Testimonials

Do you have a success story with Easycare Hoof Boots? Email your story with a picture of your horse in his boots to advice@trelawneequine.co.uk and we will send you a FREE Easycare magnetic hoof pick!

Izzy from London
My daughters pony has suffered from laminitus and is now well on the road to recovery but everytime the pony is trimmed by the blacksmith he takes so much off her feet she is practically walking on her soles….. so I bought some Easi boots to make her more comfortable and it did seem to make a difference…. Did ask the blacksmith to leave a little more wall on the hoof so that she is not so foot sore…. The blacksmith did not see the need for shoes as not enough work done and I didn’t really like the idea of her having nails driven into her hooves as well as the laminitus, she generally has a very good quality horn….

Here is a picture taken at a show with her boots on….

Chris from Devon
Meg is the coloured cob in the front of this picture. We have all hacked across Dartmoor to the pub in the rain and her boots are still holding firm, as you can see. She wears over-reach boots with her epics as she did sometimes pull them off as she is a very extravagant mover. Her pal JV (Joint Venture) is behind her, also in her epics. Meg does endurance and did her first 48km ride across Exmoor this August. Very rough terrain and very gooey. The vet commented on how good her feet were and was very impressed when she finished sound. Hope that this story is good enough to get me a magnetic hoof pick!

Chris, Devon

Sally from Keswick
I’m back from my mini expedition so here’s my hoofboot story…
This year myself and my friend Jean had decided to ride from her house in Keswick to stay with another friend in Buttermere and then ride back. 2 days riding in the English Lakes.
My horse Buffy is barefoot and for this ride I had chosen to put on her hoof boots as the going was on roads and stony tracks. She wears Easyboot Epics as you can see in the picture.
We set off from Keswick on Saturday morning and after negotiating some tricky busy roads we were soon on the bridleway, heading along between Catbells and Derwent Water. The going was gritty but not too stony and Buffy went really well. After Grange we went on another bridleway towards Honister which was much more rocky (think of an uphill climb on a riverbed with no water and you’ve pretty much got it!) but Buffy was fine in her boots. In fact she had much more traction than the other, shod horse who even though he had road nails in his hind shoes found it pretty hard going.
We negotiated wooden bridges and a very narrow gate at which I had to remove Buffy’s panniers so she could fit through! Perhaps I need to pack a little lighter next time?
We paused for lunch on a grassy bit and admired the view whilst eating lunch. Then we continued on towards Honister Pass and the slate mine. The climb up to the pass was on a road and was very steep (all the overtaking cars smelt of burning clutch) but the horses kept on plodding. Then we got to the top and looked down and down, and down… The roadsign said the decline was 25%! Buffy never slipped once in her boots and we were soon at the bottom and heading along the shores of Buttermere.
After passing several groups of tourists (many commenting on Buffy’s “walking boots”) we reached the farm we were staying at for the night.
The next day we set off at 9 am sharp for the climb up to the top of the next hill. We returned to Keswick via Newlands Valley (this road has a climb of only 20% compared to yesterday it seemed easy!) and Jean and I swapped horses. Buffy did the accent and decent without slipping again despite the shoddy tarmac.
We rode over wooded bridges and through farmyards as well as along tracks and more roads. The Epics were great on the cobbles in the old mine yard too.
We got back to Keswick just in time for lunch which pleased Buffy no end.
We had a super time and the hoof boots performed brilliantly. I’d really recommend them for this type of terrain. They really can’t be beaten on rocky or gritty tracks. In my opinion they out perform metal shoes when faced with this sort of going. I’m definately going to use them again when I do another expedition in the Lake District.

Kind regards,

Janet

Sally from Barmouth
This is a picture of Daisy Dancer my TBx mare. I bought her in 2003 as a 3 year old and rode her barefoot from about 2 weeks later, on the recommendation of my farrier. Unfortunately, my really good farrier moved area and we had a few years struggling along with a farrier that didn’t know what he was doing (other than preparing a foot for a shoe) and we tried a few spells with shoes, but I knew it wasn’t right and she didn’t go as flowing as I knew she did without shoes. Plus, horse shoes are very slippy on our steep concrete drive – I hear people asking if they slip barefoot – I can’t believe how opposite of the truth that is, or why they can’t work that out by just observing!
I eventually went on a KC LaPierre barefoot trimming course and became aware of all the things my original farrier knew from experience. We now also have an Equine Podiatrist in our area who trims whenever she has a problem (WLD, a stone abscess or shrinking frog usually) and because she has thin TB feet, we use boots whenever she is going to do more than her feet are up to. She has had her old mac boots since about 2005 and uses them about once a month with a lot of those beach rides, so they are very worn but still well loved and have more years in them yet. As you can see from her picture, my daughter now rides her more than me and is supersensitive to your weight (no kicking and pulling required). She is a brave, trusting mare, who is bombproof and surefooted. She can spot soft ground a mile off and only swerves to get on the grass – it’s something that you get used to with a barefoot horse and just let them find the best ground for them.

Carol from Scotland
This is my arab gelding Jahmel taking a break during a crossing of the Corrieyairack Pass in West Scotland during a 7 day trail ride. As you can see the track is very rocky and he was wearing his edges in front and an old pair of easyboots behind. We definitely wouldn’t have managed it without them. We were with a shod horse who was having much more difficulty than him. The day started at Laggan and finished at Fort Augustus on Loch Ness, a mountainous crossing of 26 miles and over 3000 feet. I’ve had Jahmel for 7 years, we’ve covered many miles together and I love him to bits!!

