Dry Feet? You Need an EasySoaker!

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

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!

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!

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!

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?

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

://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.