Hoof Boot Advice

A New Lightweight in the Hoof Boot World

2011-06-03T03:23:00.000-07:00

Did you know.... The new Easycare Trail hoof boot is on average around 20% lighter than a similar size in a Cavallo Hoof Boot? The lighter weight the hoof boot is, the easier it is for your horse. People don't think about the weight of a metal shoe and how it influences the horses movement, and boots are no different! You shoudl condition your horse to regular boot use before using them to do extremely long rides, the same as you should build a horse up in work with meal shoes. All of the Easycare range of hoof boot are designed with these little important details in mind and will help to ensure you have a brilliant booting experience!

The NEW Easyboot Trail- Could THIS Hoof Boot Really Be The Easiest Boot In The World?

2011-05-25T02:36:00.000-07:00

The Easyboot trail hoof boot from Easycare has arrived! This simple hoof boot is so quick and easy to use, but unlike some other 'easy to use hoof boots' already on the market these boots offer superb traction from the trusted pattern of theOld Mc G2 hoof boot and will not come off (when used correctly of course!). The size chart for the new trail boot is the same as the Old Mac G2, and this boot will accomodate around 6-8 weeks of growth making it ideal even for farrier/ pasture trimmed horses.

How Not to Fit Easyboot Gloves!

2011-01-12T03:04:00.000-08:00

Primrose Hill, our little barefoot ambassador is growing up fast, and we have been trying to get her out and about in the forest to get used to the great outdoors before she starts to be ridden in the spring when she turns 4. Unfortunately, with the bad weather we have not been able to get out as much and coupled with the enforced confinement to the yard she had to endure for 6 weeks due to an injury to her hoof, it has meant that she is starting to feel the stones on the tracks when we take her out. We decided to introduce her to hoof boots to help improve her feet (as we can use the comfort pads which have great therapeutic value) and protect them from the sharp stones so as not to ruin her confidence and enthusiasm for going for walks. Being young, she is not he most patient of young ladies, (although she is generally very polite!) so it was an interesting experiment to make a compromise with her boot fit.
The Easyboot Glove is my personally boot of choice, and her feet are luckily a good shape for them. Her front measure 110mm x 110mm, which put her between a 00 and a 0. Using the fitkit, I determined that the 00.5 was as small as she could go, but with pads in the boots they were a little trickier to get on so a compromise was made and a size 0 was used. Now, as you can see from the picture, they are gappy and even the gaiter is loose! They do not grip the wall as tight as I would like, and there is a clear channel at the front of the boot but much to my surprise, they have not moved an inch during our outings! I must make it clear that we are only walking and trotting in hand for no more than an hour, and she does have straight movement which I am sure helps, but there have been a few 'merry moments' along the way which I would have expected to cause a problem! She is about ready to go down into a smaller size now as she is used to having the boots applied, but I thought it was interesting to see and testament to the superb design of the boots that even when they were incorrect size they would cope with a basic amount of work. Of course we don't advise that the boots be fitted like this for riding, but it does support the idea that a well fitting glue on hoof boot (without the glue!) can be used to lead horses to and from the field, or to an arena and back for example and be used a bit like a very quick and easy 'slipper'.

Message from SA

2010-11-05T02:44:00.000-07:00

We had our National Championship Show this last weekend and a was the National Champ in my grade on Cherry Hall, he is the one with the white face. On the other two boys i got first's in all my events. Unfortunately the weather here is unbareablely hot so we are limited to two day show's. Poor Hawaiian has tendon problems from polo so he only managed jumping the first day, I am thinking about retiring him from the jumping side of life, unfortunately we do not have the technology/machinery here to treat his problem as required so we are stuck with traditional methods, but so long as he is fat and happy I am too.

Well all 3 are all rounders, I use them for hacking and I do dressage, jumping, endurance and cross country.
My oldest Hawaiian is now about 17 he is 16 hands, I bought him as an ex polo pony and he was brought up to Zambia from Zimbabwe where he was bred and he was a race horse who won (according to his passport) several races. His father was Hawaiian Love and his mother was a mare called Espirit de suit. He has been barefoot for four years now, I took off the shoes the min he was mine.
My pony the chestnut, Rafiki (this means "my friend" in Swahili, an African language) he is 14 years old and 14.2 hands, we bred him in Zimbabwe with our own thoroughbred cross welsh mare and a friends pure breed Arab stallion he is an absolute spoiled brat but he is family and we love him. He has NEVER had shoes.
Cherry Hall is my most recent, I bought him straight off the polo field, I took an immediate liking to him and had to have him, he was also bred in Zimbabwe and also won a few races. His father is quite famous for producing show jumpers his name is Hall Gate and his mother was a mare called Cherry Time, he is very sweet but also VERY dumb (eg: he walked into the center part of our horse box today when I was loading him) He has had no shoes since I got him 3 years ago.
All 3 are fed on a pellet produced by a local company which I mix with maize bran, they get fed three times a day and are spoiled with rejects from the near by farmers and have hey ad lib.
Would love the hoofpick but is my location not a problem? lol!
Is great to have some one to bragg about my babies to.
I almost forgot, several of our Zambian riders are off to the Congo to represent Zambia in show jumping this weekend.
If my boy's do make the blog I would love to be sent the link.
Kind regards,
Valerie.

Kestrels Story from Ireland

2010-11-03T02:29:00.000-07:00

Kestrel is a 9 year old pure bred Connemara bought as a 4 year old having only ever competed in dressage competitions. He didn't know how to gallop, was extremely spooky (still is!), had never hacked on the roads, hunted, been to the beach - boy was he going to be challenge!

I didn't know then just how much of a challenge he would be when he went lame after completing a second 40 mile ride (to attain Silver Shamrock with the Irish Long Distance Riding Associtation at the age of 7). He was laid off work for 6 months (without shoes), had two sets of x-rays taken which showed up absolutely nothing and generally improved once the shoes were off.

This led me to barefoot websites and some research and my first boots were secondhand Old Macs Originals from ebay. When his feet grew and changed shape I bought a new pair of Old Macs G2s from a supplier in England (we're a bit backward here in Ireland and I have only today for the first time seen an advert for hoof boot fitting - in the south of Ireland - about 150 miles from where I live). These worked well and I now have a barefoot trimmer who comes on a regular basis to trim Kes's feet.

We've progressed to Easyboot Epics which I put onto Kes for a ride on Sunday past which gave them a really good try out as we took part in a pleasure ride around Clandeboye Estate in Bangor, County Down where we were knee deep in sticky mud. I was amazed my boots stayed on despite having looked up the Easyboot site on numerous occasions and read everyone else's reports. Our other horses are also barefoot including a 14 year old TB mare who hacks regularly and we use the Old Macs on her (the boots fit both horses which is very handy) and will never have shoes on them. Their feet are all amazing -despite the fact that as we live in Ireland and the ground is frequently very wet.

It's not called the Emerald Isle for nothing you know! I would recommend barefoot and Easyboots to anyone - just send them my email address and I'll convince them!

Name: Valerie McKie
City: Belfast
Country: Northern Ireland
Favorite Boot: Easyboot Epic

The Prescription for Hoof Ailments

2010-11-01T02:26:00.000-07:00

The Easyboot Rx is just the prescription for horses requiring a therapy boot that offers stability and support without being heavy or clunky.

Relief for Your Horse
Veterinarians, hoof care professionals and horse owners alike rely on the Easyboot Rx to help horses healThe Prescription for Hoof Ailments
and recover quickly from many horse hoof problems. It provides support and relief for horses suffering from chronic lameness, laminitis, founder, navicular and other lower limb/hoof problems.

The Rx is an excellent choice for those horses that simply have difficulty standing on hard surfaces for extended periods of time. The boot can be used to speed recovery and offer protection after surgery or injury, lessen fatigue and add protection during trailering as well as offer a safeguard in the breeding shed.

Easy Application Application is quick and easy. The unique upper of the Easyboot Rx folds down and opens large enough to accommodate the wide base of a hoof, allowing for quick application without strength or force. After the hoof is placed in the Easyboot Rx, two hook and loop tabs are fastened to provide a secure fit. A quick pull on the hook and loop tabs and the Easyboot Rx is easily slipped off the hoof. Each boot has a double hook and loop lock system that prevents the boot from opening unintentionally.

The Easyboot Rx is not intended for riding but can be used for light turn out.

Easyboots to the Rescue!

2010-10-30T02:10:00.000-07:00

My 5 year old Arab/QH had to have a section of his P3 removed this summer becasue of an infection. The vet mentioned putting on a hospital plate but the foot looked so sore I couldn't bear the thought and he had never worn a shoe.

The hole in his hoof that several different EasyCare boots have been protecting. This was 3 weeks & 5 days postop.
I put an Easy Care Epic over the bandage every day after I changed it which kept the foot clean and dry and allowed him to walk around in the indoor and soon after out in a paddock. After about 10 days we changed to the orginal Old Mac and the heal started to look better. I wanted to start riding him walk trot and the Old Mac was a little lose so I switched to an Old Mac G2 which was a great fit over the bandage.

The other day his bandage was due for a change and had started to unrvavel so I took it off and used just an Easyboot Glove. Was he ever happy: felt like freedom to him. He will have follow up x-rays soon but the pictures I emailed the vet looked good to him. All the different boots have allowed me to protect his hoof and give him the freedom to move. The next boot to try will be the Rx when it comes this week.

Thanks EasyCare: I don't know how I would have dealt with this hoof and a young horse without all your different kinds of boots.

Name: Mary Palumbo
City: Killingworth, CT
Equine Discipline: Endurance
Favorite Boot: Old Mac's

Goober Glue with Gloves

2010-10-28T02:10:00.000-07:00

Easycare have been testing a new combination that's working so well we think you should try it.

They had the good fortune to work with serveral riders at the Man Against Horse 50 last weekend. It was the perfect trail to test our new booting protocol of Easyboot Gloves in combination with Goober Hoof Pack (known as hoof boot glue in the UK). By adding glue to the sole of the foot, the horse benefits from additional solar protection for rocky or challenging trail. The boot also sticks to the foot with the help of the glue. They have tried this method with three different horses on three different (and very rocky) 50-mile races. They have yet to lose a boot.

Here is a photo of the Glove glued on: no muss, no fuss.
The boots are easy to remove and the best thing is that the Hoof boot glue peels right out of the boot by hand so the boots can be used again and again. The video here explains the application process. Note: if you want to use this method, the boots should be applied 12-24 hours before the horse is to be ridden in order to allow the glue to set up. 24 hours is optimal.

Here's what Julia Lynn Elias had to say:

"I've had several successful rides now with the Easyboot Glue-Ons, both at multi-day rides and 100 milers, but decided for our local Man Against Horse 1 day 50 mile ride I would like to stick with the Gloves. I love the Glue Ons, but hate the fact that once removed they are difficult, if not impossible, to re-use. I have done several 50's in Gloves and have not had a problem with losing boots except on very steep climbs with slippery, rolling rocks. This particular ride has several such sections. On one part of the trail, there is a 2,000 foot climb in two miles, and most of the real climbing occurs in short switch backs with large step-up rocks. To minimize my risk of losing boots, I decided to try using Goober Hoof Pack (formerly known as Goober Glue) in the soles of the boots only. Kevin Myers and I discussed it and both agreed that this would serve three purposes, improve the adhesion of the boot to the hoof, provide more cushion for the impact of all the rocks we would encounter, and allow me to re-use the boots. The plan worked fabulously. I never lost a boot and my horse flew over the rocks like they were marshmallows. In fact, they were so well "stuck", that it required a little effort with a flathead screwdriver to peel them off after the ride. This morning, I was able to peel the Hoof Pack out of the boots and now they are clean and ready for another ride. I was so pleased with this method that I think I will do it for every ride."

Mackies Ice Cream Run endurance ride

2010-10-25T02:07:00.000-07:00

My name is Jahmel and I am a fleabitten grey arab gelding living in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. My mum thinks the world of me and loves taking me to interesting places.

Today mum got me out of bed early and seemed a bit cross because I had rolled a bitty in the night. I didn’t think I was that dirty! Anyway off we went to the place where they make lovely icecream – the Mackies Factory at Cross of Jackston. It seems that the field we were supposed to park in was under water so we were invited to park at the factory as long as we took all poo away! Mum decided as the ground was so wet that I should wear my easyboot epics with the studs in. A good decision as it turned out as most of the 24km ride was on wet fields and tracks. Mum didn’t tell me about the nasty wind turbines on the hill though. And as it was a very windy day they were going round very fast and making a horrid noise as well as making scary shadows on the ground! Just as well I had my studded boots on as I had a little paddy on top of the hill and just might have slipped otherwise. Mum didn’t seem to appreciate the little bucks I put in for the sheer joy of it! Or was it something to do with the horizontal sleet on my bum! We finished the ride very wet and muddy but on a good heart rate at nearly 11kph. All in all mum seemed quite pleased with me and my boots.

Thank you to Carol Henderson and Jahmel for their lovely story- an Easycare hoofpick is on its way to you!

Introducing Primrose Hill, Barefoot Ambassador!

2010-10-12T06:27:00.000-07:00

My name is Primrose Hill, I was born on 28th April 2007 at Combe Farm Arabian stud in Devon but have reacently moved to my new home to take up the position of Trelawne Equine's barefoot ambassador! Trelawne Equine are the UK distributor for the Easycare range of hoofboots, and my job is to help them show the world how we horses can be healthier and have stronger feet without metal shoes. I live with 3 other horses, 2 of which were shod until a few years ago, but we are all barefoot here and live as natural a life in our little herd as possible. The UK is a pretty damp place, and Devon is more than most but that does not stop me and my friends having strong, beautiful hooves!

Being only 3 1/2, I am just starting to learn about life outside the stud I was born and raised on (check out my dad, Rumak who still lives there- he is very handsome!) and most of my outings will be around forestry tracks which are renowned for being stony. At the moment, I go for walks with my little Shetland friend and we just like to amble along the tracks but I will be needing some boots once I am carrying my rider around to help protect my feet. It is also a lot better for me to do my roadwork when I am older with boots and pads inside as the road is very unnatural and the pads will allow my bare hooves to function properly.

I rather like the look of the Easyboot Glove, and I have tried a fitkit which showed I will fit a size 00.5 nicely (I have very dainty feet!) but they may well change before I will be needing them next year so will have to wait for another fitting before I know for certain. Fit is everything with hoof boots, so if I need a different style I don't mind at all as all the Easyboot hoof boots are great. I must say I particularly like the look of the boots when they are on 'The Fury'....(swoon!)

I am very excited about my new life, and want to share it with you so please join me on Facebook and follow my blog 'Barefoot Beauty Queen' to keep up to date with all my adventures! I hope to be getting out to meet lots of my human friends next year, so be sure to look out for Trelawne Equine and Primrose Hill in the press and at horsey events in the UK!

Barefoot in Wales

2010-10-12T03:47:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Daisy Dancer my TBx mare. I bought her in 2003 as a 3 year old and rode her barefoot from about 2 weeks later, on the recommendation of my farrier. Unfortunately, my really good farrier moved area and we had a few years struggling along with a farrier that didn’t know what he was doing (other than preparing a foot for a shoe) and we tried a few spells with shoes, but I knew it wasn’t right and she didn’t go as flowing as I knew she did without shoes. Plus, horse shoes are very slippy on our steep concrete drive – I hear people asking if they slip barefoot - I can’t believe how opposite of the truth that is, or why they can’t work that out by just observing!

I eventually went on a KC LaPierre barefoot trimming course and became aware of all the things my original farrier knew from experience. I now also trust my new farrier to shoe her occasionally (July and August), as I monitor that the foot is balanced and that the heels are not left too high or start to underrun. If they do, the shoes come straight off so that they can correct themselves. We now also have an Equine Podiatrist in our area who trims whenever she has a problem (WLD, a stone abscess or shrinking frog usually) and because she has thin TB feet, we use boots whenever she is going to do more than her feet are up to. She has had her old mac boots since about 2005 and uses them about once a month with a lot of those beach rides, so they are very worn but still well loved and have more years in them yet. As you can see from her picture, my daughter now rides her more than me and is supersensitive to your weight (no kicking and pulling required). She is a brave, trusting mare, who is bombproof and surefooted. She can spot soft ground a mile off and only swerves to get on the grass – it’s something that you get used to with a barefoot horse and just let them find the best ground for them.

Janette, Gwynedd

A Thoroughbred with Flat, White Feet...

