EasyBoot Gloves on Riyah's First Ride

Booted up and ready to go!

Here is the boot report from our ride last weekend. I have been using Gloves on my horses since they first came out, and although Riyah's hooves are about a centimeter wider than they are long, they still worked great. She has never been shod and has only recently (the last couple of months) been booted, and only on her front hooves until two days before the Hell's Kitchen Canyon ride. I booted her back hooves for a short trail ride to test out the new size 0.5 EasyBoot Gloves I had bought for her. None of her hooves actually fit into a Glove size parameter according to the EasyCare size chart, but I have still had great success with them. See the March 27 post: The Boots That Shouldn't Fit.

Last Saturday we successfully completed Riyah's first 25-miler in four EasyBoot Gloves with no problems whatsoever! The Hell's Kitchen Canyon ride is extremely rocky in places, incredibly steep in other places, and slick shale slopes in a few other places. Riyah had great traction and was sure footed all the way. I booted her the morning of the ride. The lower half of each hoof was wrapped with three wraps of Mueller's Athletic tape, then the boot was slipped onto the hoof and seated with a couple of good taps with a rubber mallet.

The excitement of the start was almost more than my young inexperienced mare could handle. But despite her many acrobatic maneuvers, we made it through, and she settled (more or less!) into a good forward trot over the rough terrain. The Gloves never moved. No twisting, no stumbling. Riyah was well protected and comfortable, and her boots were the least of my worries, thank goodness! I removed her boots at the end of the ride and her hooves were in great shape. I might add that the boots were harder to take off than they were to put on thanks to the tape. The left front boot actually required two people, a hoof pick, a screw driver, and a fair bit of elbow grease to get it off. Hmmm. Maybe only two wraps of athletic tape would be better in the future!

Gotta love those Gloves!

All four boots nice and snug at the vet check.