Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

karen,
good to know you sometimes cut them out, too.  i felt like i was comitting a crime when i cut them;) 
i hope they work well.  our problem w/ the epics was that when my mare would end up stepping on the back of it, and tearing the gaitor sending the boot flying into the bushes. that's when i started looking closely at the boots and realized that they are too big for her. so i got the bares in one size smaller and i hope that the snug fit will prevent these 'overreach' accidents from happening. she doesn't overreach otherwise, and when she had shoes she never had a problem w/ forging/pulling shoes but maybe her dynamics have changed over the years.
anyway, i'm keeping my fingers crossed that the bares will work for us. i also got the comfort pads for the bares so i'm looking forward to testing them out.
marta

On 7/16/06, Dream Weaver <nvrider@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hi Marta:  I always cut the heelstraps out.  The Bare needs to be a
good fit for the horse though, so some horses need to have the
heelstrap left in.

I always take the plastic covers off, flatten the teeth and cover
with duct tape too.

I've done rides where I left the heelstrap in on one front bare, and
on one hind bare, then had it cut out on one front bare and one hind
bare -- and could not tell any difference.  So for my horse at least,
the strap isn't necessary.

Hope that helps!   Karen


At 11:54 AM 7/16/2006, you wrote:
>despite of all the instructions out there, i wasn't able to get the
>heel strap up over my mare's heel bulbs when using the bares. even
>when i thought i did, i didn't. and forget getting them adjusted. if
>adjusted i didn't stand a chance w/ the heel strap.
>so on my trimmer's advice i cut the heel straps out like i used to
>in epics. haven't tried them yet while riding but i can get the
>boots adjusted much better.
>my trimmer was surprised to hear that cutting of the heel strap is
>no longer recommended in bares. her clients use epics (and so does
>she) and they all cut the heel straps out. we were wondering what
>makes bares different than bares w/ re to straps. i know you karen
>did not cut the straps out on your bares, right?
>
>marta