Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

FWIW, I had several sets of the first Epics with the
softer gaiters.  They were outstanding for
conditioning rides and one horse did fine in them on a
50.  Another horse, however, did get rubs on his
pasterns on a 50 in them (literally the same boots as
those two horses fit the same size).  

My next 50 was on the first horse (the one who had
never been rubbed) and new boots, apparently the ones
with the tougher gaiters.  As she'd never had a single
rub I didn't even think about it; although I noticed
that the gaiters were stiffer I attributed it to them
being brand new and couldn't remember what my others
had been like brand new.  Well, on the first loop she
got sand caught inside the gaiter at her heels -- not
up around her pastern.  It was bad enough that she was
slightly off at the trot at the first vet check and as
she was also starting to rub on her pasterns (a first
for her) she was pulled.  When I returned to my
trailer and was able to pull the cotter pin & remove
the boots the sand accumulation was obvious (it was
too low to see when just opening the gaiters) and she
seemed to be sound as soon as the boots were removed. 
However, in the next week those sand rubs became
scabbed over and painful and took a long time to heal.


I'm VERY glad to hear that the newest models will have
softer gaiters again.  I'd basically decided to use
the Epics just for conditioning & go to Easyboots &
foam for endurance rides after the sand incident. 
However, this ride season ended for me after only 3
rides -- due to lots of non-horse related issues -- so
I didn't actually attempt any more 50s with any boot
configurations this year.

Oh, I do cut down the heel strap, but don't fully
remove it.  That's the only modification I've made.

~Nicole

Zephyr Arabians http://www.zephyrarabians.com 
KattWmn Web Design http://www.kattwmn.com

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