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Hoof Boots

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pictured: Easyboot Epics

 

                 Hoof boots represent a huge leap forward in technology from the horse shoe.  Hoof boots protect the entire sole and frog better than a shoe can while still allowing the horse to reap all the benefits of going barefoot. 

                 Hoof boots provide comfort for horses with weak, sore hooves and allow them to remain in or return to work when shoes are removed.  This means that owners can continue or start riding their horses even while the hooves are still healing.  This exercise stimulates the hooves and  actually helps them to heal faster. 

                 Despite all of the problems that shoes cause they were, for a long time, the best tool we had for providing comfort and restoring usability to sore horses. Today we are fortunate to have better options.

Wild horse research

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                 Hoof diseases that are common in domestic horses are absent from their feral brothers and sisters.  Mustang travel up to 20 miles per day over tough, rocky terrain in search of food and water yet their hooves are the picture of ideal health, strength, and soundness .   Studying mustangs has given us insights into how to improve the health of our domestic horses’ hooves.  

ERIKA MØRUP

 

HIGH  PERFORMANCE  NATURAL  HOOF  CARE

Introduction

Horse shoes are history

Boots and barefoot are the future

 

             For many hundreds of years horse shoes were the best way we knew of to restore comfort and usability to sore horses.  But horse shoes cause a host of problems of their own and their label, “a necessary evil”, is nearly as old as they are.  Today we are fortunate have better options.  New trimming techniques combine the best of what good farriers have known for decades, what new veterinary research tells us, and what observations of wild/feral horses show us about the needs and capabilities of our domestic equine partners.  Today we are able to trim horses in such a way that comfort is maintained or improved with each trim, healing is rapid, and hoof quality and strength improves.  In the cases where the demands we put on our horses exceed the current health and strength of the hoof protection is needed and hoof boots fill this role better than horse shoes ever could.  Now, metal horse shoes are no longer “necessary”.

             The benefits of going barefoot are clear and the success of modern approaches to barefoot are undeniable.  As a result, a hoof care revolution has been growing within the ranks of horse owners, hoof care professionals, and veterinarians all over the world.

 

Hoof care up to now

             Most people understand that horse shoes produce many negative side effects (see inset at left).  However, people also recognize that many horses are simply sore without them.   Any farrier or veterinary text you read will recommend long barefoot periods during the off season to “allow the hoof to recover from the effects of shoeing”.  You can see the contradiction—horse shoes help many sore horses to feel comfortable but at the same time cause a host of problems of their own and their long term use usually degrades hoof quality rather than improving it.  Until very recently this was not understood. The best that farriers and veterinarians could do was to try to balance the need of horse and owner for comfort during the riding season with the need for a recovery period during the off season. 

             Additionally, the root causes of nearly every major hoof disease eluded veterinary researchers for decades.  This left hoof care professionals in the dark and without the knowledge needed to develop methods that produced honest, permanent healing for problems such as laminitis and navicular disease.  While many methods were devised that provide some relief for and even restored some usability to horses with these problems success with these techniques was inconsistent at best and usually short lived.  Worse yet, no one knew how to prevent these hoof diseases from developing in the first place.

 

New Science

             Today we are very fortunate to be able to benefit from recent research from a variety of sources that helps us to understand hoof diseases, how the hoof works, and how to help it to work its best. 

             It has been fifteen years now since the first research was done to study the hooves of mustangs (feral horses) living in the US.  This research shed light on what is possible for domestic horses to achieve if given the correct environmental inputs—beautiful healthy hooves capable of covering many miles a day over the roughest terrain imaginable and free from the diseases that plague their domestic cousins.  This research led to the development of trimming techniques that mimicked the natural wear patterns seen on the mustangs and started the “barefoot movement” in the United States. 

             Within the scientific research community Dr. Robert Bowker, Dr. James Rooney, Prof. Chris Pollit and others have made enormous advancements in our knowledge and understanding of the hoof and the causes of hoof related lameness.  Dr. Robert Bowker has shown that the strength of the hoof’s inner structures (the digital cushion and lateral cartilages) is the best indicator of overall hoof health and has documented the pattern of differences between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ feet—giving us a clear direction to go in when trying to rehabilitate ‘bad’ feet.  Dr. James Rooney has illuminated the true cause of and cascade of events leading to navicular disease.   Because of Rooney’s research hoof care practitioners ‘in the know’ take heel pain and its associated compensatory movement as a serious threat to long term soundness and as a result have been able to stop and reverse the progression of navicular syndrome/disease and restore comfort and long term soundness to most cases.  Prof. Chris Pollit has made it his life’s work to unravel the mysteries of laminitis.  He has improved our understanding of the role of metabolic disturbances in laminitis as well as our understanding of when and how damage occurs within the hoof during a laminitic episode. 

             With their research Bowker, Rooney, and Pollit have all demonstrated the superiority of bare hooves with regard to proper function, ability to heal, and ability to perform and these top researchers have now become barefoot advocates. 

