Subscribe to this feed
The 
instructions on making sure you've installed your Boa Cap correctly. Remember you can damage the dial closure system if you don't use your Boa Cap.
Have you ever come back from a ride to find you have lost a cap to your 
Here is a great post from Easycare's blog taken from an article found on hoofcare practitioner Maria Siebrand's website 
Take heart hoof care practitioners and listen closely horse owners. Your trimmer doesn't ultimately hold the keys to barefoot success, you do!
to trim feet that had last been trimmed 6 months ago, or trying to devise a bandage that would stay on an abscessed foot when the horse's pasterns were buried in mud, I realized that. I needed to focus
Easyboots after the 100 mile Tevis Cup
Who wants soft-country feet? Not me! Until recently I lived in an area that was perfect for barefooting. Hard, dry, often rocky terrain meant achieving gravel-crunching soundness was possible for a majority of horses. Last November, I moved to an area with much higher rainfall and with rich, deep, often wet topsoil; perfect for dairy farming (with energy-rich grasses like kikuyu and paspalum) but not ideal for developing solid functional horse hooves.
29 June 2010 01:55
Below is a post taken from Easycare's blog this week. At Trelawne Equine we have been talking about why shoeing is accepted as being normal, instead of questioning why we shoe. Any good farrier will tell you a hoof is healthier without a shoe on it, so why do we still insisit on shoeing as a matter of course? Surely a better approach would be to look at the horses lifestyle, what the rider wants to do with them and ascertain what approach would suit horse and riders needs best in the long term rather than just whacking a set of shoes on straight off. Certainly, if you have a horse you treat as a member of the family and would like the longest and most trouble free working life possible you would have to say that a natural and barefoot lifestyle is the answer. With the advent of modern hoof boots, so many more horses are able to work to a higher level with far less risk of injury than ever before so even if the descision has been taken to shoe in the past a regular review should be considered.
"In recent years, a growing contingent
"In recent years, a growing contingent
25 June 2010 09:47
Well, what is transition? Transition is the time period after you pull the shoes off of your horse until he is sound enough to walk on gravel. This rehabilitation period of several months to a year, depends on the internal damage to your horse's foot and how you provide natural hoof care. Increased blood flow starts to rebuild internal structures that were damaged by the shoes. Until the rebuilding is complete, many horses can be sore and will need hoof boots to ride in different types of environments. Hoof pads will also help your horse immensely during the transition period.
Transition is the reason why so many horse owners have said that their horse can't go barefoot. It can be an inconvenience for the owner and some of us just don't have the patience. However, once you understand that horseshoes really do weaken the hooves and (If you don't believe me ask your farrier!) that we thought we were doing the right thing by keeping our horses shod
Transition is the reason why so many horse owners have said that their horse can't go barefoot. It can be an inconvenience for the owner and some of us just don't have the patience. However, once you understand that horseshoes really do weaken the hooves and (If you don't believe me ask your farrier!) that we thought we were doing the right thing by keeping our horses shod
24 June 2010 09:44
Here is an excerpt from Easycare's blog about Peter the driving pony. Peter uses Easyboot Bare hoof boots to protect his hooves whilst working.
"Peter is a small pony I was given by the local slaughter man when he was a foal at foot. He is out of a riding pony mare by a minature stallion - absolutely shouldn't have been bred, but there he was. For the last few years he has been with a friend, babysitting her big horse. He is now 5 years old, 10:2 hh and came home this summer to be backed for friend's small sons to ride.
He has had a number of bouts of laminitis, treated by vet and farrier. When he came home he was over weight and walking with difficulty. His heels were long and toes short. I trimmed him and he immediately moved more freely. Loosing weight helped a lot too! The real problem was: how to train and work a small pony with no children regularly available? I know! I'll start him in harness as well as under saddle. I had harness
"Peter is a small pony I was given by the local slaughter man when he was a foal at foot. He is out of a riding pony mare by a minature stallion - absolutely shouldn't have been bred, but there he was. For the last few years he has been with a friend, babysitting her big horse. He is now 5 years old, 10:2 hh and came home this summer to be backed for friend's small sons to ride.
He has had a number of bouts of laminitis, treated by vet and farrier. When he came home he was over weight and walking with difficulty. His heels were long and toes short. I trimmed him and he immediately moved more freely. Loosing weight helped a lot too! The real problem was: how to train and work a small pony with no children regularly available? I know! I'll start him in harness as well as under saddle. I had harness
23 June 2010 09:15
Trelawne Equine are more than happy to offer individual advice to retailers and consumers about any aspect of booting your barefoot horse, if you have any doubts about the suitability of a boot for your needs please do contact us on 0844 257 8585 or advice@trelawneequine.co.uk
The most important detail we advise to any end user or retailer when talking about Easycare hoof boots is fit. Getting the proper measurements is the first stage to achieving a good fit. Any hoof boot can not perform properly if it is used on the wrong size and shape foot. Just like a saddle needs to be fitted correctly as all backs differ, hoof boots and hooves are no different! The graphic above shows where both the length and width measurements need to be taken. Proper sizing of the hoof boots is imperative to maximize ultimate performance and a positive boot experience. The best way to get an accurate measurement is with a rigid ruler and to measure in millimeters ideally after a fresh trim on clean feet. Then
23 June 2010 08:57
This is a very interesting and thought provoking passage from 'The thoughful horseman', ideal to comfort anyone new to taking their horse barefoot and using hoof boots like the Easyboot Glove or Easyboot Edge to do so.
"In six months to a year, your horse will have essentially grown new feet. Some horses are completely comfortable much sooner than that (3 to 4 months is common). You will be astounded at the difference, and thrilled with the soundness and durability of your barefoot horse. But until that time, your horse may need hoof boots and pads to be comfortable in his newly de-shod feet, particularly when he is asked to carry a rider's weight or work on rugged or rocky terrain.
It is important to understand why the horse's feet may be tender during the transition. It is NOT the barefoot trim....I work very carefully to not remove material that the horse needs, unlike a typical "pasture trim". My goal is to keep the horse as comfortable as possible through the transition.
18 June 2010 01:07
It has been a few years since I have been able to write about potential problems with dry hooves in the UK, but we are last seemigly going to have a summer which although long overdue presents new challenges for horse owners! One such problem is dry hooves. Hooves need a certain amount of moisture to retain their elasticity, and it can be even more of a problem with a shod hoof that will begin to split and crack if allowed to dry out. An ideal solution is to have an area around the water container (to simulate drinking from a river in the wild) large and wet enough to soak the horses feet when they drink. In practice, this is not always possible or convenient, and water will bring with it the inevitable mud (ubles you are lucky enough to have a custom built watering area with a waterproof base) which we would all prefer to avoid whenever possible!
The EasySoaker is the ideal solution to soak and medicate if necessary the horses hooves, and
16 June 2010 08:32
Trelawne Equine is pleased to announce that we are now able to supply the vettec products as recommended by Easycare for their Glue On hoof boots! We will be stocking the Vettec adhere, which is the adhesive compound use to secure the boots to the hoof wall, the Equi-pak CS and the tools needed to use the products. We chose to stock only the Equi-Pak CS as our UK climate is so very wet (apart from as I write this post!) and thrush of some sort is almost inevitable. We felt it was best practice to always use a product that will inhibit (and even help to address the problem of) thrush so that when the boots were removed after the recommended 5 - 10 days there would always be a nice healthy looking frog to reveal! For more information, and price for trade customers only please contact us.
