Hoof Boot Pics!

Cherry and her Frankenfeet. The boots are so ugly! But that's okay. :)



















Closer picture of the boots.

Old Mac G2 Hoof Boots

We got our hoof boots today! And they fit!!!!!!! Praise be. Haven't had much luck with tack lately, so I was totally dreading trying the boots on Cherry. But surprise surprise, they seem to fit quite well.

After months of waffling and careful online research, I decided on the Old Mac G2 hoof boots. They seemed the best suited for Cherry's round feet, and from what I read, well made and durable. I figure if we go through a pair every couple years or so, I've saved more than enough money on metal horseshoes.

On the negative side, they don't fit around the pastern as well as I'd like. The actual hoof capsule part fits well with just enough room to spare for foot growth, but not enough room that they twist on her feet. However, the top part gaps more than I'd like. I think I'll have to use the stupid gaiter-sock thing or else wrap her pasterns in vet wrap so things don't get inside the boot.

Cherry took to the boots quite well. She walked and jogged up and down the barn aisle no problem. However, turning around in the cross ties was a bit of a procedure. She kept looking down at her feet like she didn't know where to put them. Change in terrain was also interesting. It was like there was a disconnect between where she thought her foot and boot were and where they actually were. I think she'll figure it out very quickly, though.

Another concern I have is interfering. She's always "winged in" with her front feet, hence all the popped splints and the broken splint bone many years ago. Now that her feet are substantially bigger, I think we might see a bit of foot hitting opposite leg issues. That's okay, I'll break out the trusty splint boots if that threat rears its ugly head.

Speaking of ugly, these boots are absolutely hideous. They make Cherry look like she's wearing Frankenstein's hand-me-downs. Fankenfeet is my favorite term, hee hee! That's okay. As long as they do their job, I really don't care what they look like.

So far so good. Tomorrow we'll take them out on a maiden voyage around the ranch. I just hand walked today, figuring if that she was going to fall on her face I didn't want to be involved.

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.

Happy Birthday, Cherry!

Cherokee is 20 years old! Technically, her birthday was Tuesday, May 11th, but it's not like she knows the difference. :)

Carrots were given and pictures were taken, and Cherry didn't know why or care very much, but she did enjoy the extra bit of food!

I'm so thrilled to have a sound, healthy, happy old horse. A little bit of arthritis that flares up when it's cold is nothing to complain about. I hope that we'll be able to celebrate her 30th birthday in ten years.

20 seems like such a milestone. She's actually just starting to look her age. Her orbits have finally sunk in, and she's got "old Appy face". You know, the two dark stripes on either side of their nasal bone and dark patches right above the eyes, but the rest is roaned out. I can't wait to see the rest of her summer coat! Shedding is still in full swing, and there are no less than 3 new spots that showed up this year.

Happy birthday, Cherry! May you have many, many more.

Feeling Blah

I've been feeling pretty listless lately. I just haven't had the desire to ride, which hasn't been helped by the fact that I've literally been working for 3 weeks straight. Today is the first day off I've had in a looooong time.

Trouble is, it's raining (poo!) and I think I'm getting sick (wah!). There's a really nasty respiratory bug going around, my boos was out sick with it for a whole fucking week. Woke up with a sore-ish throat this morning, so I'm going to spend my day off drinking copious amounts of green tea and water, taking vitamins, and resisting the temptation of sugar. Not quite how I envisioned my weekend going, but oh well. Beats having to call in sick to work and losing money!

So I guess I'll just throw Cherry her food, scrape the worst of the shed hairs off her, and toss her back in her paddock again. Here's your food, bitch! Bye.

Not that Cherry minds all that much, after all, she still gets to eat.

My Horse is a Better Teacher Than Me

Yes, it's true. Cherry is a far better riding instructor than I can ever be. Ain't that always the way with the best school horses? Your trainer can yell at you to do something 100 times, but it doesn't click until the horse does something that makes you go "oh, I see!"

Well, that's the case with Cherry. She's the best lesson horse I've ever known, though I might be a bit biased. I don't know how she does it, but she knows what the student needs to learn and she'll make them do it.

