Team Easyboot

Glue-On Gloves

I finally have been able to give the Glue-on Gloves a try and have been very happy with the results. The first time I was gluing them on, I was a bit distracted as it was busy at the barn and I forgot to rasp the hoof wall, although I cleaned the hoof really well. Despite this the boot did stay on for 5 days. I wasn't entirely surprised though when one came  off in the field and the other came off without too much prying. I did notice that when I looked inside the boots I had missed spots so there wasn't glue all over the inside of the boot wall. So I tried again! :)

The second time I brought my horse in about an hour ahead as the fields were wet. I cleaned her hooves and left her in her stall on shavings to let her hooves dry out a bit. I did not use a heat gun or any kind of cleaner (like denatured alcohol), I just scrubbed the hoof well with a wire brush. I also did make sure to lightly rasp the whole hoof wall where the boot would be glued to. I then made sure I put glue all over the inside of the boot wall and not just in spots. I noticed that the Adhere can be hard to squeeze and while I didn't think it was particularly cold in the barn, the tube was cool to the touch and probably could have benefited from a bit of a warm up (I might not have struggled as much) before using. Other than a few minor things, I found the boots were easy and quick to put on, just had to have everything laid out ready to use (much like when foaming on boots). I had also drilled holed in the bottom of the boots and both times I used Equipak CS inside the boots. I know that some people are using Sole Guard in the boots and say it sets up slightly softer than the Equipak but I found the Equipak worked well. 

The boots stayed on for 14 days through riding, pasture turnout, muddy normally boot sucking mud, cold wet rainy conditions a lot of the time. They probably could have stayed on longer but at the end of the weekend on the 14th day it seemed convenient to remove them at that point and I could see my mare's hooves had grown quite a bit so i didn't want to let her get too out of balance. I did have to work at them to take them off and pry with a flat head screwdriver in between the boot and the hoof wall (so they still weren't ready to fall off!). I was really happy to see them stay on so well through those kind of conditions because I am planning to use them at endurance rides next year. Now I just have to sit down with my boots and dremel the old glue off :) My mare still has glue stuck to the outside of her hoof wall but I figure it will eventually wear away or get rasped as I trim.

Glove boots and Walking horses

I tried my glove boots on the back of my TWH this past weekend and was very pleased at how well they did. I have been using and loving the Gloves on my horses front feet, but was worried about how they would do on the back feet since he twists his back feet when he gaits. I had heard from others with gaited horses that they had had problems with the Gloves coming off the hind feet, so I packed a set of bares, just in case.  

We started out on the trail, went through creeks, sand, woods, fields and mud and never had a problem. The ride was 17 miles with a lunch stop and we completed it in 4 hours, so I would say my horse was gaiting most of the time.  I am planning on getting some of the power straps to take up a little bit on the slack on his back feet, but I love the way they performed.

By the way the other 2 horses I was riding with also had boots on and when we stopped for lunch several people wanted to know all about the boots and the horses. Boots make both me and my horses happy!