Lame Pony and Hoof Boots

Cherry's lame. It doesn't happen often, so I should be thankful forthat, I guess. This time is different, though. In the past, she's been lame due to injury. Like, Boom! Accident! and she's lame. Once that heals, she's sound again.

I'm giving her the next few days off, then I'll re-evaluate. Right now, it's not an issue for the vet, but if there's no improvement and I can't pinpoint what's wrong, it will be.

This time, it's more like, "ouchie, my feet hurt." I guess I should be pissed at the farrier, this round of trimming has not been up to par. Though the only other alternative is to do it myself, and I don't know if I feel comfortable doing that. Seems like I'll have to if this keeps up. Grrr. There's a serious lack of good farriers in the area, so there isn't a whole lot of choice. I bet the wet-dry-wet-wet weather hasn't helped any.

Anyway, I'm in the market for hoof boots to help with the tender-footedness. Cherry's always a bit tender on gravel, and now she's really tender on gravel, so hoof boots it is. She's been barefoot for a long time, and I don't want to get back into shoes. Too expensive and I don't ride enough to justify spending $80 every 6 weeks on them.

Now, this isn't easy because there appear to be five thousand kinds of hoof boots, each of which has people who love them and people who hate them. This would be so much easier if there were only a few options.

Hoof shape was something I'd never considered before. Seems like Cherry's feet are round, with approximately the same length and width. Hum, for whatever reason I've always thought she had narrower feet. Dunno why, just one of my random notions.

Anyway, on to boot choices. They all cost about the same, so price isn't a deciding factor.

Easyboots. There's a ton of them. Eep! There's the ones with the turny screw thing, which look pretty good. The thing is, I've heard they're awesome, right up to the point where a bunch of gunk gets into the screw threads and it jams up. Not good.











The Gloves look like they'd be nice and easy, but the whole exact fit thing is a trifle intimidating. If they don't fit, they don't fit, and since you can't adjust them, you're fucked. There is a kit you can get to try out, so I guess that may be a rout to go. If I go with Easyboots, this seems the best option.











Cavallo makes a couple boots that really strike my fancy. The simple boots looks quite simple, a huge plus. They appear to be made for round feet, so another plus there. People have said though that the outside straps get annoying and they don't hold up to gravel as well as they might. Bummer, but still may be worth a shot.






The Sport boot looks awesome, though I don't think it will fit Cherry. It's made narrower than the Simple boot, but I like the outside closure a lot better.










Then there's Old Mac boots and Boas. I'm less familiar with them, but I've heard they're good, so I'm going to read up more on them.

Decisions, decisions.