Echo remains barefoot for the time being (
since last December) - because his feet are small, I think this is his best chance to develop the best foot he can grow while he is still young, before his workload gets to where he will require shoes. Because I'm pretty certain he will, at least up front.
To increase his comfort while he works towards the goal of a heel-first landing, I put boots on his front feet for most of our rides. Which meant embarking on the (
absolutely not) joyous task of finding which boot worked best for him. I've learned in the past that different brands suit different foot shapes & different models suit different riding styles.
Solo's Cavallo Sports & his old EasyBoot Epics were both too big for Echo, so time to explore some new options.
I tried
Scoot Boots after reading all the interwebz love for them. Long story short, so far they have not worked for his feet. Even with shims, they twist. I'm going to give them one more try, since his feet have spread some, but if they still don't work, I will be selling some basically-new Scoot Boots soon. I like a lot about them in concept.
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Scoot Boots: cool, but so far haven't worked for us |
Making it trickier, Echo's fronts don't quite match: he's got one foot that spends all its time trying to be upright & boxy, while the other prefers to languish on the lower side. They're gradually getting closer, but hooves are always a slow torturous process. Because they've already changed & will continue to do so,
EasyCare's new Fury design caught my eye because it's adjustable. I got the basic Sling version, I did not like the big metal buckle on the front of the Heart version, I envisioned it catching many things & introducing an extra hazard over jumps. And uh, it's a heart & I am not 9 years old & I hate things with hearts on them.
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Echo's EasyBoot Fury Slings |
There are three points you can adjust:
- Length from front to back, via two screws in a sliding rubber plate,
- Heel height, via two screws on the back,
- Heel angle, which is just another hole to change the angle of the heel strap.
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Points of adjustment; boots presented in natural condition, heh |
I'm going to ignore the 3rd one because I didn't use it. Length & height both have a decent amount of adjustability, so you can tweak fit through a trim cycle or if your horse doesn't have magical feet that fit stock sizes (
like mine). I measured a bunch of times, very carefully, but still ended up buying two sizes & sending back the one that didn't work. I definitely recommend this approach. EasyCare has a "fit kit" too, but if you buy from somewhere with free returns, that saves poor people like me a few dollars.
The initial adjusting is somewhat fiddly. You could do the length adjustment on the fly as long as you had a phillips head screwdriver with you. The height rivets though, require both a screwdriver & a ridiculous little tool that comes with the boot.
You know those horrible "tools" that come with assemble-your-own furniture, that are tiny & awful to use & make you want to stab forks in your eyes? Yep, it's that kind of tool, apparently made for tiny leprechaun hands that need no grip. I'm hopeful in the future EasyCare will change this design so you can just use a flat head screwdriver or some normal human tool. Or at least put a human-sized grip on it.
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Said tool in my giant, decidedly non-leprechaun hand |
After
watching the videos, I spent an afternoon adjusting the boots to Echo's feet. It was really nice to be able to accommodate the slightly different foot shapes. Once you decide where you want to set them, you add a drop of LocTite (
thoughtfully included with each boot) so your screws don't decide to go walkabout mid-ride. All of mine have remained tight so far.
I've been using these off & on (
I go barefoot when the ground is soft or we just do walk work) for about five months now.
Overall impression: favourable. I would buy these boots again.
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Baby Monster in boots on a November trail |
Pros
- Even before adjusting, the boot itself fit Echo's foot shape perfectly & he has seemed comfortable in them. When I first put them on, he stepped out better than I have ever felt him either barefoot, in boots, or in shoes.
- Adjustability is awesome & exactly what I needed. You can also put pads in them if you want.
- Once I got the adjustments right, they've been very secure through W/T/C/small jumps. I've learned that the length adjuster seems to be what prevents twisting, so you need that snugged up. It won't put pressure on the back of the heel because that part cleverly moves with the horse. No rubs so far.
- Aggressive tread has had good traction everywhere I've used it (I'm mostly riding on grass)
- I've gone through mud puddles, boggy ditches, streams with no issues. I did not buy the special "mud strap," but haven't needed it so far.