             With the wealth of new information coming from the scientific community one might mistakenly conclude that most hoof care providers and veterinarians have changed the way they view hoof lameness and updated their approaches to treating them.  Unfortunately, new information disseminates slowly through the veterinary community and even slower through the hoof care community.  All but a few professionals have been successful in finding ways to bridge the gap between this new research and the development of new or improved techniques in the field.    

 

New Techniques

             Fifteen years ago the idea that all horses could go barefoot was a radical one.  Fortunately, there were a few determined and innovative people who were passionate about the possibility.  They successfully integrated information from every  available source and developed a new way of trimming.  Wild horse research gave them a goal to work towards and veterinary research helped to point the way when trying to strengthen weak feet and when finding solutions for treating hoof diseases.  Many of the early pioneers of the ‘barefoot movement’ were farriers.  They used this new information to update their techniques and approaches to many hoof problems and soon they were having consistent and often dramatic success strengthening weak, sensitive hooves and eliminating the need for horse shoes and even curing “hopeless” cases of hoof disease.

             The new information that came from the veterinary research community was particularly valuable because it enabled these early pioneers to address the root causes of hoof weakness and disease and thus promote honest, permanent healing.  It is obvious, however, that while trimming can remove excess, correct imbalances, and shape the hoof for proper mechanics it cannot replace missing material or cure the soreness that results from it.  For that hoof protection is needed until the missing material can be re-grown by the horse.   

 

New Technology

             Many horses lack healthy hooves and even healthy hooves can lack strength and toughness.  For these reasons many horses require hoof protection for riding or for riding on certain terrain—at least until their hooves heal and toughen.  Until recently, however, there weren’t any reliable or convenient options other than horse shoes to fill this need. 

             Modern hoof boots were invented in the 1970’s but were difficult to apply, usually fit poorly, and often fell off.  The boots worked well for a minority of horses and for the most part hoof boots were relegated to “spare tire status”.  As the ‘barefoot movement’ grew so did demand for a better boot.  In particular, the Easycare company has been very responsive to the needs of horse owners and hoof care practitioners and has designed and created several cutting edge boots that provide all the advantages we would want in a hoof boot and none of the drawbacks of horse shoes or outdated boot designs.  

             In particular the Easyboot Epic has become the favored boot of performance and endurance riders looking for a boot that performs under the toughest conditions as well as hoof care practitioners looking for a boot that helps to protect and support hooves with pathology.  The Epics offer adjustable sizing, fit, and tread patterns to suit every horse’s hooves and every discipline’s demands. The Easycare company also produces a padding system that allows hoof care practitionsers to continualy adjust the density, thickness, and shape of the padding in the boot and thus to customize the boot to best protect and provide comfort and support to weak, unhealthy hooves during the healing process.

             Hoof boots are essentially a 21st century horse shoes.  They do the same jobs that horse shoes are intended to do but they do it much better and produce none of the negative side effects that shoes do.  Hoof boots have brought barefoot mainstream.  They allow us to take horses out of shoes without having to take them out of training as well.  This is clearly an advantage from the owner’s point of view but surprisingly it’s an advantage for the horse’s hooves as well.  The increased stimulation that the horse gets from being ridden actually speeds the healing process considerably.               The funny thing about boots is that the more you use them the less you need them.   For most horses boots are a temporary tool to keep horses comfortable and in work during the healing process and thus promote faster healing and toughening of weak structures.  Once the hoof becomes healthy or nearly healthy hoof boots aren’t needed for arena work or hacking out in the field.  For trail riding on rocky ground boots should be used until hooves are completely healthy and have toughened enough to handle this more demanding terrain.

             Don’t misunderstand, hoof boots have their place as long term tool as well.  While healthy hooves can easily be conditioned to go barefoot on tough terrain like rocky trails many owners simply like the peace of mind they get from using hoof boots just for trail riding.  They find the boots so convenient to use that they continue to use boots for this purpose even after their horse's hooves are healthy.                                                                                            

                                                                                                              Go to FAQ

The negative side effects of shoes

 

—Horse shoes reduce or eliminate stimulation to the sole, frog, lateral cartilages, and digital cushion that would otherwise strengthen these structures and allow them to callus.

 

--Metal shoes increase shock while simultaneously decreasing the ability of the hoof to act as a shock absorber.

 

—Metal shoes reduce traction on most surfaces. 

 

—Horse shoes cause peripheral loading which dramatically reduces circulation within the hoof.  Compared to a bare hoof, the tissues within a shod foot receive less blood  supply and with each heartbeat the circulation within a shod hoof actually comes to a complete stops for a split second.

Barefoot pioneers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                 One of the most influential people in my education as a hoof care practitioner has been Pete Ramey.  He is both one of the most successful trimmers in the business and one of the best communicators.  His clinics have helped farriers, natural hoof care practitioners and veterinarians all over the US and the world to learn to successfully apply the latest trimming and rehabilitation techniques—many of which he helped develop.