2010-10-09T06:19:00.000-07:00

My thoroughbred - with flat, white feet and very tender soles - yes, not your usual suspect for barefootedness! - pulled a tendon and had to have 10 months off in the field. This was 6 years ago. One of my immediate concerns was, what do I do with his feet? I didn't really want him wearing shoes during his time off but had horrible images of his feet becoming chipped and cracked beyond repair if I didn't keep him shod.

My farrier advised me to take his shoes off and let his feet get on with it! So I took that advice and spent the next 10 months in trepidation. His feet however were fine!

He was then declared fit to go back into work, but by this time I had got very comfortable with no shoes and had begun to read up on barefoot riding on the Internet, so decided I would give it a go. I also really dreaded having nails knocked in his feet again - it seems such a backward step having spent so long letting his feet adjust to natural living.

After much research and measuring I got easyboot bare for his backs and oldMac G2 for his fronts - and off we went! His transitioning was well under way as he had been lead in from the field regularly down a gravelly road, so really we never looked back. There was a stage when I put comfort pads in his fronts - but I think that was more for me than him!

After two years like that, I ditched the back boots and moved onto Old Mac originals on the front as his feet seemed to have become more round as they adjusted.

I have tried to go without the front boots but I think that is a step too far for his tender, flat feet. I ride mainly on road and tracks too, so it is quite challenge for his feet.

His feet are now hard and strong. He has no further problems with his tendon, nor the ringbone that developed during that phase. His boots stay on in all terrain and have never rubbed him - I do always use gaiters however.

All in all, I am a huge convert to barefoot, and hope that I never again have to have a nail driven into my horses' foot!

Sarah, Dumfriesshire.

Sally and Buffy's adventure in Epics!

2010-10-07T06:08:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I'm back from my mini expedition so here's my hoofboot story... This year myself and my friend Jean had decided to ride from her house in Keswick to stay with another friend in Buttermere and then ride back. 2 days riding in the English Lakes.
My horse Buffy is barefoot and for this ride I had chosen to put on her hoof boots as the going was on roads and stony tracks. She wears Easyboot Epics as you can see in the picture.

We set off from Keswick on Saturday morning and after negotiating some tricky busy roads we were soon on the bridleway, heading along between Catbells and Derwent Water. The going was gritty but not too stony and Buffy went really well. After Grange we went on another bridleway towards Honister which was much more rocky (think of an uphill climb on a riverbed with no water and you've pretty much got it!) but Buffy was fine in her boots. In fact she had much more traction than the other, shod horse who even though he had road nails in his hind shoes found it pretty hard going.

We negotiated wooden bridges and a very narrow gate at which I had to remove Buffy's panniers so she could fit through! Perhaps I need to pack a little lighter next time?

We paused for lunch on a grassy bit and admired the view whilst eating lunch. Then we continued on towards Honister Pass and the slate mine. The climb up to the pass was on a road and was very steep (all the overtaking cars smelt of burning clutch) but the horses kept on plodding. Then we got to the top and looked down and down, and down... The roadsign said the decline was 25%! Buffy never slipped once in her boots and we were soon at the bottom and heading along the shores of Buttermere.

After passing several groups of tourists (many commenting on Buffy's "walking boots") we reached the farm we were staying at for the night. The next day we set off at 9 am sharp for the climb up to the top of the next hill. We returned to Keswick via Newlands Valley (this road has a climb of only 20% compared to yesterday it seemed easy!) and Jean and I swapped horses. Buffy did the accent and decent without slipping again despite the shoddy tarmac.

We rode over wooded bridges and through farmyards as well as along tracks and more roads. The Epics were great on the cobbles in the old mine yard too.

We got back to Keswick just in time for lunch which pleased Buffy no end.

We had a super time and the hoof boots performed brilliantly. I'd really recommend them for this type of terrain. They really can't be beaten on rocky or gritty tracks. In my opinion they out perform metal shoes when faced with this sort of going. I'm definitely going to use them again when I do another expedition in the Lake District.

Sally

The Laminitic Pony

2010-10-05T05:25:00.000-07:00

"My daughters pony has suffered from laminitis and is now well on the road to recovery but everytime the pony is trimmed by the blacksmith he takes so much off her feet she is practically walking on her soles….. so I bought some Easyboot Epics to make her more comfortable and it did seem to make a difference…. Did ask the blacksmith to leave a little more wall on the hoof so that she is not so foot sore…. The blacksmith did not see the need for shoes as not enough work done and I didn’t really like the idea of her having nails driven into her hooves as well as the laminitus, she generally has a very good quality horn…."
Thank you to Izzy for this great story- it sounds like your farrier is pasture trimming as opposed to barefoot trimming from what you describe. The golden rule is a horse should always walk away from a trim (at least) as sound as he walks into it! I would ask him to have a look at www.barefoothorse.com, an excellent website dedicated to the art of barefoot trimming of all schools, he should have your pony walking away without soreness in no time!

Chris and Meg

2010-10-03T05:21:00.000-07:00

Meg is the coloured cob in the front of this picture. We have all hacked across Dartmoor to the pub in the rain and her boots are still holding firm, as you can see. She wears over-reach boots with her epics as she did sometimes pull them off as she is a very extravagant mover. Her pal JV (Joint Venture) is behind her, also in her epics. Meg does endurance and did her first 48km ride across Exmoor this August. Very rough terrain and very gooey. The vet commented on how good her feet were and was very impressed when she finished sound. Hope that this story is good enough to get me a magnetic hoof pick!

It certainly is, thank you Chris!

Wendy, Tally and Morgan

2010-10-01T05:11:00.000-07:00

After almost four years of my two horses being barefoot, one has coped very well, but the other, Tally Ho!, a New Forest mare, has really struggled. Last summer, at our wits end, partly because of the shape of her feet, and partly because her feet are quite small, and all the other boots were too clumsy for her, and really aggravated her, we had more or less decided to put her back in metal shoes, something I really didn't want to do, but because of lack of exercise due to her being footsore, she had put on weight, and was borderline E.M.S.(equine metabolic syndrome) My trimmer and I then discovered Easyboot Glove, and decided we would try them as a last resort. We ordered your fit kit, followed instructions, the boots arrived very promptly, and we've never looked back. It has taken a while to get her back into work, and we've had to take things slowly, but the 'Gloves' are brilliant, she loves them, and everyone, including my vet, is asking about them, and all the village schoolchildren talk about 'Talls Trainers!' So a huge thanks to Easyboot for helping me keep her 'metal-free', fit and healthy. She's 18, by the way! Don't you just love her dainty ankle straps!
Kind Regards
Wendy, Tally and Morgan.

Barefoot horse at HOYS and banning unshod horses in showing

2010-09-07T03:50:00.000-07:00

This is a note I read today on the Horse Hoof Facebook page. I also know of at least one other horse going to HOYS barefoot and I am sure there are many more! I would encourage anyone who feels competitors should be allowed the choice how they keep their horses to take the time to drop them a line. Personally, I would like to think the judge is knowledgeable enough to assess if a horse is balanced enough in whatever footwear (or lack of) that there may be before he decides to ride as I have seen more shod horses than barefoot slip in my lifetime!

by The Horse's Hoof on Tuesday, 07 September 2010 at 01:23

From: antonio checa

This Irish Draught horse called Mac, property of Becky Chapman, over 18hh has qualified to go to HOYS 2010 (for the second time!). He is 7years old and has been barefoot all of his life. Not only has he been competing since he was 4 years old as a heavyweight show hunter but has either won or been well placed in lots of top competitions. If you want to find out about this magnificient horse then go to the following web link:http://www.hoys.co.uk/blog/index.php/2010/08/31/from-hand-reared-to-hoys TheSports Horse Breeding of Great Britain now wants to ban unshod horses from the showring. This new rule only effects the riding class when the judges need to ride trhe horses.Their argument: it is not safe for the judges becuse the horse could slip and injure the judge! This does not make any sense because if this were truly the case then they would wear hard hats! Furthermore this new rule does not include the pony class where children ride their ponies. Does this mean that our children aren't important?

If you do not agree with this new ruling , then please write to them at the address below. SPORT HORSE BREEDING OF GREAT BRITAIN96 HIGH STREET EDENBRIDGEKENTTN8 5ARTel:

Fax: 01732 867464If you know any other people who would support this campain, then please forward the address above to them.

Big thank you, in advance.A. Checa.

email: office@sporthorsegb.co.uk

Easycare at Walt Disney World!

2010-09-03T03:17:00.000-07:00

This is an entry into Easycare's blog about Kevins visit to 'The happiest place on earth' and it looks like for their horses, it soon will be! I have always been impressed with the standard of care of the animals at the parks that I have seen, and the horses are no exception with this bold yet commonsense move by Disney to take their horses barefoot. Their horses vary is size, breed and shape so it is a very good showcase how different types of working horse can all work very happily without shoes and also have all the benefit of life without the restriction of metal shoes.

"I had the good fortune last week to work with some of the people who manage the equine program at the Tri-Circle-D Ranch at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

Tri-Circle-D Ranch - one of the first buildings erected when Walt Disney World was originally opened.
About the Horses
There are currently 79 horses at two locations on the massive Walt Disney World campus. Both barns are near the Magic Kingdom location and there is a diverse mix of horses there who are split into two disctinct groups. One set is made up of the large draft horse breeds like Clydesdales and Belgians. They are used principally for pulling carriages around the Main Street area - always at a walk and mostly on blacktop roads.

Some of the staff at Tri-Circle-D Ranch talk about the transition strategy.
The other set is made up of trail horses, mostly of quarter horse descent, with the odd Arabian and warmblood mix thrown in for color or height variety. Their job is to keep the guests entertained on five or six 45-minute trail rides per day. A smaller group of ponies give trail rides around the former petting zoo, which now provides a set of spacious paddocks for the little guys.

This location is where the trail rides start from. The shade was very welcome.
The horses are all in exceptionally good weight and health and the facitilies are meticulously maintained by a cheery group. The public - called 'guests' - are free to wander around the facilities. I was very impressed by the willingness of the staff to answer questions and share their love for what they do.

Impressive, isn't it, to think about implementing change at such a large institution?
EasyCare and Exclusivity
As you can probably imagine, I wasn't just there to see what it is like at the happiest place on earth. I was there because Tri-Circle-D Ranch is transitioning their horse teams over to a barefoot/booted program and EasyCare will be the exclusive boot provider for their program.

Discussing the journey ahead.
An Impressive Approach
I flew down to Orlando to coordinate a visit there during the two days their barefoot hoofcare practitioner was pulling shoes from some of the horses - and trimming others who are already weeks or months into their barefoot transition. They brought in their vet so we could talk about the relevance of diet in the transition process, and it also gave us a chance to study x-rays of some of the horses' feet so the trims could be modified accordingly.

Some of these draft horses are unbelievably tall - we put a stick to one guy and it was not even big enough to get an accurate measurement. That means he was probably 18h3. It was fascinating to see these big hooves get trimmed - and to get a first hand understanding of the challenges they face. It is a humid climate with soft, wet ground for most of the year, and the hooves are definitely soft-country feet. One of the contributors to success for Walt Disney World will be the amount of work each of their horses is responsible for, which means every horse has a job and every horse is on a strictly monitored work program. This will help speed the transition process.

One of several pastures around the facility.
Those are Some Big Feet
We selected Easyboot Epics for their draft carriage horses - they will be using a combination of size 6 and size 7 for those horses. The trail horses will be using Easyboot Gloves - with the exception of Minnie, a draft horse cross, who will be parading down the trail in her size 4 Easyboot Epics.

All eyes are on the transition project down in Orlando - if this initial phase goes well, Walt Disney World in California will be our next stop. Please join us in wishing the entire team in Orlando the very best of luck in this bold move forward."

Everyone Knows Thoroughbreds Can't go Barefoot...

2010-08-19T02:20:00.000-07:00

Well thats what we are led to believe! The truth is, with the right trim, diet and excercise there is no reason why virtually any horse cannot enjoy the benefits of an iron free lifestyle. The biggest obstacle most horses have to going barefoot is the attitude of their owner. Barefoot (particularly in the beginning) can be tough if the horse has lees than ideal hooves to start with, but I'm sure you will agree the rewards of a healthier, happier longer lived horse are worth the little extra work in those first couple of months!

This is the story of Miss Bronte, sent to us by one of our dealers in the North. Angela has helped many horses to enjoy being shoe free, as well as trimming she can supply and fit any of the hoof boots in the Easycare range as well as advising on diet and management of the barefoot horse.

Miss Bronte’s story… so far…

Miss Bronte – Bronte to her friends – is a five year old thoroughbred mare. She has had a very typical thoroughbred life… so far. Raced as a two and three year old, she ran six times, her claim to fame being ridden a couple of times by leading lady jockey Hayley Turner. Bronte just wasn’t fast enough to race and after coming last in her final race she was ‘retired’. Retired meant being chucked in a field and forgotten about, until she ended up at the Thoroughbred Rehabilitation Centre in spring 2010. She was under weight and lame when she arrived and was immediately shod. The TRC worked with her and got her into a good enough condition to put her up for adoption.

This is where Paula Smith comes into Bronte’s life. Paula has had horses for years and recently returned from living in Australia wanted a youngster to bring on and event, eventually. Being a friend of mine I had already convinced her of the benefits of going barefoot though it was not something she’d ever thought of doing with any of her previous horses. We had the very common discussion about thoroughbreds, especially ex-racehorses, not being suitable for barefoot because ‘thoroughbreds have bad feet’, but I convinced her to give it a try.

We gave Bronte a couple of days to settle in before removing her shoes. Underneath the shoes her feet were pretty typical of a horse shod too young – small, wider than longer, underun heels, poor horn quality. Shoes off, first trim done and then it’s that first walk across the yard. Paula’s yard surface is quite challenging in places for a newly barefoot horse, gravelly in parts. Bronte was tentative as she walked away but sound.

Paula is the perfect client – she does every thing I tell her to the letter. So Bronte got walked in hand round the roads in the village and her diet was adjusted to that of a barefoot horse, low sugar/starch, poor grazing. Paula built up the work slowly, never doing more than Bronte was comfortable with. Soon Paula was hacking out round the village – again just at walk and Bronte was sound at every step. We had a couple of slight backwards moments, when Bronte came slightly footy. Both these times coincided with her being in season – a very common thing we’ve been finding… mares going footy when in season. It’s almost certainly related to hormonal changes and a client of mine has found that supplementing with Agnus Castus powder has solved the problem.

Due to the shape of Bronte’s front feet – much wider than they are long – I fitted her with Old Mac Originals. In time the shape of Bronte’s feet will improve and we hope to get her into Easyboot Gloves. However for the time being and the stage of Bronte’s work the Old Mac Original’s work perfectly. Once fitted with these front boots Paula started hacking off road. Our local tracks are mostly very stony and pretty challenging for the transitioning barefoot horse. But with Old Macs in front and nothing behind Bronte has been exploring the countryside with ears pricked and a long stride.

Paula alternates riding out with and without the boots on at the front. When being schooled Bronte doesn’t wear boots. I have trimmed her three times now and the nail holes are almost grown out. Her feet have improved hugely even in the short space of time I’ve been working with her. The Thoroughbred Rehabilitation Centre were dubious about taking her barefoot – convinced she would be dog lame without shoes. They were very impressed when they came to see her – and could hardly believe it as they saw her walk over the stones and gravel without shoes or boots.

Watching the mare being schooled or just powering round in the field is wonderful – she has a huge elevated trot and in time, with lots of schooling, will produce a pretty spectacular dressage test.

When she first arrived I was worried about her conformation. She had marked toe first landing when she first arrived and her pasterns, which are on the long side, were very low to the ground – not a good combination for long term soundness. Since the shoes have been removed and the feet have strengthened up her whole posture has altered. She now has a beautiful heel first landing. Her pasterns now sit at a more natural angle underneath her and no longer looks so prone to injury. This will only improve further as her feet develop. The great benefit of having barefeet is that the horse can grow exactly the foot it needs to suit it’s own conformation, unlike with shoes were the farrier will try to get the feet to conform to the text book ideal. Shod hooves are almost always weak at the heel causing all sorts of injuries long term.

Bronte’s story shows what can be achieved with a thoroughbred ex-racehorse in the short space of time. Credit has to go to Bronte’s owner Paula. Simply removing the shoes is not enough. It is essential to get the diet right and to do the transitioning work. Together Bronte and Paula make the perfect partnership and hopefully will go far together. Without shoes of course!

