Please please please put them into the EasyCare line. I often wish I could offer my customers a studded boot because conditions get so slipery over here in the winter and in the summer there are a lot of competitions on grass. The studs for the Epics are good but too agressive for everyday use.