Message from SA

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

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

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!

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

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

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!

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!