Rockcrunchers Barefoot Trimming Services - AANHCP trained barefoot trimmer available for trimming and boot fitting covering Northern England and the Midlands. Contact info@rockcrunchers.co.uk or phone 07554 011634 www.rockcrunchers.co.uk

Result!

2010-08-18T05:08:00.000-07:00

Here is a report from Karens weekend, Karen was using Easyboot glue ons and Easyboot gloves on Looey, and had a great time by the sound of it!
"We had a fab weekend up in North Yorkshire…here's the story…
We travelled up to North Yorkshire after work on Friday evening. On route we stopped in Thirsk for a chippy supper. It's amazing how you end up meeting people. I was stood waiting for Bond to come back to the Land Rover and this couple and their daughter, who were from Norway on holiday came over for a chat. They were laughing because they have horses themselves and said that while travelling through Yorkshire they hadn't seen 1 horse, only sheep and cows!! When they saw our trailer they came over to have a chat to some fellow horsey people - obviously getting withdrawal symptoms ;-). They then spotted Bond's sign writing on his Landover - Pennine Barefoot - and asked what we were doing with the horse. I told them we were on our way to an Endurance Event. It turns out that they use Easy Boots on their horse too!! They had tried Boa's but thought the EasyBoots were way better - what a small world. We gave them directions to the event and they said they might try and pop over to have a look at hat was going on at some point over the weekend.
By the time we got to the venue it was going dark and had started raining. We quickly set up a corral for Loo and had a bit of a blether to a guy from Ambleside who was crewing for his wife the following day in our class. The rain didn't stop all night - I woke at about 5.30am since we were sleeping in the trailer and the rain was pelting it big time. I lay there for the next 2 hours praying for it to stop - it didn't. Our vetting was carried out in a torrential down pour - the forecast said it would be sunny with a few scattered showers! However, by the time we'd tacked up and I'd got on board, the sun came out and it stayed like that for the rest of the day. The farrier who checks all the horses shoes/hooves/boots before starting was convinced the glue-ons would get "sucked off" in all the Yorkshire clay - so off we went to prove him wrong.

Looey was in top form - I'd been warned about a potential "Nike Effect" with the glue-ons from some fellow Endurance Riders who have just started to try them on their horse. Yep, Loo was pinging along with a spring in his step. The endurance rides in North Yorkshire are never a doddle - plenty of hills and varied going of bridleways, farm tracks, field edges, forestry, moorland and a wee bit of roadwork. The views are stunning - I managed to appreciate them on the 2nd 42km loop when Looey had chilled out a bit! The class we had entered was the Drover's Dash 85km ride. It wasn't a endurance race but the class was going to be judged based on the "performance formula" where points are awarded using a calculation based on final resting HR and average speed. This makes it a bit more interesting - being a wee bit competitive, it means that I was trying to keep our speed up but not take too many risks incase he tweaked himself. The going on the first 42km loop was very slippy - this part of Yorkshire hadn't seen as much rain as we had in Lancashire - the ground was still quite hard, but with all the overnight rain, it had made the surface very slick. It did make riding a more difficult. The worst bit was the last section which had a lot of red clay - it was like a skating rink - I had to ride very tactically and choose the bits with the best traction - Looey nearly lost all 4 feet on a couple of occasions and I nearly went out the side door! We rode the first 42km all on our on - we caught sight of a couple of riders just in front but never caught up with them.

After the first 42km loop we had to go through a vetgate - I wanted to get Looey's HR under 64 ASAP since this is a good way of making up time - the clock keeps ticking until you vet. We untacked him, threw a load of water on him to cool him down and I took his HR which was 60. So we presented to the vet in 4 minutes. We had a break of 30 minutes in which Loo munched on his oats and sugar beet and then we were back out on the same 42km loop. We had caught up to riders who'd been just within view in front of me since Looey had vetted so quickly. We ended up riding along together for the rest of the ride, taking it in turns to lead when the horse in front had switched off. The ground had dried out a lot since the morning which made life a bit easier. When we got back to the venue, we had a 30 minute wait until we had to go to the vetting. . Looey looked fine, so we let him drink and eat and kept walking him round periodically to prevent any stiffness setting in. I also massaged his hamstrings since there were plenty of hills, so he had worked hard. The vetting was a nerve-wrecking experience. The 2 riders I'd ridden with vetted first. 3 vets were watching the horses trot up and they each wrote on a piece of paper whether the horse was lame or not, this was then handed to the Technical Steward who told the rider whether the majority thought their horse was sound - a 3 card trick!! The 2 horses were considered to be lame! It was Loo's turn - his heart rate was under 64, so that's a pass - next was the trot up and then the stomach churning wait for the verdict - it was a unanimous decision - he'd PASSED!! Phew….!!!

So, then we had to await the results of the Performance Formula at the prize-giving. We'd come 3rd out of 7 starters - icing on the cake…the class was sponsored by Bailey's, so we received a feed voucher as well as our rosettes. I was really impressed with Looey on this ride. He answered all the questions I asked of him and completed at a speed of 13.8kph which is pretty good for a challenging ride like this. He's still a young endurance horse and has lots of developing to do yet but he improves on each ride. The glue-ons stayed on and got lots of attention from fellow competitors - including those who shoe their horses. Interestingly, the farrier was seen out on course on a number of occasions, nailing shoes on horses who'd lost them in the sticky, slippy going.
The ride itself was extremely well organised. Heidi Lewis had lots of volunteers opening gates and manning check points. The landowners had gone out of their way to move stock for the weekend, so that gates could be left open and there were lots of them!
And finally, a big "Thank-you" to Trelawne Equine - your advice and sponsorship are really helping to make it happen for us this year!"

Thank you from Trelawne Equine for being such a great ambassador for Barefoot horses and hoof boots

Bertram in his Epics!

2010-08-16T03:18:00.000-07:00

Bertram from Denmark is a very happy pony in his epics! His 'mum' wrote to us to say " The little boy walked much better and was almost silly-happy!" when he was fitted with his little pony size 000 Easyboot Epic hoof boots and 12mm comfort pads. Bertram, being so small is between a size pony and 000, but we ended up booting him in a 000 with a pony size cable and 12mm hard pads to ensure the boots stayed on tight and the hoof was in the correct place for a natural breakover. Easyboot Epics are one of the few hoof boots that cater for very small ponies, our own Shetland who is only 7h1 also wears the 000, so there are very few small ponies that cannot be booted! The Easyboot hoof boots with comfort pads in are ideal for ponies suffering from or prone to laminitis as they pads will help to support the internal structures and promote circulation. Shoeing a laminitic horse decreases the blood flow and increases concussion leading to far worse attacks and long term repercussions.

Tevis Through the Eyes of a Sales Guy

2010-08-04T07:33:00.000-07:00

The paragraph at the bottom of this post on Easycare's blog pretty much sums up the way we at Trelawne Equine feels about Easycare. We started this company out of our belief that barefoot was the best thing we can do for ours horses, and after a number of years of using and selling a variety of hoof boots, that the Easycare range are the best possible products to help you achieve this. Easycare are totally unique in their knowledge, passion and experience in the field- I don't think any other manufacturer of hoof boots in the world can even begin to claim the same amount of research and sheer hard work has gone into their product! You only have to look at the vast range of boots available from them and see the long list of things people have achieved in Easycare boots to see how different and pioneering this company is.

"This was my second Tevis as a crew member for the Easyboot riders. This year was much easier for me because I knew the area and that is was going to get hot during the day. I also had a better sense of what I should expect from our human/horse teams. Last year there was the fear of the unknown: it was our first Tevis glue-on attempt. 2010 was very different for a number of reasons: there was even more on the line this year. In 2009 Easyboots performed almost flawlessly, so in 2010 not only did we want to repeat our 2009 performance, we wanted build on it

This year Garrett and the EasyCare team booted almost twice as many horses as last year. Because of the way Gloves and Glue ons performed over the past two years it was not a surprise that more people wanted these high performance boots on their horses. Tevis is a grueling 100 mile trek over some of the most rugged terrain in the Sierras and your choice of protection can make or break your experience.

2010 exceeded our expectations. EasyCare had six horses complete in the top 20 and a 59% completion rate vs. only 51% for horses with other forms of hoof care. If those statistics were not impressive enough, Garrett and Lisa moved from 16th and 17th place to 8th and 9th in the last six miles. To top it all off Garrett and The Fury won the Haggin Cup, an award for the horse that is judged to be in the best physical condition the day after the event. The Haggin Cup is viewed by many as the most prestigious award in the endurance world.

I have been with EasyCare for almost four years: it is a great company with amazing support team. I have never in my short lifetime been as proud to be part of something in my professional life. Easycare and are hoof boots are making a difference, we are changing the way people view hoof care. We are creating better lives for horses and offering solutions where there used to be none. It feels good to be involved with company that is effecting change and making a difference. It was a proud day not only for EasyCare, but also for barefoot horses."

Increase the Longevity of Your Boa Laces

2010-08-02T01:46:00.000-07:00

The Boa Horse Boot is a popular choice for Hoof Boot customers in the UK as it is a very quick and easy boot to use. This versatile protective horse boot is easy to install and remove. Keeping your protective horse boots clean will help increase their longevity. Here are some helpful tips to add life to accessories such as Boa Laces:

Keep them as clean as possible.
Wipe away any excess dirt or mud from the Boa Laces after each ride.
If the lace hesitates when tightening the Boa Dial add a little water to loose it up.
After riding in sand or loose dirt take a small air hose (or even an air-filled keyboard cleaner) and clean them thoroughly.

Of course you always want to make sure the cap is installed properly on your hoof boots. Click here for instructions on making sure you've installed your Boa Cap correctly. Remember you can damage the dial closure system if you don't use your Boa Cap.

Easycare Users in the UK- Old Macs for Harley!

2010-07-30T01:05:00.000-07:00

Lucy Bruckner from our home county Devon wmailed Easycare to explain why she loves the Old Mac G2 hoof boots. The Old Mac G2 is such a versatile hoof boot, and one of the most popular in the UK as it fits a variety of hoof shapes from round to the very long narrow hoof (when used with Old Mac's inserts) often seen in navicuar or lamanitic horses and ponies.

I've owned my cob since he was 5 years old, and he's just turned 18 this summer. He was traditionally shod for many years, until my second knee operation in October 2008 caused me to have the shoes off, and I turned him out for a few months. I recovered much more quickly than expected, and started to ride Harley barefoot, on short hacks of up to 30 minutes on our tarmac roads and stoney tracks, and he coped, but was a bit stumbley, and I had his front shoes back on - but Harley had other ideas! Climbing the stock fencing to eat off the tops of the banks meant that his feet would inevitably slide through, and he would pull back, ripping the shoe off and a little more horn each time. I was so fed up, in the winter I was only managing to ride once a week due to the dark evenings and pressure of work, and the horse had always pulled a shoe off!
I'd considered hoof boots, but didn't know where to start. I own a feed merchants and small tack shop, and so took to asking customers of their experiences, some were good, some bad, but one offered me the loan of her Old Mac G2's size 9. I took these clumpy great big boots home, and tried to fit them, of course without reading the instructions first - my long suffering horse spent a lot of time on three legs whilst I fitted the gaiters first, then tried to push the boots over the top! Once I had the fitting sorted, we were away, they were fab! I was concerned that they would rub, but have never had a problem. Harley still had one shod foot at that time, so I rode a fair bit to trial the boots before telling my farrier that we were going barefoot - thereby saving myself about £40 every six weeks, the difference between shoeing and barefoot trimming. Since having the boots, we haven't looked back. We love hacking, generally for just an hour or so at a time, but last summer I booted up at about 8am, trailered my horse to the centre of Dartmoor, and completed the Dartmoor Challenge, about a four hour ride over stoney and boggy tracks, the boots were fantastic, and raised a lot of interest - small children often point and comment on my horse wearing wellies or trainers. An extra bonus which I hadn't considered was how sure footed my horse is on slippery tarmac roads. Riding with a friend recently, she was having to dismount and lead her horse, his feet were slipping badly and he was in danger of going down on the road, but of course in boots my horse was absolutely fine.

My first pic shows Harleys broken knees, from slipping and falling down on the tarmac road about five years ago - luckily he made a complete recovery.

The second was taken on a hack after galloping through woodland, bare behind, one Old Mac G2 and one shod hoof, this was the transitional period when I decided to go to boots fulltime.

The final pic was taken on the Dartmoor challenge last summer, boots in front, bare behind.

Pasture Trim or Barefoot Trim?

2010-07-28T02:07:00.000-07:00

This is an excellent post taken from Easycare's blog. A lot of people think that a hoof can only be trimmed in one way, if you have ever wondered about the differences in trimming here is some great info from Nature's Hoof- Barefoot and Balanced.

Bare Hoof Care
Once our equine friends biological need for movement 24/7 is restricted, the effects on the hoof quality and shape become apparent as they both deteriorate due to:
   • Lack of movement and exposure to appropriate terrain that would stimulate hoof growth and development, and natural wear .
   • Exposure to ammonia which forms with the decay of plant material and animal waste i.e. stable bedding, manure, excess muddy conditions, etc.
   • Incorrect trimming and shoeing.
   • Neglect - in most domestic situations, we MUST provide REGULARLY scheduled hoof care every 4-8 weeks

What is the difference between a farrier "pasture" trim and a "barefoot" trim?
Typically, a farrier/pasture trim is one that shortens the hoof as part of hoof maintenance when conditions did not provide for adequate wear of the horn (hoof wall). Hoof horn is growing continuously, just like our fingernails. If the hoof is healthy, the wall will grow at the rate of approximately 1/4" per month. If the horse lives in an environment where the hoof wall is not abraded/worn, the hooves will become pathologically deformed as they grow too long. Therefore - and in most domestic situations, we must provide the horse with regular hoof care to "mimic natural wear".

A healthy hoof in its natural environment does not just shorten itself. It sculpts itself to its physiologically correct and functional form. There is nothing flat in a healthy hoof. The physiologically correct form and the functions that go with it, have been studied by those who saw problems with conventional hoof care which comes from a mind set that originates from the desire to protect the hoof wall from wear, and suspend the sole and frog above the ground, by attaching a flat piece of metal to it; the horseshoe.
The preparation of a hoof for a shoe requires a certain trimming technique. This rasping technique will produce what is called "the solar plane". It will shorten the toe area with every swipe, reducing the concavity and thinning the sole beneath the tip of the coffin bone, while also flattening the heel and quarters onto a flat plane with the toe.
   • The heels are generally left long; encouraging contraction, toe-first landing, and "navicular" pain.
   • The toe callus is trimmed away; a thin sole doesn't protect the foot.
   •The bottom of the wall is left flat, as if preparing for a shoe. This encourages flaring in the bare hoof. Flares are painful, like pulling really hard on your fingernail.
   •Farriers often ignore flares, leaving a stretched white line and poor coffin bone suspension, thus the horse is "sore on gravel" and on rocky trails.

Natural Bare Hoof

A "physiologically correct" bare hoof trim is created almost like a "piece of art". It has "flow" and "balance" and most of all, function. Its model is a healthy self trimming hoof as we would find it in the wild. Even though the pasture trim may look similar at first, the trimming techniques are quite different - and will take the bare hoof trimmer longer than it would take a standard farrier trim. Every feature of the hoof has a purpose which requires the trimming techniques to be different. Bare hoof trimmers have been schooled to specifically recognize and enhance these structures so the hoof can function optimally.
A healthy hoof provides comfort for mobility - no lameness, appropriate traction, surefootedness, correct breakover and balance. It provides function - hoof mechanism for proper circulatory and metabolic function, protection of sensitive internal structures and shock absorption (60-80% of concussion is absorbed by the hoof suspension mechanism). If this function is impaired by a brace (shoe), concussion will have to be absorbed elsewhere in the equine body - joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments will be stressed, causing problems like calcifications, arthritis, avoidable "wear and tear". A near ground parallel coffin bone, properly suspended within the hoof capsule is required for balanced weight distribution for skeletal and soft tissue health. A healthy foal is born with the "blueprint" of hooves that will fulfill all of these qualities.

Once you get your barefoot trim, that is the time to incorporate the use of hoof boots to aid in the transition and help protect your equine partner while out on your rides. Right after the trim do your measurements, order your EasyCare hoof boots and then go out and enjoy your barefoot partner. You can be very proud that you are taking the natural approach to lifelong hoof health.