- Insanely easy on/off: two steps include slipping on boot, then snapping pastern strap in place.
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Rear flips down for easy on/off |
- Boot itself feels heavy duty & durable, pastern straps are heavier duty than Scoots, I've not had any breaks there.
- I used the extra pastern strap locks that came with the Scoots since I
already had them, but I only put them on inside of each boot, since Echo
is base narrow & more likely to interfere there. I haven't put any on the outside since those straps
fit very firmly over the metal knobs & nothing has come apart.
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Just 1 strap lock on inside of each also helps me ID which I fit to its unique foot |
- I really like that they don't come with any of the weird warnings that the Scoots did about not using hoof stuff on, uh, hooves. Apparently Scoots' material cannot deal with any type of chemical (they even warn against vetwrap, which raised my eyebrow). EasyBoots are cool with you treating your hooves like hooves.
- Fairly "clean" design means they're quick to hose off/clean. They don't come with drain holes, but if that is important to you, you can drill holes in them. They also dry quickly.
- Once thing I like about EasyCare is they are practical & understand horse needs -- one of their videos shows you how to take a saw to the boots to trim off unneeded heel material so it doesn't catch an over-reach. I suspect this may effect returnability though, LOL.
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No problem levitating in them |
Cons
- My biggest dislike is probably that the adjustment for heel height does take a special tool, which is currently awful & that it's not super fast. But it's not the worst & if you don't have enormous hands & aren't the clumsiest person ever (like me), your experience will probably be better than mine.
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Height rivets notched on the inside for special "tool" |
- There are also two holes to choose from on the heel height adjustment, which means if you want to move it from one hole to the other, you have to take the rivets completely apart. And then drop one piece, then curse loudly while retrieving it, then drop it again while trying to screw it back in with tiny leprechaun tool. On the plus side, you shouldn't have to do this very often, because you can make minor adjustments via sliding, by just slightly loosening those rivets.
- The heel capture strap, while padded (but could use more/softer padding), does put pressure on the top of the heel bulbs. It's not constant, just when the foot is lifting. It's something to watch, especially on sensitive guys like Echo -- I've not had problems with it in 60-90 minutes of riding, but the vast majority of our rides are 20-40 minutes & longer rides are all walking. I broke them in slowly so he could callous if he needed to, & I watched his heels like a hawk, checking them after.
- You DO want to be SURE this strap isn't too tight -- I made that mistake at first & it did make a bruise.
- I don't know what would happen on, say, a six-hr mountain ride. I have
noticed some pinkness under that strap after a vigorous ride, but it
wasn't sore.
- It's possible that I need to tweak the height adjustment more to help with this.
- I have ridden in them in arena footing (said arena has small rocks in it occasionally, which Pony Princess Feet doesn't need to be stepping on) -- I was a little concerned that grit might get under this strap & rub, but that concern was unfounded & after an hour lesson, everything was still fine.
- My paranoia about this strap would be lower on Solo, who does not have any Princess Parts & whose skin has very few opinions.
- One strap did break in the first month, there's a thin part around one screw. Echo was just trotting slowly, nothing weird happened. However, Riding Warehouse's great service took care of it, they have a year guarantee, so I exchanged it for a new one at no charge (thanks, people who understand customer service!). I haven't had any problems since then & no other signs of wear so far.
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Arrow showing point where previous boot tore around screw |
So I've been fairly happy with them. I have noticed that he may be outgrowing them as his heels spread, which simultaneously makes me sad because they weren't free but happy because heels spreading! It means the boots are doing their job of helping us move towards that consistent heel-landing goal! We'll see how it goes - even if I do end up having to sell them, they've still been cheaper than 5-6 months of shoes while allowing me to live the joy of never worrying about pulled shoes, so worth it.
Those are the highlights. I'm happy to answer any questions in the comments. If you want to try them, DO
watch the videos & DO get a couple sizes to try, it will make your life easier.