The most awesome part about her is that that she'll adjust her behavior (and misbehavior) to suit the skill level of her rider. When I ride her, she's usually full of piss and vinegar. When I put small, timid children on her, she's the picture of a lazy old plug who trots slower than most horses walk.

I distinctly remember watching her carry a 5 year old rider in the leadline class in one of the riding school's local schooling shows. Her eyes were half closed the entire time and she plodded around docilely after the rider's novice father. In the same show, the teenager who leased her rode in several WTC flat classes and a couple over fences classes. They won Hunter Over Fences and Cherry could not have looked more perky and happy to do her job.

When *I* jump her, gone is the cute Hunter pony and the would-be 17 hh hell-on-wheels show jumper comes out to play. That sure is fun. I take that as a compliment, though.

I actually got the BF to ride the other day, which was awesome. The extent of Cherry's misbehavior involved all of coming off the rail every now and then to see if he'd steer her back. That was it. Oooooh, what a rebellious pony!

Today in a lesson, my student needed to learn the importance of contact, especially at working at speed. The kid gets a nice, working contact, then gets scared of it and lets the reins slide out of her hands. Well, needless to say, that's not very effectatious for slowing or stopping her horse. We did some lead changes at the canter, and each time she let her reins get too long, Cherry almost got away from her. When she kept the contact, Cherry was perfectly under control. Amazing how that works! Me yelling at her all day would NEVER have gotten that point across.

I just love that about Cherry. She won't do anything to you that she doesn't think you can handle. I taught one of my students to ride (from complete novice to jumping small fences) on Cherry. One day, I decided to introduce controlling speed within a gait. We worked on slowing down and speeding up the trot. Before this lesson, Cherry had dutifully performed the "lesson horse trot". Today, however, Cherry busted out the ground-covering Arab trot. My student was surprised. "Welcome to Cherry's REAL trot!" I told her. She was a little unnerved, but I assured her, "She wouldn't be doing it if she didn't think you could handle it." And I wasn't lying.

She won't do something if she doesn't think you can handle it, and she's smart enough to figure out what her rider needs to work on. If you need to learn steering, she'll wander off the rail occasionally. If you need to learn about half-halts, she'll try and speed on you. If you need to work on balancing your horse, she'll run around crooked with a shoulder popped out.

Just another reason I love my horse.

Poleys Rule!

I just want to say how much I LOVE my Aussie saddle! I'm quickly coming to the conclusion that poleys are the most awesome saddle invention ever, after the girth and stirrups.

Poley are those things sticking out of the saddle just below the pommel. I've also heard them called thigh blocks.

Their function is very simple. They hold you in the saddle. If your horse trips, spooks, or stops suddenly you don't go anywhere. It's awesome!

It's like riding in a super-deep dressage saddle, with the added bonus that unless you topple directly off the side, you're not going to fall out.

Case in point. It's no big secret that I'm out of shape and I don't have the velcro butt I used to. Crossing a small creek the other day, Cherry decided that (after going into the water) that she just didn't want to be there and lept out onto the opposite bank, where she abruptly came to a stop. In an English saddle, this would have been quite unseating and if I was bareback I would probably have fallen off. In the Aussie saddle, however, I didn't even lose a stirrup. My thighs were snug against the poleys and my leg and seat weren't going anywhere.

Another time, we were cooling out, just ambling along on a loose rein, when some killer quail suddenly advanced from the bushes in attack formation. I was just sitting on Cherry, not really riding, when the quail attacked us. (And by attacked, I mean rustled in the bushes a bit before calmly walking out of them.) Cherry, sure the quails' mission was to slaughter and devour us, jumped sideways, spun, and got about 3 steps away before I'd come to my senses enough to tell her to knock it off. Again, if I'd been riding bareback, I would either ended up hanging off Cherry's neck or laying on the ground as an offering to appease the evil quail. In the Aussie saddle with the awesome poleys, even though I was totally disengaged and not paying attention (bad idea, I know), I kept my seat.

I love my bareback pad, but when "exciting" things happen, the Aussie saddle is the tack item of choice.