2010-07-26T01:57:00.000-07:00

Jenny Edwards at www.all-natural-horse-care.com has some really great barefoot and natural hoof care information. There are pictures and diagrams to help you with knowing all the different parts of a hoof. Knowing about your horses hooves and how they should look (which is usually very different to the hooves we are used to seeing shod!) is very important for any horse owner, as the horses hooves are your responsibility. As with anything, just becasue you are paying someone for a professional service does not mean you should not question it if you are unsure or unhappy about their work. The more you know about your horses hooves, the better you will be able to help your horse and your farrier or trimmer by understanding what they tell you about maintainence or special treatments you need to do between professional trims. Once of the wonderful (and scary at first!) things about taking your horse barefoot is the sense of responsibility you feel for your horses hooves. In reality this shoudl be felt by every horse owner, but we tend to be brough up around horses accepting that a 'farrier looks after the hooves' yet how can someone who is only paid to visit once evrery 6 weeks really be held responsible if the hoof deteriorates (unless it is due to the shoeing method of course!)? Bare hooves allow you to see exactly what is happening to the hoof, no shoe to cover up white line disease or grit in the white line for example. Well kept bare hooves are not only a joy to look at, but very low mainainence, no worries about wet and dry hooves cracking around nail holes, lost shoes or lameness due to thrush or white line issues so a little knowledge is a valuable thing!

Barefoot HoofBelow are some barefoot hoof diagrams to give you an idea of what the shape of the "ideal" hoof should look like. The parts of the hoof are labeled for reference.
Note: Healthy hooves can vary depending on the environment the horse is living in and the terrain they regularly encounter.

Sole View of a Front Hoof

Note the following points

Wide, fat frog.
Tight white line.
Strong, thick hoof walls - with the inner wall being thicker.
Bars end approximately halfway down the frog.
The heel buttresses are back towards the rear of the frog.
The hoof ratio is 65:35 (from the rear of the hoof to the widest point; and from the widest point to the break over).

Sole View of Rear Hoof

The rear hoof is more oblong in shape and has a slightly pointed toe compared to the front hoof. This is because the rear hooves are used to propel the horse forward and so the point helps the hoof dig into the ground to provide more push.

Side View of the Hoof

Weightbearing - The True Role of the Wall And SoleContrary to popular belief, the hoof wall should not be the only structure to bear the weight of the horse. This is called peripheral loading and it puts way too much stress on the laminar connection and has a dramatic effect on the blood supply to the hoof. Dr Robert Bowker VMD, PhD recently did research on this and found that on a:

Correctly trimmed Bare foot: blood flow continues between heartbeats
Shod foot: blood stops between heartbeats and blood does not reach small blood vessels.
Laminitic foot: blood stops and backs up between heartbeats

The diagrams below show how the hoof should be trimmed (images on right hand side of box) so that both the wall and the sole bear weight.

The use of EasyCare Comfort Pads in your EasyCare boots will ensure that the hooves are not being peripheral loaded. Easycare hoof pads come in three densities...soft (green), medium (black) and firm (red). The thicknesses are 12mm (1/2") or 6mm (1/4"). The Easyboot Glove boots will only accomodate the 6mm pads so the close fit is not compromised. Medium is the usual density recommended, soft are good for sore horses and hard for hooves that need lifting in the boots.

Boa Hoof Boot Tip #2

2010-07-24T02:50:00.000-07:00

Have you ever come back from a ride to find you have lost a cap to your Boa Hoof Boot? Sometimes it's tough to determine if the Boa cap is tight enough. Of course if it's not tight enough, it can come off leaving the Boa Dial exposed. Here are some helpful tips to ensure successful installation of this protective cap.

Begin with the cap showing the "BOA" lettering vertical. This is actually the only way the cap will go on correctly.

Next twist the cap clockwise. Then you will hear a series of clicks. The cap will be in the tightest position when the "BOA" lettering is horizontal.

BOA
Follow these instructions to help prevent losing a cap to your protective horse boot. However, if you do happen to lose or or misplace this handy protective cap you can always contact Trelawne Equine for details of a local stockist who can supply you with a spare.

Karen and Looey Triumph in Gloves at Wirral

2010-07-22T06:20:00.000-07:00

Karen Corr and Bond Hardman are Trelawne Equines sponsored riders for 2010, and have had a less than ideal start to their competitive year! With so much bad weather preventing fittening work, followed by both horse and rider injury things have been tough for the team. Looeys feet have been changing shape over the past few months, and Karen initially had problems with the gaiters on the gloves being too large and causing rubbing. With the better weather, gradually fittening horse and rider and the new glove gaiter Karen was pleased to report a fantastic ride at Wirral last weekend.

Karen writes "We used the smaller boots with power straps. I hardly ever looked down to check they were still there since I was confident we'd got the fit right. The new gaiters which were on his hind feet, worked well too. I rode with some one who used to ride barefoot but didn't succeed - this was pre-glove days. However she was really interested in how we were getting on and rode with me for a lot of the 2nd loop, think she'll try again after this season's over."

Karens experience shows how it is so important to achieve a correct fit, and that often going down 1/2 a size in a glove will give a really secure fit.

A Healthy Hoof

2010-07-21T02:40:00.000-07:00

Here is a great post from Easycare's blog taken from an article found on hoofcare practitioner Maria Siebrand's website The Thoughtful Horseman. It gives a full understanding of the importance of conditioning our horses feet along with natural hoof care and why it is not always as straighforward as we would like it to be.
I am always searching for analogies to help owners understand the barefoot transition: why it sometimes takes months, why the horse that was “sound” in shoes is tender-footed without them, why shoeing is so entrenched in our equine management. I’ve often compared conditioning the newly bare hoof to strength training or endurance training: you don’t simply wake up one day, walk into a gym for the first time in your life, and bench press 300 lbs. You build your muscles, or your stamina, over time, asking a little more of your body gradually, until you are strong enough. Same with the horse’s hoof: conditioning the hoof to the type of terrain the horse will be working on, and the type of work the horse will be expected to do, is the only way to develop a healthy hoof capable of performing the job required of it.
Why, then, do horseshoes allow horses to perform the same work without conditioning the foot? And why is it a bad thing? Most of the time, the hoof simply is not given a chance to acclimate to the work before a shoe is nailed on. Two year olds about to go into training are routinely shod before they begin work. It’s just the way it has been done for hundreds of years. It stands to reason that, if the colt were left barefoot and then began training, his feet would have the opportunity to develop along with his muscles and endurance. This is, of course, an oversimplification, because the colt’s stabling environment and diet, and the quality of the barefoot trimming he receives, not only during his training, but up until that time, play a critical role. Just for the sake of argument, suppose that those things were as they should be. We could finally reverse the shoeing trend; we could raise horses with truly healthy, sound feet; and we could reduce the incidence of navicular problems, reported to occur in up to 86% of shod horses, dramatically.
Once the horse is shod, the hoof is quite literally prevented from developing at all. In fact, it immediately begins to become weaker. Vital structures are lifted out of an active role, and like an unused muscle, lose strength. It’s akin to wearing a brace or a splint (although the damaging effects of the nailed on shoe actually cause pathologies, as well); while a splint supports a weakness, the weakness will only become more pronounced if the splint is used continually. Physical therapy - using the limb without the splint - is the only way to strengthen the limb. Physical therapy can be uncomfortable - even painful - but it is the only way to regain use of a weakened or injured limb. The same is true for rehabilitating a hoof that has been shod for any period of time.
Would you take any other "shortcut" in preparing your horse physically for the demands of the job you have in mind for him, if you knew that the ultimate result of the shortcut would completely rob him of the very strength you wanted him to have? Isn't it worth the time it takes to build a really, truly healthy hoof, instead of a hoof that works for now?

Barefoot Success- You Hold the Keys!

2010-07-20T02:38:00.000-07:00

This is a very though provoking passage from Linda Cowles, a very experienced practitioner in Santa Rosa, CA.
Take heart hoof care practitioners and listen closely horse owners. Your trimmer doesn't ultimately hold the keys to barefoot success, you do!

Who really heals these horse's feet? Their owners. Horses owners are horses' most powerful ally.
I started out trimming brood mares and peoples neglected backyard horses, and learned the hard way that I can only save these horses with their owner’s assistance. When struggling in muddy paddocks trying to trim feet that had last been trimmed 6 months ago, or trying to devise a bandage that would stay on an abscessed foot when the horse's pasterns were buried in mud, I realized that. I needed to focus on horses I could help.
I can help most of these horses, but I can't change the owners. I now let them know what they need to do to help their horse, and let them know that, if they work to heal their horse, I'll work hard next to them. If they can't do their part, I give them a few names of folks who may be willing to work with them. It’s a heart breaker.
Pete Ramey consoled me once that I'd made the right decision about not working with the owner of a horse that was fed to obesity, had laminitis and chronic thrush. "When the vet looks at that foot and asks who the hoof care provider is, do you want your name associated with it? Is there anything you can do to change the owner?"
Tough. I leave the door open, tell them that if they decide to try working with me, I would love to work with them, but ask them, please, not too wait too long because the effects of severe laminitis are NOT reversible. This is their horse’s life, and no, they don't get a Do-Over if they realize they were wrong. Loving owners heal their horses using the care & management they provide, plus the assistance of people like me.
Linda Cowels

I think this highlights the true commitment that needs to go with taking your horse barefoot, and like everything with horses the buck stops with the owner of the horse. Hoof care professionals are an integral part of any hoof care regime, but that is only half the story and the owner needs to work closely with them to ensure the horses diet and lifestyle are correct too. Just like our own bodies, it is important to keep them fit and healthy and eat the right foods in order to stay fit and healthy- think how you nails become brittle or ridged when you have a bad diet, a horses hoof reacts the same to too much protein and sugar. A strong hoof capsule is paramount for the soundness of any horse shod or unshod, and the better the hoof quality the better job the hoof care professional can do! Hoof boots like the Easyboot RX are ideal to help a sore or transitioning horse through a rough period, and the Easyboot Glove will help to keep your horses hooves in top condition even on the toughest, flint ridden tracks. Bare is best, but in the UK with our wet soggy ground hoof boots are often needed to allow our horses to work freely across the potentially flinty and rocky terrain we encounter when out riding.

100 mile Rides? No problem in Boots!

2010-07-19T08:36:00.000-07:00

A great post from Easycare about their most recent Easyboot Hoof Boot success stories:
Fit, Fit, Fit. When Easyboots are fitted correctly, you and your horse can accomplish the most challenging events and terrain in the world. In the last 12 months, Easybooted endurance horses have finished the Old Dominion 100, Big Horn 100, Tevis 100, Git R Done 100 , Fort Howes 100, FITS 100, UAE 100 Mile President's Cup, Biltmore 100 and the Quilty 100. The success stories roll in daily.

Dave Rabe and Christoph Schork on the way down the Tevis trail in Easyboots.

"At another ride last week a friend told me afterwards that you couldn't get lost if you just followed the boots on the trail."

In reality, boots continue to get better and the number of users is growing at an unprecedented rate. Don't listen to the Easyboot naysayers. Look at the facts - they are indisputable.

Easyboots after the 100 mile Tevis Cup event.

2010-07-13T01:45:00.000-07:00

Jocelyn Dean of Rugeley, is another home grown rider that uses the Easyboot Glove hoof boots with power straps on her mare. Jocelyn competes in endurance and the odd hunter trial and the Easyboot gloves have enabled her to remove her horses shoes and keep riding through transition. She is one of an increasing number of riders that are questioning the reason why we shoe our horses, and looking for a better way of managing them that allows the horses body to work as efficiently as possible, thus dramatically reducing the risk of injury and prolonging the horses working life. Jocelyn writes:

"I own a 13 year old standardbred mare, Kristal, who up until 11 months ago was shod and I never thought anything of it. Horses wear metal shoes right? Wrong! She developed a strange twist in one of her hind hooves which made me start to question what was going on. To cut a long story short I changed farriers and did lots of research which ended up in my decision to remove my horse's shoes and go barefoot.

Well, I bought 4 Easyboot Gloves in the hope they would help and help they did, we never had to give up riding. I live next to a place called Cannock Chase which is fabulous riding if a little stoney, and my horses feet kept improving beyond all recognition. Her twisted back foot untwisted and all 4 hooves have become feet to be proud of. We couldn't have done it without the Easyboot Gloves. We now compete in endurance up to 25 miles (and win) and always use our Gloves to compete in. I never have to worry as I know my horses feet are protected, functioning naturally and my boots stay put."

We have also competed cross country/hunter trials with our Gloves on with no problems at all.

Horses in the UK Show What Hoof Boots can Do!

2010-07-08T06:12:00.000-07:00

Two stories on the Easycare pages grabbed my attention this week, both are riders that are using the boots to do everything that they would do if their horses were shod. Trelawne Equine is proud to be the UK distributer of the Easycare range of hoofboots, which time and time again in countries all over the world are proving with their boots that there really is a realistic alternative to putting nails into your horses hooves! Easycare produce a range of hoof boots to suit different sizes and shapes of hooves, and we are always very happy to help retailers and horse owners alike to find the ideal hoof boots for a horse or pony. We are always pleased to hear from farriers and trimmers who would like to stock the boots, as the ideal way for them to be fitted is by a hoof care professional from their van.

Emily Lewis

Emily Lewis of West Lothian, Scotland loves her Old Mac's hoof boots so much that she decided to write and tell Easycare about her great experience.

"I'd just like to get in touch with you to say how impressed I have been with the Old Mac's Original and Old Mac's G2's that I have been using on my horse over the last year. I have used other hoof boots in the past but they were much harder to put on correctly and came off at times. The final straw was when one of them came off while out hacking, leaving a whopping great rub on my horses heel bulbs which required much nursing back to health! I then went searching for another type of hoof boot and gave these ago after lots of positive feedback.

Well, what a difference! She wears Old Mac's G2's on fronts and Old Mac's Originals on back (due to foot shape). No rubbing, no falling off and much quicker to apply and remove! They really were a great buy and my horse is now very happy out hacking on any surfaces. And as my photo shows, speed is certainly not an issue! Thanks!"

Angela Corner

My horses have been barefoot twelve months and I've been using Gloves since the beginning. I compete endurance and with the use of athletic tape and ensuring the right fit I never ever have a problem with losing boots - however far, fast or muddy the ride. A couple of weeks ago I completed my first 50 miler - again in Gloves. The front boots have the new style Gaiters and I was extremely pleased that there were no rubs. I used to get the odd rub with the old style Gaiters but this problem now seems to have been solved. Brilliant.

Name: Angela Corner
City: Preston
State: Lancs
Country: UK
Equine Discipline: Endurance
Favorite Boot: Easyboot Glove

The Ever Changing Hoof!

2010-07-06T08:30:00.000-07:00

We all know the importance of fitting hoof boots correctly, more than once we have we read the phrase on Easycare's blog and website 'The single most important factor when fitting a hoof boot is fit!' Here at Trelawne Equine we wholeheartedly agree that fit is vital to the success of any hoof boot and the first thing we tell any new customer. We also feel it is also very important for horse owners to understand that the hoof capsule is a very adaptable part of the horse and as such can change over time. If you have been using a set of hoof boots for a few months with great success, and then experience a boot failure, the first thing you should consider is 'have my horses hooves changed?' Hoof boot failure is almost always due to incorrect fit or size, and as the hoof is liable to change due to a change in management or stimulus the first course of action should be to trim and remeasure the hooves.

It is always a good idea to make a note of your horses hooves as a future reference, by taking photos and measurements periodically. This also serves as a handy record if you encounter a problem as you can look back and see if anything has changed. There are a number of factors that can effect your horses hooves including diet, exercise, ground conditions, style and frequency of trim for example. Something as simple as changing your hoof care professional or months of dry weather after a prolonged period of wet weather (as is being experience here in the UK right now!) can cause the hoof capsule to adapt to the new conditions. This has the potential to change the dimensions of the hoof by just a few mm, enough to cause the usually superbly fitting boots to now be a little big or small and thus compromise the fit.

In most cases you will never know your horses hooves have changed and your boots will continue to perform as well as they always have, but if the change is big enough to compromise the fit of your horses current boots you would be best to change. Don't forget that Easycare Hoof Boots are so popular that if you do need to buy a different size for your horse your used boots will command quite a high price second hand, so don't just dispose of them! If you are in any doubt as to the continuing suitability of your boots, do email or give us a ring with the current hoof boots and your horses measurements and we can advise if a different size or style would be more appropriate.

Soft -Country Feet? VERY relevant article for horses in the UK!

