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On another note, I just started using EZ boots
all the time on my horse. With the wet/dry weather
we had this spring, her feet turned into self-
destructing things and she managed to pull three
shoes in a row on her front feet, each time doing
a little more damage to her hoofwall, such that by
the end there wasn't anything left to nail shoes
to.

So for the last month or so, I've been putting
EZ boots over her shoes as a preventive measure,
to keep the shoes on.

Two weekends ago, we spent three days pre-riding
the lower half of the Tevis trail and rode 45 miles.
On day 2, the heel strap on a new boot broke and the
boot fell off. I was able to backtrack and find it,
but because of the broken heel strap, I replaced it
with an old-style boot. Then last weekend, my horse
did her first 50 at Gold Country (Yay!).

On Sunday, I was inspecting the boots we'd been
using and had some interesting observations.

I used three boots:

Boot 1: New-style boot, on right front for ~110 miles
Boot 2: New-style boot, on left front for ~15 miles
Boot 3: Old-style boot, on left front for 95 miles


Boot 1 (110 miles) is completely trashed. There is
practically no tread left on the bottom, she has gone
through the toe of the boot and the bottom rivet of the
clip has nearly pulled through wall. It'll be OK for
short rides, but I wouldn't trust it for a long one.

Boot 2 (15 miles) has a very little tread left on it
(after only 15 miles?) and has the broken back strap
(EZ Care are sending me a replacement).

Boot 3 (95 miles) (the *old*-style boot) has lots
of tread left and looks fine.

So what does this say about the new boot?

Is it made of less-durable plastic than the old-style
boots? Certainly the tread on the 15 mile boot didn't
stand up long.

Or is it that Zini is really hard on that right foot
compared to her left? Interestingly, her right foot
is bigger than her wimpier left foot.

I'd like to experiment by putting an old-style boot
on her fat right foot and a new-style boot on her
wimpy left foot and see how the boots wear once
swapped over.

Trouble is, the new style 0s are slightly bigger than the
old ones, so it makes more sense to put the small boot on
the small foot.

Either way, seeing the pummeling the boots got, I'm
really pleased I was using them as protection - or her
feet would look in pretty poor state by now (and I
doubt she'd still have shoes on).


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Lucy Chaplin Trumbull
elsietee AT foothill DOT net
Repotted english person in the Sierra foothills, California
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  



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