Kathy and Georgie
My name is Kathy & I have a fabulous TB called Georgie-Fight the Feeling. Georgie came out of racing after a very successful career, with numerous wins & came to me 18 months ago to go straight in to Endurance riding
He took to it instantly…thoroughly loving his new life but he was throwing shoes at an alarming rate due to very poor hooves. This meant cancelled rides & thrown shoes often 8 miles in & a long way to get home!!! Not a good place to be!
I then looked in to barefoot after taking lots of advice from fellow members who had made the transition. We began with Boa boots & to my absolute delight Georgie took to them instantly. The boots were wonderful, easy to put on/take off` easy to clean…my boy loved them!!
However due to the nature of endurance I found the boots did come off in difficult terrain & was advised to try Old Macs instead. We have never looked back…these boots are incredible…they NEVER come off, in deep mud , water , rough uneven ground…whatever we are faced with the boots can cope. Little more tricky to put on, but so worth it for the job we do….I can rely on them totally. They never twist or move…my farrier is amazed at the condition of Georgies hooves , they are perfect & he can now easily do total barefoot on shorter rides.
He won Top Gelding 2009, 2nd in the Nationals & completed over 300 miles in his boots. He has done similar for 2010 so who knows…awards are at the end of the month!!!
We love our Old Mac boots…I would recommend them to anyone & frequently do.I am a total barefoot convert, the boots have allowed us to acheive things shoes could not.
(photo: copyright Bob Turner Photgraphy)

Vicky from Devon
Hi, My name is Vicky and I live in Devon. In 2010 we did loads of miles training on Dartmoor for endurance with our Easyboot gloves on my horse Shanti’s front feet. He wears his hinds bare. We have done some totally bare but I like to have Easyboots with me to put on too.
I also have a pair of Easyboot Grips which I have used in the seriously slidy conditions this winter. Particularly when the ground was frozen but the rain had made the top layer slick and incrediby slippery!
I have not calculated the distances we have ridden in Gloves. However this year, alongside training miles of rides of uptp 30miles on the moor. We have competed in EGB rides: two 50mile, a 40mile, a 30 mile and a couple of 20′s in them. And cantered up the side of Dunkery beacon on Exmoor over all the stones on the Wessex group training ride. My horse has only been barefoot for three years (or will be in may 2011), so they have helped us enormously as he needed them to help him transition to barefoot. They are very light and easy to put on, and easy to carry when you dont want to use them. Compared to other makes of boots i used in 2009, they dont come off. So you dont have to keep looking down to check if they are there! So dont let being barefoot stop you doing endurance!

Kerry
I have to say, recently ordered a pair of Old macs to use on my lovely rescue mare as plan to keep her bare foot, she loves, them they are really comfortable and since I started using them, definitely makes a difference to her feet as they are not so sore now!! She is a thoroughbred and pretty flat footed! Thanks your products are just great! Kerry from Equimagnets (Holistic practitioner and now a stockist!)

Viki and Remi (submitted by Katie)
My trimmer Debbie generally recommends Cavallo boots for newly barefoot
horses due to their ability to fit a range of differently shaped hooves.
However when we tried the appropriate size on Remi, my instructor Viki’s
quarter horse, they were far too big around the pastern. Debbie had seen
the advert for the Easyboot Trail and thought that they could be the
perfect solution. Viki ordered two from The Saddlery Shop and I helped
her fit them last night with some custom made pads as Remi has only just
had her front shoes removed. They were a perfect fit and we think Remi
looks very trendy in them! Even more importantly she started landing
heel first as soon as we put her in them (she had been very much toe
first without them). They are totally adjustable, enabling a snug fit
and SO easy to put on and off. We cannot rate the new boots highly
enough!

Karen
I’ve been testing out the Easyboot trails on hind feet (to cushion arthritic hocks and fetlocks on this rather hard south east ground!) cross country training today – no signs of movement through any leaping, bouncing, squeaking explosions on the way into or over the thankfully small fences! No problems with rubbing and very little detritus in them or his older Old Mac G2 front boots after sploshing in the water jump either! He is wearing Old Mac’s on the fronts, and trails on the hinds (with gaiters all round – he is a sensitive soul & rubs quite easily, as he had only worn the trails once & water & sand was going to be involved I added the gaiters as a precaution!) He has got a pair of gloves for his hinds (not yet available in a size to fit his fronts), which are great on stone and grass but after an hour or so he on the roads he pops them off every 5 mins until I get bored & remove them, plus they can’t be padded out as much as the old mac/trails can which helps his joints. 12mm pads all round & he is happy cantering & galloping on any ground, if its hard then without the pads he isn’t keen to go faster than a trot. I only use hind boots if the ground is rock hard or we are going somewhere particularly stony.
When his front set of Old Mac’s eventually wear out I shall be replacing them with Trails – far less faff to get on then either old mac or gloves & have held up to everything thrown at them so far.

Clare and Havana

Due to incorrect trimming in the early days, barefoot life has not always been simple.
Havana has also suffered with intermittent lameness caused by musco skeletal problems which remained undetected by conventional veterinary investigations. Many a time I was urged to shoe Havana, but I resisted. After 4 years I think I am finally getting to the bottom of her problems. Mainly thanks to a brilliant Equine Podiatrist called Beccy Smith, from East Yorkshire. Not only did she sort out her feet, but she also noted that Havana suffered from metabolic problems too!
I have attached a pic of Havana wearing her Easyboot Gloves (bought from www.thesaddleryshop.co.uk). As you can see she is an Appaloosa and is ridden Western. She draws lots of attention wherever she goes and everyone thinks her boots are very cute!!
As a result of all the research I did to help Havana, I have changed career and become a Cold Laser Therapist, treating both horses and people. I am about to train as a Thermographer too! Its funny where life leads you!!!