2010-07-01T03:11:00.000-07:00

This article from Easycare's blog by Duncan McLaughlin is so very appropriate for barefoot horse owners in the UK. Most of the year, we experience wet conditions and this has led to comments from some camps that this is a reason that horses can not be expected to cope barefoot in this country. This article disproves this theory and reinforces our belief here at Trelawne Equine that as long as the trim is correct for the individual horse a sound and healthy barefoot horse is just as easily achievable in our wet climate as in the arrid areas of the world.

Soft-country Feet?

by Duncan McLaughlin
Who wants soft-country feet? Not me! Until recently I lived in an area that was perfect for barefooting. Hard, dry, often rocky terrain meant achieving gravel-crunching soundness was possible for a majority of horses. Last November, I moved to an area with much higher rainfall and with rich, deep, often wet topsoil; perfect for dairy farming (with energy-rich grasses like kikuyu and paspalum) but not ideal for developing solid functional horse hooves.

Large areas of my paddocks have standing water for weeks on end. Even where they are dry, the soil is either soft and sandy or wet and muddy. The horses are often standing in water for hours, even days, at a time.

Not surprisingly, these conditions are renowned for producing soft, undeveloped feet that are prone to infections. Thrush and seedy toe/white line disease are common in this area and hoofwall separation is almost a given. These were pathologies I almost never experienced in my work as a trimmer in the hard, dry country where I used to live. However, I thought this new environment would be a great opportunity to test a basic tenet of barefoot hoof-care: if the biomechanics and physiology of a hoof are correct, then biomechanical stress – such as hoof wall separation – and physiological stress – such as thrush and seedy-toe – should not manifest.

Soft-country feet (here a Cumberland Island feral horse – photo from Cindy Sullivan’s Tribe Equus website) are usually characterised by longer walls, often accompanied with a forward stretched hoof. Hard-country feet (here a mustang) are usually characterised by a hoof wall that is abraded, often passive to other hoof structures (frog and sole), with a short toe.

Much of the debate around styles of hoof trimming focuses on concerns about which hoof part(s) should be active or passive (eg, should the sole be passive to the wall, are the heels passive to the frog, or vice versa) – I believe all this debate is largely irrelevant. Rather, we should focus on the position of the coffin bone within the hoof capsule. In soft-country the toe digs deeper into the forgiving terrain; in hard-country it digs in little, or not at all. In wild horses, the hoof capsule grows to best enable correct breakover and optimal coffin joint rotation according to he amount of ‘give’ in the terrain.
And there arises my problem. Although my horses live on soft, wet terrain, ALL of my riding is on somewhat rocky to very rocky, hardpacked trails (I moved here for the fabulous trails!). The longer toe and forward breakover suited to their living conditions is not suitable for the conditions I want to ride over.

This is the off fore of my 2year old Starab filly before a trim. I chose this horse for the trim photos simply because she is not in work, loafs around all day with very little movement, mostly in soft, wet paddocks. Even so, by trimming the hoof to maintain optimal coffin bone position (forward and high in the hoof capsule), the integrity of her internal and external hoof is maintained: no hoof wall separation, thrush or seedy toe here.

Only a slight bevel on the toe wall (45 degrees from underneath, vertical from on top). The bevel is sufficient only so the correct breakover is maintained (evident in the lateral shot) and to keep a check on toe-flare. What is most evident in the solar view is that everything is trimmed passive to the frog. Here I have taken off a small section of abrading frog. For horses in work I rarely if ever remove any frog – I make the frog active and allow it to compress through movement.
This trim is typical of how I trim my horses in their current circumstances. The lack of frog stimulation and development was the most important change I noticed when my horses moved from hard-country to soft-country, so I like to emphasise frog contact when I trim them. In this instance, as is often the case, the outer-edge of the sole and the outer wall are both slightly passive to the inner wall. But I dont care if the sole is passive or the wall is passive – I care that the trim fosters the optimal placement of the coffin bone in the hoof capsule (high and forward).

Same horse, same trim with the pre-trim, mid-trim and post-trim photos of the near hind. This is to demonstrate that during the trim I am more than happy to bring the toe back behind the pre-trim white line to restore correct breakover. Indeed it is OFTEN necessary in domestic horses. Inevitably the toe wall becomes passive to the sole when this is done. Remember, I am not trimming in order to make the wall passive (that is irrelevant), I am trimming to ensure correct coffin bone position within the hoof capsule.
People often ask if aggressively trimming the toe makes the horse sore – I have never found this to be the case on a good footed horse. Horses that go sore when trimmed aggressively at the toe, would also go sore when trimmed cautiously. It is simply a case of understanding the anatomy of the hoof.
As an aside, the above trim photos highlight why, in my opinion, adherents of ‘lamellar sling’ or ‘SADP’ models of hoof function, where the hoof wall must be the active solar surface, are unable to produce barefoot performance horses (see my previous post on concussion for a discussion). Proponents of this model will not trim the wall passive to the sole and so are unable to correct breakover if the hoof grows too far forwad, as domestic horse hooves inevitably do. As the wall gets longer (either with toe flare or with a stretched forward hoof capsule), the breakover gets further and further forward and the coffin bone is situated increasingly lower and further back within the hoof capsule. To add insult to injury, some schools lower heels, and remove sole and bars, bringing the coffin bone even further back down in the hoof capsule – the very opposite of optimal.

This is the near fore and near hind of another of my horses, a five year old Arabian gelding. The main difference between these two horses is that this one gets ridden (in Easyboot Gloves on all four feet), currently two or three times a week, for an hour or two each time. Facebook users can also view a thermogram of this near fore. You can see the extra stimulation and development of the frog when compared to the unridden filly above. However, both of these horses had much greater frog development when they lived in hard country.

All my horses are trimmed in the same manner – to optimise coffin bone position, breakover and rotation around the coffin joint for hard-country riding. None have hoof wall separation, seedy toe or thrush, despite living in soft, wet muddy conditions. But I am not suggesting your horses be trimmed like mine – I am suggesting that if your horse is trimmed in a manner that respects the biomechanics and physiology of the hoof, and in accordance with his unique living and work conditions, hoof pathologies will be a thing of the past.

The Right To Choice

2010-06-29T05:55:00.000-07:00

Below is a post taken from Easycare's blog this week. At Trelawne Equine we have been talking about why shoeing is accepted as being normal, instead of questioning why we shoe. Any good farrier will tell you a hoof is healthier without a shoe on it, so why do we still insisit on shoeing as a matter of course? Surely a better approach would be to look at the horses lifestyle, what the rider wants to do with them and ascertain what approach would suit horse and riders needs best in the long term rather than just whacking a set of shoes on straight off. Certainly, if you have a horse you treat as a member of the family and would like the longest and most trouble free working life possible you would have to say that a natural and barefoot lifestyle is the answer. With the advent of modern hoof boots, so many more horses are able to work to a higher level with far less risk of injury than ever before so even if the descision has been taken to shoe in the past a regular review should be considered.

"In recent years, a growing contingent of the equine community has begun to question traditional hoof care. Why do so many of our domestic horses suffer from hoof ailments? Why are our veterinarians and farriers so frequently unsuccessful in rehabilitating these horses? Every horse owner dreads a diagnosis of laminitis, white line disease, founder, navicular disease, sidebone; conditions with mysterious causes, and often heartbreaking prognosis.

How awful would these same horse owners feel if they realized that traditional hoofcare, in addition to a lifestyle at complete odds with that which a horse is designed to live, were actually causing these problems?

Researchers like Dr. Robert Bowker of the cutting-edge Equine Foot Lab at Michigan State University are finally unlocking the mysteries of the horse’s foot, and proving that that is exactly the case. Astounding findings are the result of their ground-breaking work. One of the most spectacular discoveries has been the hydraulic-like function of blood flow in the healthy hoof: a never-before documented, highly specialized and extremely effective means of shock absorption which Bowker likens to a high performance gel running shoe.

The equine foot, it turns out, is quite probably the most amazing foot on the planet. An amazing foot that maintains itself with shocking efficiency in its natural state. An amazing foot that in the wild bears little resemblance to the feet of domestic horses managed in the traditional manner. An amazing foot that – brace yourself for this – can be developed and maintained in those same domestic horses – even horses that have already developed the pathologies mentioned in the first paragraph – using a barefoot trimming technique Bowker calls the physiological trim. A revolution is in the making…

Using Natural Horse Care techniques, maintaining your hoof trim cycle and wearing protective hoof boots is what Trelawne Equine and Easycare believes strongly in and promotes!"

So Whats Stopping you?

2010-06-25T01:47:00.000-07:00

Well, what is transition? Transition is the time period after you pull the shoes off of your horse until he is sound enough to walk on gravel. This rehabilitation period of several months to a year, depends on the internal damage to your horse's foot and how you provide natural hoof care. Increased blood flow starts to rebuild internal structures that were damaged by the shoes. Until the rebuilding is complete, many horses can be sore and will need hoof boots to ride in different types of environments. Hoof pads will also help your horse immensely during the transition period.

Transition is the reason why so many horse owners have said that their horse can't go barefoot. It can be an inconvenience for the owner and some of us just don't have the patience. However, once you understand that horseshoes really do weaken the hooves and (If you don't believe me ask your farrier!) that we thought we were doing the right thing by keeping our horses shod and instead we've caused damage to our beloved friend's feet, you can sit back and go through the transition time period. And you can do many things to make your horse more comfortable and rideable while he grows out his new and improved hooves. You, the owner and his friend, made the decision that barefoot is better. Now is the time to exercise patience and trust that your horse will heal. And he will - better than you can even imagine.

The transition period is over when the sole regains concavitiy, which means that the white line has tightened up completely. In general, it takes about a year of good natural hoof care before the hoof returns to complete soundness. The issue during this time period is about your horse and good natural hoof trimming and natural hoof care to rehabilitate his feet, not about the ride that you wanted to go on. In almost every case get the right Easycare hoof boots and comfort pads are you can go ahead and do that ride even while your horse is transitioning.

Most barefoot horses become barefoot rideable within a few weeks of pulling their shoes, given their conditions and natural hoof care. Some are rideable immediately. A non-evasive natural wild horse trim every week or so will help. Read, read, read! Act like a sponge and soak up every article about barefoot and wild horse trimming.

Driving Horses and Ponies in Hoof Boots

2010-06-24T01:44:00.000-07:00

Here is an excerpt from Easycare's blog about Peter the driving pony. Peter uses Easyboot Bare hoof boots to protect his hooves whilst working.
"Peter is a small pony I was given by the local slaughter man when he was a foal at foot. He is out of a riding pony mare by a minature stallion - absolutely shouldn't have been bred, but there he was. For the last few years he has been with a friend, babysitting her big horse. He is now 5 years old, 10:2 hh and came home this summer to be backed for friend's small sons to ride.

He has had a number of bouts of laminitis, treated by vet and farrier. When he came home he was over weight and walking with difficulty. His heels were long and toes short. I trimmed him and he immediately moved more freely. Loosing weight helped a lot too! The real problem was: how to train and work a small pony with no children regularly available? I know! I'll start him in harness as well as under saddle. I had harness and got hold of a training cart.

All went well, he proved to be ideal for driving, but he found it hard going on rocky tracks and wore his feet out when working on the road. I discussed options with my farrier and he suggested I try boots - then when I was working on grass I could leave them off and they would also protect his soles when working on stoney tracks which shoes wouldn't do. So I ordered a pair of Easyboot Bare - mainly because they came small enough.

They're great - quick to put on, easy to keep clean. Now I want a set of gloves for his hind feet - we are doing so much work he is quickly wearing them down. Trouble is, gloves don't come small enough! Picture is of us recently at a beach town near here - still using the training cart. Peter was happy to trot all around town, coped with children running up to pet him, balls thrown and kicked at him, dogs barking at him and crossing little foot bridges that were only just wide enough for the cart!

Name: Anne MacAulay

City: Hamilton
State: Waikato
Country: New Zealand
Equine Discipline: Other
Favorite Boot: Easyboot Bare"

Hoof Boots - The Importance of Correct Measurements and Fit

2010-06-23T01:15:00.000-07:00

Trelawne Equine are more than happy to offer individual advice to retailers and consumers about any aspect of booting your barefoot horse, if you have any doubts about the suitability of a boot for your needs please do contact us on 0844 257 8585 or advice@trelawneequine.co.uk

The most important detail we advise to any end user or retailer when talking about Easycare hoof boots is fit. Getting the proper measurements is the first stage to achieving a good fit. Any hoof boot can not perform properly if it is used on the wrong size and shape foot. Just like a saddle needs to be fitted correctly as all backs differ, hoof boots and hooves are no different! The graphic above shows where both the length and width measurements need to be taken. Proper sizing of the hoof boots is imperative to maximize ultimate performance and a positive boot experience. The best way to get an accurate measurement is with a rigid ruler and to measure in millimeters ideally after a fresh trim on clean feet. Then follow these steps.

After a fresh trim, measure the width of the hoof across the bottom at the widest point.
Measure the length of the hoof from the toe to the buttress line of the heel. The buttress line is the farthest weight bearing point of the heel where the hoof wall ends. Do not include the heel bulbs in the measurement. If your horse has under run heels, measure slightly further back to where the heel should be in a 'normal' hoof.
Compare your measurement with the appropriate size chart. Please note that each hoof boot style has its own unique size chart.
Ideally, the length and width measurement will fit into the same size. If the length and width measurements indicate different sizes, select the larger size. If the width and length measurements are different by more than one size, your selected boot style is not recommended. Make sure you check your measurements against an alternative boot in the EasyCare range—another style may accommodate your horse’s hoof shape better. The best hoof boot is the boot that fits your horses hoof best, not just the style you like the look of best!

Hoof Tracings, pictures, iron shoe size and guesses are not acceptable for fitting EasyCare boots. Easycare hoof boots are the highest performance equine shoe replacement boots available in the world, but they need to be the proper size to work to their potential. Ask yourself this question... would you run a marathon in shoes that were too big, small or the wrong shape for your feet?

Transitioning to Barefoot- What to Expect

2010-06-23T00:57:00.000-07:00

This is a very interesting and thought provoking passage from 'The thoughful horseman', ideal to comfort anyone new to taking their horse barefoot and using hoof boots like the Easyboot Glove or Easyboot Edge to do so.

"In six months to a year, your horse will have essentially grown new feet. Some horses are completely comfortable much sooner than that (3 to 4 months is common). You will be astounded at the difference, and thrilled with the soundness and durability of your barefoot horse. But until that time, your horse may need hoof boots and pads to be comfortable in his newly de-shod feet, particularly when he is asked to carry a rider's weight or work on rugged or rocky terrain.

It is important to understand why the horse's feet may be tender during the transition. It is NOT the barefoot trim....I work very carefully to not remove material that the horse needs, unlike a typical "pasture trim". My goal is to keep the horse as comfortable as possible through the transition. Most horses, even horses with no serious hoof pathologies, experience tenderness on their newly bare feet for the one or more of the following reasons:

Left: at set up trim, September 2008
Right: the same hoof, April 2009

1. Inadequate calloused sole.

Farrier's routinely carve sole from the bottom of the horse's foot. They do this for a number of "reasons": to create a flat plane upon which to set the shoe, to make the foot look more esthetically "neat", and to raise the sole of the foot off of the ground to "prevent soreness". It takes months for the horse to grow and callous sole, and our goal is to develop at least a half inch of good, tough sole across the bottom of the foot. It is not uncommon to see horses with less than an eighth of an inch of sole protecting the inner structures of the foot when they are first deshod. Even if the sole does have adequate thickness, it will need to callous. Inadequate calloused sole is the number one reason horses are tender footed after shoes are removed.

2. Lack of fully developed digital cushion and lateral cartilages

If the back of the foot has never been allowed to develop through pressure and release on the sole and frog, the horse never develops the digital cushion and lateral cartilages. The digital cushion is literally a cushion between the frog and heel bulbs, and inner structures of the hoof. A healthy, well developed digital cushion is made up of tough, fibrocartilagineous tissue; in an immature or underdeveloped hoof, this cushion is soft and spongy. The lateral cartilages are the "scaffolding" that supports the back of the foot (like the coffin bone supports the front of the foot). Both the digital cushion and lateral cartilages can be stimulated and developed, and this is our goal. But until these structures are healthy, the horse may experience sensitivity in the back of the foot. See Bowker's research paper on "good-footed" and "bad-footed" horses for more information. This sensitivity is mitigated by using boots and comfort pads. Development is achieved through constant pressure and release on the sole and frog.

