Riley has now had 5+ weeks of riding/working in the Cavallo Sport Boots and I can say that I am beyond happy with them. We've still had our ups and downs due to his pasture conditions, but overall he's comfortable enough in the boots to do non-concussive type of work and we got the green light from the farrier on Thursday to keep him moving forward. Due to the boot's tendency to fill with arena footing he said we could skip doing that or see how he feels without boots. But for now our plan of hacking, fitness and keeping his baby brain mentally stimulated are all full steam ahead. He did warn me that Riley may never be totally sound without shoes, but I don't have any delusions that he'll will be able to handle gravel with his flat feet without some ouchiness.
We hacked lightly around the property after his trim (with boots) he felt great (actually he was quite fresh!) and I tentatively made plans to take him on a paper chase a few days later.
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| He was... excited to say the least. You can almost see a smile on his face. |
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The barn was very busy that morning and I was little less than 100% (due to tailgating at Fairhill which led late into the night). All the cross ties were taken up and since the other boarders can be a little slow (ahem, this statement coming from me is hilarious) I chose to simply throw his lead line over the pole behind him in the picture (It's not really a place to tie your horse or a place to put your saddle, but it works for both purposes). He stood quietly while I got him all booted up, brushed and tacked up. I have to say, he came out of the pasture brimming with personality... someone made a comment that she could tell he was 4 because after I tacked him up he proceeded to get into everything he could touch. The rail I had him tied to is about 6-7 feet long so he could slide the rope loop down and move around. He broke a giant container of treats, tried to dismantle the mounting block, pulled my friend's helmet out of her bag, and nearly climbed into my lap when I was putting on my spurs. What a ham!
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| Let's do this. *Also, he's wearing my argyle trouser socks. |
We arrived to the paper chase at around noon, I checked us in and grabbed our pinneys. Our start time was an agonizing one hour later. If I had known that I would have packed a picinic! It was a beautiful day and I needed to get my act together so it worked out okay. I'm sure I was a little green around the gills with nerves, so the extra time let me settle down. Riley and Prima were mostly happy to stand on the trailer and eat hay while we waited. Luckily, there are enough of these paper chases in our area that the whole thing runs like a well-oiled machine. We pulled the ponies off the trailer at 12:50 (they were saddled up already), threw on or bridles and got on. We were parked very close to the start and both horses walked over on a loopy rein. I have to say, Prima impresses me more and more everyday... what an amazing 5 year old! It had poured the night before so we waited a little while to start trotting (the start was boggy to say the least) but once we did, Riley felt great. He's been riding around in the boots for around 6 weeks and he felt really confident in them. Traction was not as much of an issue as I thought it would be and little did we know we'd be putting the boots through the ultimate test that day!
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| Airplane ears deployed. Headphones engaged. He's got his own theme music going. |
The trail was very poorly marked. Also, there had been another paper chase a few weeks prior that was marked with pink tape and ours was marked with orange. For the record, safety orange and pink = the same damn thing from across a hay field. We got lost twice, had to bushwhack our way through the forest and over crazy obstacles. We went down one tiny trail with such a scary mud pit crossing that we opted to crash through some trees to the next field instead of doubling back. The ride was supposed to take us approximately 6 miles, but when we finally made it back to the trailers we saw that we had gone 8.3!!! Most of the ride was walking and trotting, but we got in a little bit of cantering here and there. At one point, Riley tucked his head to his chest and felt like a real race horse underneath me! I'll admit, I was reallllly nervous about riding in the boots for a serious ride. We went through the first muddy water crossing and I could sense Riley's concern about getting his feet out of the mud (he figured it out very quickly though) and we came out the other side unscathed. Boots still on and intact! Success! Prima lost a shoe in that mess, and I know Riley would have if he had been in shoes.
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| Wild TB waiting to start! |
I was beaming when we got back to the trailers and still had a sound, happy horse underneath me. He got himself quite sweaty on the way back and I felt like he could have gone around again! At one point a mile or two from the finish, he started playing Marco Polo with any horse that would answer. Then when any of the other groups went out of sight he'd get very agitated and wanted to keep up. It was a good exercise to teach him how to settle and get his brain back. He never did anything too naughty, it was just baby horse behavior more than anything.
But back to my product review...
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| Cavallo Sport Boot |
I chose the Sport boot over the simple for a few reasons. The Simple boot did not fit Riley's feet quite as well. According to their site, the sport boot is made for horses with a narrower hoof and after trying both styles on him, I definitely like the sport better. The consensus on fit is that the horses hoof should "pop" into the boot. A little extra room is okay, but too much and you'll have rubs. Riley grows hoof at an alarmingly fast rate, so even though Cavallo recommends measuring for fit following a recent trim, I would recommend maybe waiting a week or so. I had to buy two pairs to keep up with Riley's feet. He generally wears a size 2, but after a few weeks I could barely get his hoof in them! The 3's are probably a touch too big, but with the pads they fit well enough. There's a bit of an adjustment period when you first start using them, much like a brand new pair of hiking boots, you have to "break them in". I found what works for us is to use a pair of silky socks (mine) to pull on over his hoof and over his pastern before I slip his hoof into the boot. He had some chips to grow out and they kept catching on the hard plastic on the inside of the boot, making them impossible to put on and this seemed to help quite a bit. The socks also seem to help with rubs, which he only got once when he was being a jerk and I made him work for longer than I anticipated. The sport boots have a big flap in the front with a tab closure vs. the simples which have 2 velcro tabs. I found the velcro tabs clumsy and potentially dangerous as they seems more inclined to allow things to get caught in them. Both styles have adequate hoof support and serve as shock absorbers (which is great for Riley's tender soles) and they both have drainage holes in them allowing debris, water, mud to escape easily. My only complaint is that they started to twist a little during the paper chase. I think this was a combination of them being wet and muddy and the torque from riding over lots and lots of uneven terrain. They didn't turn enough to be a problem for him, but I wonder if they could hurt him if they turned too much. I know Andrea mentioned to me that she's had a pair turn all the way around! After the paper chase, I pulled them off Riley and there as only a little bit of mud inside them, the socks were destroyed, and I simply hosed the boots off before they dried to get all the mud out of the velcro and seams. They look good as new!
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