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Has no interest in making my life easier |
Thank you for trying Scoot Boots. They are designed to fit like a glove but from the pic it looks like you could be in between sizes and some pads and shims would snug up the fit. We'd like to take another look at your horse's hooves to make sure they are suitable for a Scoot Boot fit. Could you send us from front on and side on pics of the hooves with the boots on as well as off to sizing@scootboots.com and we can make sure you've got the right fit.
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time for this helpful comment (I'm also impressed by your search alert)! I do have pads & the front shims, mine are the Slim model. We were definitely between sizes, I tried a couple different ones. I did watch all the videos too (which were very helpful).
DeleteAlso, somewhat amusingly, the day after I posted this, I tried our Scoots again, because the Furys have gotten tight in the heel -- and the Scoots worked better now that his feet got a little wider. I even had to take the shims out. I knew I kept them for a reason!
We were just walking out on a trail, so I will see how they do with regular schooling. If we do encounter issues, I will definitely reach out to the email address for advice -- thank you very much for sharing & the offer of assistance!
Another boot fan here. It's so nice to have options between steel shoes and barefoot! So glad to hear that Echo's feets are sorting themselves out!
ReplyDeleteIt is -- and I'm loving all the innovation, creating variety of the wide, crazy world of different hooves in different shapes in different quality. And accepting that not every horse has the "textbook" barefoot hoof & those of us dealing with lackluster feet in transition need help too!
DeleteThis is a timely review for me to read! My Furys just arrived and I will be fitting them to my QH this weekend. I'm glad to hear about your experience so far. I will be keeping the cons in mind as I move forward with my trial.
ReplyDeleteFeel free to drop an email (there's a link up by the search box) if you have any questions, I'd be happy to try to help if needed! I found this past Sunday that it's looking like Echo has definitely outgrown his with heel width, naturally the one thing you can't adjust, so I may end up selling those. But I still really like them & I hope my pair can help another horse develop a better foot!
DeleteSeriously what is that a tool for ants? *uses Zoolander voice*
ReplyDeleteROFL -- possibly!
DeleteI just got the easy boot fury heart. I have not ridden my horse in them yet, I would sure like to see a picture of the back of the boots, to see where they are suppose to be, above the bulbs, on the bulbs, but love the adjusting of them, I too tried scoot boots, but they were not right for his front feet, but they do fit his back feet, but only till the middle of his trim cycle, so will use them after a trim. I agree with the comment on that little tool, I didnt even know where it went at first. I bought from easy boot the ones that were returned, one of the boots already had the tight grip and boy that was hard to get the screws out, and with that little tool, it was a chore, I cannot wait to try the boots out, but dont want to put that tight grip on till I am sure of the fit, and find a picture of exactly where they are suppose to sit on the heel. I so appreciate your review, makes me feel more comfortable with my purchase, thank you. I will continue to look for a pic
ReplyDeleteI don't have a picture right now from the back, but the heel straps should lay across the tops of the heel bulbs. You should still be able to slip your finger beneath the straps when they are on though. If I recall correctly, EasyCare does demonstrate what it should look like from all angles in the videos & I included a link in this post, in the last sentence. If that doesn't answer your questions, feel free to shoot me an email, there is an email icon at the top of the right sidebar on this page. :-) Enjoy the new boots -- Echo did outgrow his, but they did a great job before then.
DeleteJust got the fury hearts, need to find a pic of what they are suppose sit like on the heels of the foot, above the bulbs , on the bulbs etc. I so appreciate your review, thank you And I hate that little tool tool, I bought my boots as certified used, and they already had the sure tight on them and were so hard to remove the bolts, and that little tool did not help at all
ReplyDeleteI agree with JC...I too am looking into ordering the Fury Slings but will be concerned as to where/how they should fit on the backs of the heel.
ReplyDeleteLoved your comical and informative review. I just ordered the Fury due to lack of stock on the gloves. You didn't say in your review, did you cut that spot off at the back of the heel after you got it set right?
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, I didn't see this comment for a while. I did not cut anything off since there wasn't much sticking out, but you certainly can do so if desired.
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