3. Undeveloped or carved and uncalloused frogs

Again, farrier's almost ALWAYS pare the frog much more aggressively than is truly necessary. By doing so, they are removing the tough outer layer, and exposing tender, immature tissue underneath. It may look tidy, but the truth is, the horse needs that tough outer layer. With the exception of exfoliating frog material that is already loose, or paring excess growth, the frog should be allowed to toughen and callous. Until your horse toughens up and grows a wide, healthy frog, his frogs may be tender.

4. Frog infection

Those trimmed frogs are sitting ducks for opportunistic fungal and bacterial infections. A deep crease at the central sulcus is indicative of chronic infection. Chronic infection of the frog HURTS. Treatment as your hoof care provider prescribes will quickly help promote a thick, healthy frog.

5. Dramatically increased blood flow in the hoof

Nailing a shoe to a horse's hoof IMMEDIATELY reduces perfusion (blood flow) by 50%. FIFTY PERCENT!! HALF!! Think about that...how does your arm or foot feel when you sleep on it funny and limit circulation? NUMB! How does it feel when the circulation is restored? REALLY UNCOMFORTABLE!!

You've made a wise, educated decision to transition your horse to barefoot...stick with it! Give it at least six months. Better yet, give it a year. You can always slap a shoe back on after that, and at least the hoof will have had a year to recuperate. ALL farrier's texts recommend leaving the horse barefoot periodically to let the hoof recover. But believe it, if you stick with it that long, you will never, ever let a shoe come near your horse's feet again."

Dry Feet? You Need an EasySoaker!

2010-06-18T05:07:00.000-07:00

It has been a few years since I have been able to write about potential problems with dry hooves in the UK, but we are last seemigly going to have a summer which although long overdue presents new challenges for horse owners! One such problem is dry hooves. Hooves need a certain amount of moisture to retain their elasticity, and it can be even more of a problem with a shod hoof that will begin to split and crack if allowed to dry out. An ideal solution is to have an area around the water container (to simulate drinking from a river in the wild) large and wet enough to soak the horses feet when they drink. In practice, this is not always possible or convenient, and water will bring with it the inevitable mud (ubles you are lucky enough to have a custom built watering area with a waterproof base) which we would all prefer to avoid whenever possible!
The EasySoaker is the ideal solution to soak and medicate if necessary the horses hooves, and is a very versatile boot that can be used for a number of applications as well as soaking. Soaking your horses hooves in an Easysoaker can help with sand cracks, seedy toe, white line disease, thrush, contracted heels and abscesses as well as helping to alleviate the symptoms associated with navicular, contracted heels, corns and founder.

Vettec Glue for Easyboot Glue On boots

2010-06-16T12:32:00.000-07:00

Trelawne Equine is pleased to announce that we are now able to supply the vettec products as recommended by Easycare for their Glue On hoof boots! We will be stocking the Vettec adhere, which is the adhesive compound use to secure the boots to the hoof wall, the Equi-pak CS and the tools needed to use the products. We chose to stock only the Equi-Pak CS as our UK climate is so very wet (apart from as I write this post!) and thrush of some sort is almost inevitable. We felt it was best practice to always use a product that will inhibit (and even help to address the problem of) thrush so that when the boots were removed after the recommended 5 - 10 days there would always be a nice healthy looking frog to reveal! For more information, and price for trade customers only please contact us.

Keep Your Hoof Boots Smelling Sweet and in Good Order!

2010-06-15T03:20:00.000-07:00

Keeping your horses Easycare hoof boots clean and fresh, and in good operating condition prevents rubbing and prolongs the life of the boots and comfort pads.
Hoof Care Products can be hosed off and placed out to dry. Make sure you take the pads out of the boots and thoroughly clean both the inside of the boot and the pad. Let both dry before using. Once dry, sprinkle the inside of the boot with a little antiseptic/athletic Foot Powder or similar to freshen the boot, discourage bacteria and fungus, and also to help the boots slip easily over the heel bulbs.
To keep the wire in EasyCare Epic hoof boots sliding freely, spray the "loop" ends inside the boot with a little WD40.
It is a good idea to keep a spare pair of pads on hand; when one pair looks flattened, pull them out and replace with new, but don't throw them away just yet! If the pad still has some life to it put them aside for a few days and you could find they regain sponginess! Remember, cleaning sand, dirt and grit out of the boots after every use preserves the life of the pads. Don't forget to also check the tightness of any screws when cleaning as all moving parts need checking periodically.
Good hoof boot maintainence can extend the life of your boots and pads considerably, and

An inspirational woman and a very worthy cause!

2010-06-10T00:42:00.000-07:00

Susi Sadler is an amazingly strong woman, and her story is truly inspirational! Susi is going to take part in the Mongol Derby, a butt-searing 620 mile ride across the steppe on semi-wild Mongolian ponies! She will have just 5kg of kit, no back up crew and will be miles from civilisation, and is doing it in order to help a very worthy organisation, operation smile . By completing this ride along with only 34 other riders, Susi is hoping to raise enough money to give 33 children back their smile.
The drive behind this ride, is due to Susi herself suffering a horrific facial injury. Trelawne Equine are donating a set of gloves for Susi's barefoot horse, Rudi to enable her to be able to put the miles and miles of training in she needs to prepare for this week long marathon.
Susi writes about her accident on her website dedicated to this challenge and her cause www.600miles.org (you can also sponsor her directly via her site if you wish to):

"In 2009 I was breaking in my 4-year-old home-bred horse, Rudi. I was riding in the school when he spooked and took off at top speed, then applied the brakes chucking me face-first and with great force into a post and rail fence. Thankfully, my helmet protected me from a serious head injury (the doctors were amazed when they saw the x-rays that I hadn’t fractured my skull). However I had managed to slice my face from nose to ear, ‘de-gloving’ (the medical term - explicit enough, I think) the left side of my face.

I was in surgery for five hours whilst an amazing team stitched my face back together. I will be forever grateful to them for the work they did that night, because despite the seriousness of my injuries I ended up with one very neat line of (approximately twenty five) stitches across one side of my face.
I had suffered nerve damage, which meant I lost the use of one side of my face and mouth. This, coupled with a lot of swelling, badly torn gums, loosened teeth and a further 60 stitches inside my mouth, made eating, drinking and even talking a real challenge. I’ve always enjoyed my food (an understatement, perhaps) so surviving the first two weeks, when the only manageable meals were cup-a-soups consumed through a straw felt almost impossible. I lost a stone in weight. For the first month I went everywhere with a stash of drinking straws in my handbag, until I could learn to drink from a glass again. My potato masher saw hard service for the first month!
My face looked very different. Although the scar was healing, the nerve damage improved more slowly. I looked odd when I talked or smiled because only one side of my face worked. I avoided cameras and covered my mouth when I smiled. Even people I was close to found it hard to know how to react.
After the accident I felt nervous about riding again, especially about riding Rudi. Getting back into riding after the accident, and rebuilding my confidence was a long, slow process. At first my nerves made riding physically difficult – my whole body was so tense that I couldn’t relax and move my spine. However, with a little time and a lot of determination the nerves gradually subsided.
I feel very fortunate that, nearly a year on, my scar is fading and my nerve function is slowly improving. I can eat and drink anything I like, and smile again. I have plenty to smile about. Not only did I benefit from some world-class medical treatment, but I’m also back in the saddle and training Rudi for his first competitive season in 2010.
If you’ve got this far, I hope you can understand why competing in the Mongol Derby is important to me. Firstly, having recovered my confidence in riding again, I feel the need to take on a big challenge to really test myself. Secondly, I want to raise as much money as I can for Operation Smile, and help bring facial surgery to children whose lives are severely affected by a cleft. Sadly, many of these children do not have access to the excellent treatment that I benefited from free of charge.
I don’t want anyone to have to experience life without a smile. "

Glove Hoof Boots: The Best Just Got Better!

2010-06-09T05:59:00.001-07:00

The revolutionary Easyboot glove hoof boot has been through another improvement phase, and the gaiter has been substantially improved. The back of the gaiter has been shaped to be more ergonomic, and the material used in the body of the gaiter has been changed to a very soft, resilient
fabric. The top of the gaiter is doubled layered to help prevent rubbing, the same way that a hiker wears two pairs of socks. This enables the material to rub against itself as opposed to the horse. The fastening has been slightly narrowed to allow even better freedom of movement, and lengthened to allow them to fit larger boned horses easily. Internal reinforcements have been added to the inside of the gaiter for a better fit and longer life. The Easyboot glove is one of the fastest selling boots in the Easycare line, and in very high demand so make sure you secure your new pair as soon as you can!

Just How Well Does the Glove Fit?

2010-06-03T05:17:00.001-07:00

The Easyboot Gloves and Easyboot Glue On shells have been designed to fit like a second skin onthe hoof, but without being able to see inside it has always been down to common sense to dictate why these boots work so well. Now however, the proof is there to see, as these X rays show! You can see how the hoof sits flat to the sole of the boot, there is no excess boot protruding to the sides or front to inhibit the movement. The wall of the boot sits totally snug against the wall of the hoof, the elasticity of the boot material allows the hoof to move and flex as it would if bare.

Trelawne Equine in the press

2010-06-01T07:08:00.000-07:00

://www.trelawneequine.co.uk/">Trelawne Equine has been features in 3 magazines this month. Local rider ran our piece about beating concussive forces, Natural horsemanship magazine (who's barefoot section we also sponsor) ran a piece about deciding if taking your horse barefoot was right for you, and we had a double page spread about the benefits of removing shoes from laminitic horses and ponies.

Easyboot Gaiters Tearing

2010-05-28T07:08:00.000-07:00

When using any hoof boot, the most common thing we say to customers is fit is paramount to the sauces of the boot. If you find the gaiter on your Easyboot Epic, Bare, Grip, Edge or Easyboot Glove rips or comes apart after use in the first month, this is almost certainly due to the boot not fitting the hoof correctly. If the boot is too long or wide, the hoof Will move up and down in the boot which puts pressure on the gaiter causing it to fail. A hoof boot that is too long for the hoof will also slow the horses natural breakover which can lead to overreaching and damaging the boot with a hind foot. The boot below was not a snug fit, which caused the hoof to move up and down in the boot putting pressure on the gaiter which caused it to tear.

Easy Fixes
If your Epic, Bare or Edge is a little too big in either the width or length a quick solution is to put a pair of our 12mm comfort pads in the bottom of the boots to help size it up. Another easy fix if your boot is a little too big in the length if it is a Bare or Epic is to change out the backstrap to a size smaller. With the gloves, the addition of a power strap will often help keep a boot firm that is a fraction loose.

Navicular Disease

2010-05-28T06:54:00.000-07:00

Navicular: Excepts from an Article by Cheryl Sutor

The following is taken from Easycares blog, and the passage we have highlighted at the bottom is also what I have found from personal experience of owning a pony (in my youth) and horse (before I discovered the huge benefits of natural hoofcare!) both with this common problem. My holsteiner was the reason we began down the path of barefoot on the advice of a vet a good few years ago. The results I saw and the knowledge I gained after the the research I did totally changed my view of hoof care. After 9 months, and deciding along the way to take my two others barefoot as I learnt more were more than enough for me to realise I would not feel comfortable shoeing a horse in my care again!

The most common cause of lameness in horses is found in the navicular area of the horse's hoof.

The terms Navicular Disease and Navicular Syndrome are often used to define navicular problems. Navicular problems are not a disease, they are man-made. The word syndrome is defined as a commonly recurring group of symptoms of unknown cause. The cause of navicular is known and therefore, the term "syndrome" is not correct.

Navicular problems are man-made through improper trimming, short term or long term shoeing, improper diet or inadequate natural environment throughout a horse's life. This improper care can cause problems in the navicular area of the hoof, not to mention huge problems with the entire horse.

The navicular bone is located directly behind the coffin bone, held in betwen the short pastern and coffin bone by tendons and ligaments. The navicular bone has two main funtions:

1. To protect the joint and tendons from pressure and concussion.
2. To act as a valve for blood flow to the coffin bone and corium in the hoof.

The navicular bone plays a large role in the overall health of the hoof and of the whole horse. Horses at high risk of navicular are usually confined or stall-kept, while at the same time having strong physical demands placed on them.

In conventional treatments, navicular problems are temporarily hidden to preserve the horses usability. The underlying problem is not addressed. When the pain from navicular can no longer be hidden, euthanasia or a drugged up retirement are most often prescribed. Navicular probems are in no way a death sentence or a reason for painful retirement. Treating the problem with a proper natural lifestyle and correct barefoot trimming will prevent navicular in horses. Transitioning a horse from horse shoes to natural hoof care, i.e. natural hoof trimming or barefoot trimming, is known to reverse the effects of navicular. Use of protective horse boots can also help your horse be pain free during this transition.

The main treatment and prevention of navicular problems is to provide the best possible natural hoof care for your horse on a schedule, meaning every 1-4 weeks. Hoof care is one of the most important aspects of horse care. Ever hear the saying, "No hoof, No Horse?" Well, it's the truth! Every horse owner or caretaker should fully understand hoof mechanism, proper barefoot trimming and how it affects the horse's entire body and health.

For information and education on natural barefoot trimming, go to the following websites:

www.equinesoundness.com
www.hoofrehab.com
www.jasonmcclure.com
www.navicular-founder-rehab.com
www.ironfreehoof.com
www.barefootforsoundness.com
www.easycareinc.com

Shoeing is a definite road block in the prevention and healing of a horse with navicular problems and should not be used. You will see all of the damaging effects that horse shoes have on a horse's overall health and longevity.

The Easyboot Edge- FAQ's!

2010-05-28T06:47:00.000-07:00

The Easyboot Edge is one of Easycares newest boots, and is becoming a very popular boot especially with riders that have always used the Epic or Bare. The Easyboot Edge hoof boot is a modern and easy to use hoof boot with an innovative front fastening system. Here are some frequently asked questions about the new Easyboot edge (as seen in www.Easycareinc.com's blog):
Q If my horse wears a size 1 Easyboot, Easyboot Epic, Easyboot Bare or Easyboot Grip what is the comparable size?
A The sizing for the Edge Hoof Boot is the same as the boots above. It is always a good idea to remeasure before buying new horse boots.

Q In comparison to other boots in your line, how easy is this boot to get on and off?
A We believe this is one of the easiest boots in our line to apply and remove. The worm clamp allows the boot to open wider, and it is easy to adjust.

Q Can I use these boots for both short and long distances?
A Yes. This boot has been tested over various terrain for both short distances and endurance rides.

Q Can the worm clamp be replaced if something happens to it?
A Yes, we have replacement parts available. Click here for Edge Accessories.

Q What if I loose the key? Is there something else I can use?
A Yes, you can use a penny or flat head screwdriver to tighten the worm clamp. We do not recommend the use of a power tool as the boot could be easily over-tightened. You can also purchase a replacement EasyKey here.

Q How tight should the boot be?
A Using the EasyKey or a manual screwdriver, you should not be able to over-tighten the boot by hand. The boot should be very snug and you should not be able to insert a hoof pick between it and the hoof. The tongue of the boot is padded for extra comfort when the boot is applied.

Q What types of feet do not fit well into the boot?
A Hooves that have excessive flare, are clubbed or that have abnormalities in the hoof wall do not fit well into this boot.

Q How should the gaiter fit?
A The gaiter should fit low and tight around the pastern. The gaiters are made out of a four-way stretch material and it is hard to get them too tight. A tight gaiter will not move around on the pastern and will not chafe.

The Importance of The Wild Horse Trim

2010-05-28T06:37:00.000-07:00

The wild horse trim is what most methods of barefoot trimming are based upon. A wild horse will live and wear their hoof as nature intended. Consider the image of the wild horse's hoof below. There are also some wild horse hooves that you can view on the Tribe Equus website at www.tribeequus.com. Wild hooves are quite different from what we are used to seeing in a domestic horse, so it is worth spending some time looking at them to educate your eye. Most farriers will perform a pasture trim if asked to remove a horse shoes, and the client will be told the horse only needs trimming every 8-12 weeks. Unfortunately, this is not how nature intended a hoof capsule to function, so any horse without shoes should be trimmed and maintained with a barefoot trim at an interval of 2-4 weeks on average. A good farrier will understand the subtle difference between the trims and be more than qualified to maintain the barefoot horses hooves. A qualified barefoot practitioner is also invaluable to trim and give advice about the health and maintenance of the barefoot horse.
With a barefoot trim, the hooves of domestic horses, are trimmed to imitate the shape of wild horse hooves, with two qualifications:

1) Hooves that go 10 to 20 miles (15 to 30 km) daily as wild horses do, on hard ground will look better and be shorter (higher position of the coffin bone inside the hoof capsule), than hooves that don't go so far, or that work mostly on soft footing.

2) Wild hooves living on flat prarie would look different from the wild hooves that lived on dry, rocky mountainsides.

Natural Hoof Care and using Protective horse boots such as the ones offered by EasyCare will increase the long healthy lives of our Equine Friends. In our wetter climate and varied terrain in the UK, booting is often necessary to help the horse cope with sudden changes in ground conditions at events or pleasure rides. Learn all about our Hoof Care Products and hoof boots by visiting www.trelawneequine.co.uk

The Easyboot RX- the ultimate therapy boot!

2010-05-21T02:52:00.000-07:00

Easyboot RX- Versatile and Easy to apply!

The Easyboot Rx is a very versatile hoof boot and an excellent choice for those horses that simply have difficulty standing on hard surfaces for extended periods of time. The RX therapy boot can be used to speed recovery and offer protection after surgery or injury, lessen fatigue and add protection during trailering as well as offer a safeguard in the breeding shed.

The sole of the Easyboot RX is a combination of durable and soft material, much like that used in human orthotics, in a lightweight package. All seams and edges of the upper are rounded for safety. The Easyboot RX hoof boot has 3 air vents provide air circulation keeping the barefoot hoof cool while preventing the accumulation of dirt and debris. Each RX poultice/ therapy boot comes fitted with an EasyCare Comfort Pad to provide immediate relief and additional sole support. Replacement comfort pads in three densities are available at a very affordable price.

Application of the RX hoof boot is quick and easy. The unique upper of the Easyboot Rx folds down and opens large enough to accommodate the wide base of a horse's hoof, allowing for quick application without strength or force. After the hoof is placed in the Easyboot Rx, two hook and loop tabs are fastened to provide a secure fit. A quick pull on the hook and loop tabs and the Easyboot Rx is easily slipped off the hoof. Each boot has a double hook and loop lock system that prevents the boot from opening unintentionally.
The Easyboot Rx is not intended for riding but can be used for light turn out. Sold individually.

The Importance of Maintaing Hooves Between Trims

2010-04-15T07:37:00.000-07:00

Fit is known to be one of the most important factors in the success of using hoof boots, but as posted recently by Garrett Ford, CEO and president of Easycare he explains that he has also come to realise that the trim regime is equally as important.

A nicely fit Easyboot Glove

Garrett explains: I now believe that hoof trimming and/or lack of trimming to be an equal contributing factor to success. If a hoof is measured and a hoof boot is sized for the hoof based on the measurements, the “Fit” and corresponding experience will be positive. Moving forward, unless the hoof is maintained and trimmed it will quickly change and will be different than the original measurements. As the hoof changes more and more from the original measurements it is less likely that the hoof boot selected based on the original measurements will continue to fit well and provide a positive experience.

One of my horses feet after a maintenance trim.

A well maintained and trimmed #1 hoof is 115mm wide and 125mm long. Based on the measurements the hoof fits snugly into a #1 Easyboot Glove. All is well but if the hoof is not maintained and trimmed, the hoof will flare and toe will grow. The unwanted flare could add 10%-20% to the width of the hoof and increase the width from 115mm to 125mm or 130mm. The boot will now be hard to apply and won’t fit correctly. The experience will now be less than positive. Frustrating but it’s not the hoof boots fault as we are now asking the boot to fit a different hoof.

Now let’s look at the problem from the other end. Measurements are taken on a hoof 4 to 5 weeks after a trim and the hoof measures 125mm wide x 130mm long. Hoof boots are ordered and fit like a glove after arrival. All is well but a week later the trimmer shows up and does a fabulous job trimming. The lack of flare looks great and the toe length looks awesome. You’re excited for a trail ride and take off down the trail. Your hoof boots come off and you are frustrated with the process, hoof boots and keeping your horse barefoot. When you return to the barn you take hoof measurements again and the hoof now measures 115mm wide and 125 long. Frustrating, but it becomes apparent why a hoof won’t stay on the hoof, it’s now much smaller.

You ask yourself “what gives, how can I make this work?” The answer is consistent trimming and trying to keep the hoof and hoof shape more uniform during a trimming cycle. Sounds easy but how do you keep a hoof more uniform during a trim cycle?

1. Hire a good hoof care professional to come every 4 weeks. Sorry a 6 week or 8 week cycle is too long.

2. Ask your hoof care professional to show you how to do maintenance trim. A riders rasp is ideal for maintaining your horses hooves between professional trims without the need of any heavy duty equipment.

3. Ask your hoof care professional to evaluate your maintenance trims on the next visit. Ask them what you need to change and do better. The answer may be “more in this area, less in this area, more off the toe”.

4. Continue to perform maintenance trims and as you become more confident and your results improve move your hoof care professional to 6 weeks and then 8 weeks.

5. Keep the hoof care professional on board and involved. Ask them for feedback and help. Make sure they continue to come at least every 8 weeks. Keeping them involved will give you a good starting point and balanced hoof to start your maintenance every 8 weeks. In the worst case scenario your horse is 8 weeks away from balanced trim by your hoof care professional.

Hoof Care for the 21st Century!

2010-04-06T07:06:00.000-07:00

Have a look at Easycare's new you tube page it is certainly thought provoking as well as very infotmative! There initial comment is straight to the point; 'Did anyone tell the horse industry its the 21st century?' Looking at the medieval things we nail to our horses feet you have to wonder! 'High tech materials are stronger, lighter and absorb concussion better than iron. As our world evolves, why are we still protecting our horses with iron shoes developed over 1,500 years ago? EasyCare believes there's a better way!' So do Trelawne Equine....

Thermography of the hoof and limb

2010-03-30T02:31:00.000-07:00

This post on Easycare's blog is very interesting, written by Duncan McLaughlin:

Thanks to EasyCare, I recently had the opportunity to attend a four-day equine thermography course with Donna Harper DVM. Dr Harper is one of the pioneers of equine thermography and has a wealth of knowledge to share, which she does very generously. Thermography uses an infra-red camera to translate skin surface temperature into colour screen-images. This enables us to look at the heat patterns on a horse and detect any anomalies in those heat patterns. I am really looking forward to playing around with thermography - wouldn't it be nice to get some controlled comparisons of heat patterns in barefoot, booted and shod horses?

This is a thermograph of the right front sole of one of my horses after day three (150 miles) of a five day (250 miles) ride back in 2006. The horse was booted in Easyboot Bares for the entire ride. It's hard to argue with such a nice heat pattern. Image by Jean Koek.

In the course, Dr Harper covers not only theory and practice for the thermograph technician but also stresses the need to understand, limit and correct for 'artefacts' that will compromise the integrity of the image. She also emphasises that correct reading of images requires an in-depth understanding of anatomy and physiology.

This image has been doing the rounds for years. Usually it is suggested to represent what happens to limb circulation when a horse is shod (front right) compared to unshod (other three feet). In fact, what it actually shows is a heat pattern absolutely consistent with cervical nerve dysfunction - that is, the shoe on the front right is largely irrelevant to the cool temperature pattern seen here.

How to measure for hoof boots video

2010-03-22T07:14:00.000-07:00

This video is very useful to show you how to measure your horse for hoof boots. When measuring your horses hooves, it is best to measure in mm for accuracy and measurements should always be taken after a fresh trim. There are many excellent videos on you tube from Easycare showing everything from fitting boots to replacing worn parts or broken cables.

Easyboot and Easyboot Epic range of adjustment

2010-03-22T03:06:00.000-07:00

There are a variety of cable adjustments can be made to secure an Easyboot or Easyboot Epic on your horses hoof. The ideal adjustment is one that will require more strength to push the buckle down than most people can do with their hands, using your heel to step on the buckle is an easy way to close the boot. If the buckle goes down too easily, then chances are it won't stay fastened because it is too loose.

Have a look at the pictures below for a guide to the different positions you can use to secure the boots:
This picture shows how the boot looks before applying the hoof boots

This is the standard way to fit the cables, up through the central groove in the buckle system- a good starting point.

This is the loosest setting possible, and works for horses in the upper ranges of the measurements or those with an upright hoof.

This is an intermediate setting between the two

This is a tighter setting, putting the cable through the centre with one part and the other part going around the side. As the cable is on a pulley system, this will not cause an unevenness to the fastening.

This is the tightest setting, ideal for a shallow hoof angle or hoof on the smaller end of the measurements.

Another handy tip... Rather than using a screw driver or Hoof Pick to open the buckle, use the nylon pull strap that comes with the boot. Just slide it under the buckle so that you can pull it up with both hands. This will give you the leverage you need to pull the buckle up without needing any tools!

Comfort pads- the essential addition to hoof boots!

2010-03-18T04:25:00.000-07:00

A barefoot horses hoof differs in many ways from a shod horses foot, but one noticeable and very important feature is the way the hoof loads when it hits the ground. A naturally bare hoof will support the weight and shock accross the whole foot, unlike a shod horse that loads peripherally (on the wall of the hoof alone). The hoof wall was never designed to take the whole load, and unless the shod horse is working in a fairly deep surface it will miss out on this important additional support. Other than on a totally flat surface such as a road (which it is advisable to only walk or gentle trotting uphill due to the shock involved, although this is obviously substantially less bare hooved than shod!). When using a hoof boot, you are creating a flat surface for the hoof to walk on, no matter what the terrain. In order to counteract the potential for peripheral loading, it is advisable to always use a pad, and replace them when they become too flat to support the sole. A 6mm medium or soft comfort pad is ideal for horses that have no preexisting problems, and can be used in any of the boots including the Easyboot Glove. If the horse is sore or has limb problems including minor things such as windgalls or sore shins as 12mm pad would be beneficial. All riding hoof boots other than the glove will take a 12mm pad without the need to alter the sizing.

February Update from Karen and Bond

2010-03-08T08:16:00.000-08:00

Karen and Bond are Trelawne Equine's sponsored riders for 2010, and are helping us to put the Easycare hoof boots well and truely through their paces! Karen writes:

February started off well, with Looey and Subah upping their training distance in boots and also barefoot. We’d managed to sort out Subah’s girth issue by going back to a good old fashioned cord girth. Unfortunately, Looey started with some rubs from the gaiters as we increased the distance in training. We had another look at the fitting details and decided that because he’s in size 3 and 2.5 gloves (big clodhopping feet for an Arab!), the gaiters were actually too big. After discussing things over with Lucy at Trelawne Equine, we decided to get size 1 gaiters and have them stitched onto the size 3 and 2.5 boot attachment. Our local saddler, Peter Duggan, did a great job, despite his original misgivings about weakening the gaiter. This meant that Looey was without boots for a couple of weeks but his feet are in great shape and he continued to fly over all terrain completely barefoot with no issues.

I decided that I could probably benefit from some lessons, especially with Subah, so mid-February saw us hiring a local indoor arena and having a lesson with Laura Butler from Inspired Equitation. The idea was to work on my position in order to help Subah use his abdominal muscles properly, lengthen his stride and work over his back. We had an interesting lesson in more ways than one. First off, diggers were being driven round the side of the arena. Subah had a couple of explosive moments about this, but I manage to stay on board since I was expecting him to freak. Once they’d parked up, he began to relax and so did I, resulting in some lovely lengthened strides. Laura had already deduced that Subah really didn’t know where his back feet were and had given me some things to work on at home. However, I wasn’t expecting him to demonstrate this is such an extreme way. He clipped a trotting pole with one hind foot as we were walking round the outside of the arena, completely exploded, leapt in the air sideways, landed with me just about hanging on and then freaked because of me and leapt again dumping me heavily on a rather compacted sand surface which felt like landing on concrete! OUCH!! I was in one piece but knew I’d be very colourful in a few days. I managed to climb back on, finish the lesson and hack home. After 2 days, I was aching from head to toe, but luckily I managed to go to my regular pilates class and stretch out all the aches and pains.

Some more snow put a short hold on our training, we’d entered our first organised training ride at the end of February. I did wonder if we’d done enough work with them. Looey has held a lot of his fitness from last year, but Subah hasn’t had a full year of being ridden, so we need to take things steadier with him. We’d got Looey’s boots back from the saddler and managed one trial run in them before the ride. They looked much better…we could now tighten them properly, so there were no gaps. Subah was now in a new endurance saddle but I was having “ issues” with it. I was struggling keeping my right foot in the stirrup and felt that I was riding lop sided. Bond said that I seemed to be twisting in the saddle. Bond agreed to ride Subah on the ride, since I’ve had back problems in the past and didn’t want to exacerbate anything with Subah or me by riding crookedly. Bond was also having a rough time with Looey, since he was being very competitive and had started to pull his arms out at every opportunity in order to get in front of Subah. For some reason, Looey doesn’t muck about as much with me – maybe he’s glad to have a few stone less to carry!!

The ride was only about an hours drive away in Stockport, organised by the local bridleways association in connection with Lancashire Endurance Group. The weather forecast was mixed – we might even have snow! However, on the day it was overcast, chilly, but at least it was dry. The route was 21km of very mixed going, really good for a youngster – we rode round the edge of towns, through parkland, rough tracks out into the countryside, over bridges, horse stiles, through deep mud. We had a few opportunities to canter but the going mainly dictated trotting and the odd walk on really slippy, muddy grass. The boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves and so did we! They skipped round at an average speed of 10kph. It was really nice to see everyone out and about again. These training rides are brilliant value for money. Helen, the organiser had even included a choice of sandwiches, crisps, choccie biscuit and a drink – all for a tenner!

We’d booted all round with the Easyboot Gloves and decided not to use the power straps, just to see how well they stayed on, especially with Subah since he has wider than long feet. They didn’t budge. However Looey suffered some rubs on his pasterns again. So, we’ve got a bit of experimenting to do with him. Some ideas that we’re going to try are using pastern wraps under the gaiters, or taking the gaiters off and wrapping athletic tape round his hoof to help secure the boot, so we’ll keep you posted as to which we think works best. However, we’re also looking forward to trying the “new” gaiter which should be available soon.

Looey and Subah, also had an MOT from our physio this month. Just as well, since Fiona uncovered why we were having problems riding Subah. It seems that he did injure himself when he chucked me off after all. The right side of his back was really tight and he also had a tight muscle in his right buttock! This was making him banana shaped – hence I couldn’t keep my right stirrup and kept feeling as if I was crooked. Bond had felt the same on the ride and we realised that it was either Subah or the saddle which was the problem. At least we now know! So Subah is currently not being ridden but doing lots of stretching exercises and being long reined and lunged in the Pessoa to encourage him to stretch through his back. He only needs a week off and will the hopefully be back up and running for another couple of training rides in March.

Easycare Nitrile Gloves now available

2010-03-03T02:30:00.000-08:00

Trelawne Equine is bringing another superb product into the UK, the Easycare nitrile gloves. These durable gloves are strong yet supple, and ideal for wearing whilst applying hoof boots or trimming, as well as general yard work or anytime you need a strong glove that still gives you feel. The gloves retail at £8.99 and come in sizes small to extra large, and are unisex so ideal for male or female trrimmers and boot fitters. The Easycare nitrile gloves are the ideal addition to any barefoot owners tack box. For trade enquiries or your nearest stockist, please contact Trelawne Equine on 0844 257 8585 or email sales@trelawneequine.co.uk.

Hoof Boots that Pop Off!

2010-02-26T06:14:00.000-08:00

Especially when you are venturing into the world of booting for the first time, there is a fairly inevitable moment that boot users dread where there time has come to lose a boot. Even the most seasoned users can loose one and no matter how well you plan ahead it is still very inconvenient!

The good news is, unlike metal horse shoes that are nailed in to the hoof wall, you don't have to worry about the nails ripping out chunks of horn but if you don't notice and your horses hooves aren't conditioned to the terrain, your horse could become sore.

The vast majority of boot failures come from operator error. If a boot does come off, try and work out why it happened. With a boot such as the Old Mac G2, the only real reasons for it to come off it either incorrect fit/size or a breakage. The internal strap works like a wrist watch strap, preventing the boot from being able to be pulled over the hoof. The lighterweight, slimmer fitting boots such as the Easyboot Glove hoof boot have the potential for loss if the fit is not as good as it should be. Fitted correctly on the right size and shape foot, the glove is unbeatable through mud or over any type of terrain, but the biggest problem we have seen with the Glove is that people seem to size them to big. It is important to remember that it is supposed to "fit like a glove" and that any gaps can become a problem.

The boot should fit snuggly to the hoof wall, with the 'V' slightly parted. A power strap can be used to improve the fit by closing the V.

The benefits of natural hoof care are worth the learning curve of loosing an occasional hoof boot. Remember it is best to always carry a spare if you are riding a long way from home and to check your protective hoof boots like you would any piece of equipment that you put on your horse.

Tips for Barefoot endurance horse owners

2010-02-17T01:48:00.000-08:00

Jen Clingly of Australia emplains "Hoof boots allow you the opportunity to bridge the gap between conventional horseshoes and high performance barefootedness. If a horse's hooves happen to wear down too much with work, boots are designed to protect the hooves from excessive wear, concussion, and bruising. Old Mac's hoof boots made all of this a reality. They are a valuable addition to my tack room, and I take them to every ride like my lucky pair of undies!"

Jen has several success tips to share:

Stay tough no matter the opposition to going barefoot.
The role model of a barefoot endurance horse is the wild horse.
It takes time in training and conditioning a horse barefoot.
Set realistic goals and be flexible.
Get to know your horse.
Be ever so meticulous with their feet.
Use boots and carry them always.
Keep your feed simple and use natural horse care.
Keep it wild and not too domesticated.
Make sure to warm up and warm down.
Exposure to hill work for strength.
Exposure to rock work to lessen horse hoof problems.
Make sure to check hooves often along your training rides.
Utilize a confident leader until the horse is totally confident.
Use massages and therapy to insure well being for your athletes.
Cross training makes for a well rounded horse.

Jen Clingly lives in Golden Valley, Tasmania, Australia. She is an Endurance rider, a professional trimmer, and a lecturer with TAFE Tasmania in the trade certificate 3 "Equine Hoof Care" course. She is also producer of the documentary about wild horses, "Running Naked--From Outback to Racetrack." Jen a has a wealth of useful tips about barefoot trimming and producing a gravel crunching hoof, visit her website www.wildabouthooves.com.au for more information!

Trelawne Equine at BETA

2010-02-16T02:05:00.000-08:00

Trelawne Equine, the UK trade supplier for the Easycare range of hoof boots including the Old Macs and Boa hoof boots are preparing this week for the BETA trade show. BETA is the annual show organised by the British Trade Association for equestrian wholesalers to exhibit to the equestrian retail trade. If you are a trimmer, farrier or retail shop, be sure to come and visit us at stand B7.1, we will be joined by Brian Mueller from Easycare- we have got some exciting offers for the duration of the show to tell you about!

Trelawne Equine are Easycare's Dealer of the Month

2010-02-04T08:10:00.000-08:00

Trelawne Equine are Easycare's dealer of the month for February, read the full story on the Easycare Blog!

Meet Karen and Bond!

2010-02-01T05:04:00.001-08:00

Karen Corr and Bond Hardman from Lancashire are Trelawne Equines sponsored riders for 2010, congratulations to them both! They have been involved with the sport of endurance for approx. 12 years and have successfully introduced a number of horses to the sport. Among the horses they have produced was HT Aramis (Azlan), who reached FEI level, but unfortunately was taken from them suddenly when he developed cancer in his spleen at the prime age of 13. Azlan had been barefoot for the last 2yrs of his life and Karen and Bond had used Easy Boot Epics to help his transition from shoes. Karen told me "After losing Azlan, we had to start from scratch again. Luckily we had purchased a yearling colt, Jalaal ibn Krayaan ( Looey) from Pearl Island Arabians, with a view to him following in Azlan’s hoof steps as a top class endurance prospect. At 4yrs old, Looey was joined by his half sister Tweela and Bond and I rode together until they had both managed to upgrade to Open level and started to complete 65km rides. They managed this completely barefoot!"
Last year, Looey upgraded to Advanced level by completing an 80km ride completely barefoot. However, throughout 2008/9 we also used Renegade hoof boots when the going has been tougher.Tweela unfortunately didn't enjoy the longer distance rides, so she now lives with Bonds sister where she thoroughly enjoys just having fun! Bond and Karen have been watching the developments in the Easycare camp with interest for some time now, and jumped at the chance of entering when the competition when it was advertised. Trelawne Equine received a lot of very strong entries, and it took a good few weeks to reach the final decision, but in the end Karen and Bond shone through! Their passion for the welfare of their horses and their belief in barefoot is obvious and we are delighted to be working with them this year. We have already had a fitkit and boots out to them, and even with the limitations of the weather have manged to put the Gloves through the paces on a couple of strong rides. Karen reported to me that Subah has had a problem with the girth so has needed to be rested, but Looey has been out training and wrote " Anyway, the Easyboot Gloves had a run out today with Looey, who was being quite spirited with Bond. They stayed on throughout, without the power straps, no twisting, rubbing. I was amazed when they stayed on as he powered up hills from 0-60 in not many seconds. And then, they stayed on as he jumped up some steep steps out of a river - Renegades never stayed on his hinds when he's done this - they were notorious for popping off when he powers uphill in canter!" What is really good with this story is that Looey's feet are not considered to be the ideal shape for Gloves, and when I sent them to Karen I warned her they may not work as he has a very typical wide foot, yet they seem to be performing far better than a boot that was supposed to fit that shape foot! The glove really is a remarkable boot and continues to impress us, the simple design and ease of fitting is unmatched in the hoof boot market.

Trelawne Equine in the Horse and Hound magazine

2010-01-25T04:01:00.000-08:00

Check out December 24th 2009 for an 'Ask horse and hound' about hoof boots for an Anglo Arab. The new Easyboot RX is also featured in the week's horse and hound in their hoof boots for poulticing or injured hooves section. Look out for Trelawne Equine in the equine press more this year!

Cleaning the Velcro on Old Mac Multipurpose and Easycare Hoof Boots

2010-01-25T03:35:00.000-08:00

Have you ever come back from a ride, removed your Old Macs Multipurpose Hoof boots, Old Mac G2's or any of the gaitered Easycare boots such as the Easyboot Epic or Easyboot Glove and wondered how to clean the Velcro? The warehouse personnel at Easycare have come up with a great little trick- using a simple dog/ cat brush (their own Velcro Cleaner) on the Velcro to remove grass, hair and whatever else is stuck. They use it on both the hook and loop sides of the Velcro, it will also rejuvenate loop side if is has lost its 'stick'. We at Trelawne Equine think this is a brilliant idea, and will help ensure your boots last even longer and perform as well as they did the first day you use them!

Boa Hoof Boots

2010-01-13T06:56:00.000-08:00

Boa horse boots are one of the most popular hoof boots in the Easycare range, and given good care they can last for years! This versatile hoof boot is very easy to fit and remove, and is ideal for the casual rider. To keep your boots in tip top condition, make sure that the are always kept as clean as possible, and check the lace before and after each ride. Run the lace up and down and wipe away any excess dirt or mud in that area of the boot. If the lace appears a little stiff, lubricate with a little water to loosen it up. After riding in loose dirt or sand, ideally use a small air hose to clean them thoroughly- this will ensure no small particles are lodges in the mechanism. One last tip- always make sure the boa dial protection cap is installed and tightened properly, it is inconvenient to loose this protective cover and it is not recommended to use the boots without it as it protects the mechanism. There are many spare parts available for the lacing system (and spare dial covers!) for Easycare stockists in the UK, for your nearest stockist visit our website Trelawne Equine - home of the Easycare range of hoof boots and the Riders Rasp in the UK

The Easyboot Power Strap

2010-01-10T03:16:00.001-08:00

There is a very useful accessory for the Easyboot Glove called the Easyboot Power Strap . This nifty little strap is the ideal solution if the angle or shape of your horses hoof means you have a gap at the top of your Easyboot gloves. The power strap helps to keep the upper portion of the glove or glue on shell tighter around the hoof. The tighter fit helps to keep dirt and debris out of the hoof boot. The Easyboot power strap also helps to improve fit on feet with flare or imbalances, and also helps to keep the boot centred on any hoof during use in extyreme conditions such as rocks, mud, water or snow.

Easyboot Glove size 3.5 and 4

2009-12-14T02:25:00.000-08:00

The larger Easyboot glove sizes are almost here! The Easyboot glove hoof boots are one of the most successful hoof boots ever designed, yet so simple in their construction making them supremely lightweight and easy to fit. The Easyboot glove has until now been available in 9 sizes namely 00 - 3 in 1/2 sizes, but the two newer sizes 3.5 and 4 will help to cater for the bigger footed equine. The measurements for the new glove size 3.5 will fit a width 132-135mm and length 142-145mm, the size 4 glove will fit a width 136-139mm and length 146-149mm.

Comfort pads

2009-11-16T07:22:00.000-08:00

Easycare produce a comprehensive range of comfort pads for use in their boots. The pads aimed at both hoof care professionals and the consumer are the 6mm or 12mm comfort pads, which are available in 3 densities. The medium density comfort pad is most commonly used, the soft is ideal for horses with sore feet and the firm is good for lifting the hoof up in a hoofboot. Specialist pads such as dome pads and frog support pads are also available, but these should only be used with the help of a hoof care professional to ensure the correct pad is used. Trelawne Equine supply all the Easycare pads to the trade, ask to see the range when you are next out to buy hoof boots, your horse will thank you for the extra comfort they provide!

The Riders Rasp Hoof Trimming Tool

2009-11-12T06:28:00.001-08:00

The Riders rasp is the essential tool for any barefoot horse owner. This innovative and unique hoof trimming tool has been designed to be used by horse owners as opposed to hoof care professionals, and allows safe and effective trimming of the hoof without the risk of compromising the hoof capsule. The Riders Rasp will help to keep the all important Mustang roll (a heavy bevalled edge around the hoof) which prevents splits and cracks from forming, and ensures the weight is carried on the water line. The Rider's Rasp has been made to the highest specifications, and the professional quality, long lasting rasp blades are replaceable.

Sponsorship Opportunity!

2009-11-06T02:30:00.001-08:00

Trelawne Equine are on the look out for a rider with barefoot horses that would be interested in boot sponsorship for 2010. If you are a rider that has managed to attain a high level in your chosen discipline with a booted or barefoot horse, we would love to hear from you! For more details, please contact us.

Deliverys unaffected by Royal Mail Strikes

2009-11-03T02:15:00.000-08:00

Trelawne Equine would just like to reassure our customers that our deliveries will be unaffected by the Royal Mail strikes as all orders are despatched by Courier.

Boa Horse Boots Top Tip!

2009-10-19T04:00:00.000-07:00

A top tip for anyone that has ever lost a Boa Hoof Boot dial cover cap!

Start with the boa dial cover showing the BOA lettering straight up and down or perpendicular to the ground. The cap will only go on in this position so this is the place to start! Twist the cap clockwise. You will hear a series of clicks and the cap will be in the tightest position when the BOA lettering is straight or parallel to the ground. (see picture)

As long as you follow these simple instructions, it should be impossible for the cap to come off!

New EasyCare Hoof Boot Design on the way!

2009-10-14T03:04:00.000-07:00

Hot off the press, Garrett at Easycare has just posted on his blog that he is putting together a new hoof boot, which is in his words is 'Part Easyboot Glove, part football helmet, part snow board binding and part Crocs'! If the glove is anything to go by, this boot will be amazing and another huge step up the booting ladder. Easycare hoof boots are breaking new ground with every new boot they produce, ensuring that barefoot is an option to almost every horse.

Transitioning the farrier

2009-10-07T03:44:00.000-07:00

Easycare have released a very interesting article by Steve Karshner regarding transitioning the traditional farrier to a natural barefoot farrier. Barefoot trimming is not radically different to the traditional trim, but there are distinct differences and issues that need to be addressed in order for it to be successful. When taking a horse barefoot, the whole horse needs to be addressed, not just the foot. After all, the horses body grows the hoof you have to trim; healthy body= healthy hoof! Hoof boots are there to assist the transitioning process from shod to barefoot, and any well prepared barefoot farrier will carry a few pairs of the most popular sizes on his van with some comfort pads and accessories for horses that need a little initial help.

Old Macs continue to grow!

2009-10-02T06:31:00.000-07:00

The Old Mac G2 Hoof Boot is one of the best selling hoof boots in the UK, and is continuing to grow in popularity. The Old Mac G2 is a very forgiving hoof boot, and fits a round or wider than long foot best, which is a common front foot shape.

The Riders Rasp- medium course blades

2009-09-23T02:34:00.000-07:00

The riders rasp has now got a new option to its blades, with a medium course blade now available. The medium coarse riders rasp blades are ideal for people used to trimming hooves, giving a more aggressive cut than the standard medium blades supplied with the rasp. The riders rasp is a tool designed for use by the horse owner to maintain the horses hooves between trims and should be used in conjunction with a hoof care professional and under their advice. By maintaining the mustang roll and keeping flare in check between trims, the hoof is able to grow more consistently and thus the horse produces a stronger hoof capsule and pathologies resolve more quickly.

Comfort Pads

2009-09-18T08:26:00.001-07:00

The Easycare comfort pads are available in 3 densities; soft, medium and hard. The soft is good for horses that are sore, or as the top pad in a stack for a laminitic pony for example. The Hard are ideal for lifting the foot up in a boot, for example when the horse has a low heel and the coronet band is too close to the top of an Easyboot Epic hoof boot which could cause rubbing. The medium density comfort pad is a good pad for general use when transitioning, 6mm for use as an 'insurance policy' or 12mm when the horse needs extra comfort for example when fresh out of metal shoes.

Booted horses triumph again!

2009-09-11T02:49:00.000-07:00

Easyboots wiped the floor with the competition at Bryce Canyon XP, all 5 days the 1st place horses and best condition were won by horses wearing Easyboot Gloves or Easyboot Glue on hoof boots! The list of success of horses in hoof boots over their shod counterparts is growing by the minute, and at the top level. Barefoot and hoof boot doubters will soon become an endangered species!

Is Barefoot the Future?

2009-09-02T07:48:00.001-07:00

At Trelawe Equine it is no secret we are big advocates of barefoot horse riding, however it caught our eye that human barefoot running is also hitting the headlines at the moment!

A quote from a recent article in the New York Times reads: “The shoe arguably got in the way of evolution,” said Galahad Clark, a seventh-generation shoemaker and chief executive of the shoemaker Terra Plana, based in London. “They’re like little foot coffins that stopped the foot from working the way it’s supposed to work.”

With this in mind you ahve to ask the question "what on earth a metal shoe nailed to the horse hoof would be described as!?"

I have tried running barefoot, and with a little practice it certainly does feel more natural and less effort. So why not give barefoot a go with your horse? You'll be pleasantly suprised.

More Easyboot Glove Testing

2009-09-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

More hoof boot testing has been going on in Durango this weekend, including a new gaiter for the superbly popular Easyboot Glove!

Watch this space for the new design and any upcoming news if and when it is released!

Easyboot Glue-On with Goober Glue

2009-08-28T02:02:00.001-07:00

EasyCare, the leaders in hoof boots and hoof boot technology, have been experimenting with a number of different methods to apply their radical Easyboot Glue-On hoof boot.

The lastest method is using Goober Glue mixed with water to speed up the curing time. Garret feels that Goober Glue is one of the best packing materials for the boots, and using the water to cure it faster makes this method a very favorable one.

We'll keep you posted on all the latest barefoot horse riding and hoof boot happenings here.

Easyboot Gloves in More Sizes!

2009-08-26T03:27:00.000-07:00

The Easyboot Glove will soon be available in size 3.5 and 4, which will be excellent news for the larger hooves UK equines and great for barefoot horse riding in general!

Our other big selling product this month is The Riders Rasp which is an amzing and very handy tool for any barefoot horse owner.

The Riders Rasp is designed to be used by horse owners to keep their horses feet in check between trims, which is not only good for maintaining a strong hoof capsule, but also ensure the best hoof boot fit possible at all times.

Trelawne Equine Website Launched!

2009-08-25T03:42:00.001-07:00

The brand new Trelawne Equine website has now been launched.

Trelawne Equine are dedicated distributors of the EasyCare product range of Hoof Boots. We have been selling hoof boots for a number of years along with advising customers about hoof boots for their horses.

Our aim is to provide product support and education to promote better understanding regarding barefoot riding and natural horse care.

Come and visit us at www.trelawneequine.co.uk and see what you think.