Dragon Fire Red Renegades- beautiful! How nice to be able to lust after such a stylish horse related item. You see, keeping horses naturally whilst very satisfying in many ways has one major drawback. It is something that I've come to think of as Equine Retail Deprivation Syndrome, (ERDS).
During routine trips to our local tack shop to buy staples such as hay and bedding, my girls have often eyed longingly the latest rugs in the new season's colours. Upon asking if we could purchase one, they have been reminded that rugs potentially affect a horse's thermoregulatory system and are therefore in most cases unnecessary. Perhaps a new numnah or one of the latest shiny bits? Not much point when you spend most of your time riding bareback and bitless. Hhhhmmm.... At this juncture the girls would often change tactics, what about some form of enrichment activity? We would trudge over to the horse toy section to be confronted with lickers, kickers and multi faced treat dispenses in a variety of colours. These too were dismissed as having too much sugar, too little nutrients, too many preservatives, the wrong balance of minerals etc etc. Thus our retail opportunities became confined to salt licks and fluorescent tabards- not exactly exciting!
After our house move and change of environment for the horses, it became obvious that in addition to our Little Paddock Paradise hoof boots might be helpful in assisting the horses to adapt to the new requirements being placed upon their feet. Upon making equine related purchases, I always try to ask a few questions. Is the item beneficial to the horse? Could the item harm the horse? Am I wildly anthropomorphising in thinking that the item is necessary? When asking these questions in relation to hoof boots, I satisfied myself that they were a sound purchase by these self defined ethical standards. Well, almost. If lusting after a particular colour and style constitutes anthropomorphism then I am indeed guilty! This, however, is self limiting as even if one chooses a preferred colour and style there is no guarantee that this would be the best fit for the horse. It reminds me somewhat of going in to buy your child's first pair of shoes. I would always set eyes upon the most gorgeous often patent leather pair only to be told by the stern faced sales assistant that due to my child's wide feet, such shoes would deform said child's toes and result in inevitable permanent disablement. We always seemed to end up with the plain and practical pair and I remember the feelings of fear inflicted by the dire warnings of the shoe fitters together with the disappointment at not walking away with my preferred pair.
Happily the experience in relation to acquiring hoof boots is far removed from this nightmare. Before we look at just how good shopping for hoof boots can be, however, let's take a brief look at the history of and attitudes towards them. Some form of hoof protection has been seen in ancient Asia, with raw hide and leather being used to the protect the foot. The Greeks and Romans also used hoof protection and Xenophon even wrote about the subject. In some areas of the Roman Empire, the hipposandal was developed. This had a metal base and was secured with metal clips and leather laces. It had been proposed that this would have been used to protect feet over long distances. However, in a Time Team recreation, it was found that the hipposandal was in fact rather uncomfortable and therefore not suited to prolonged distances. It seems more likely that this early boot was intended for therapeutic purposes although without any sources available on the subject, we cannot be sure.
A recreation of the hipposandal.Fast forward to the 20th century and several companies began developing hoof boots. Perhaps most notable for its eccentricity is the story of Dr Neel Glass who was a nuclear physicist at the Los Alamos scientific laboratory in New Mexico. His daughter had a horse who was diagnosed with navicular and Dr Glass felt that the recommended treatment of nailed on horse shoes was ineffective. He therefore began developing ideas for a hoof boot, eventually resigning his job at the laboratory and training as a farrier! These boots eventually evolved into the Easyboot and the company he started now manufacture a wide range of hoof boots. Other companies have developed their own boots and now it is possible to purchase many different styles of boot to fit a variety of hoof types across a wide range of activities.
The different designs considered by Dr Glass.
Whilst this is great news for those looking to purchase hoof boots, attitudes towards their use has not always been positive. For a time, using hoof boots was considered by some the soft option and horses wearing them were not considered to be truly barefoot. Peter Ramey recalls how he used to regard boots as a crutch and how he would feel defeated if he needed to use them on a client's horse. This macho attitude was soon eroded by the experiences of Pete and many other hoof care professionals. They found that by booting a horse through the transition phase from metal shoes, the time needed was drastically reduced. Boots particularly with the correct pads can help to support and stimulate the feet through transition thus avoiding the painful set backs associated with trying to condition the feet without their use. As Peter Ramey says, hoof boots allow us to have our cake and eat it. We can give horses the benefit of barefoot turnout whilst protecting them through transition and beyond if necessary for more demanding activities.
I was listening to a programme on Radio 4 a few days ago about the building of a bionic man, (now on display at the Science Museum). The guests on the programme discussed how prosthetic limbs have ceased to symbolise disability and in some cases now represent advantage. Reference was made to athletes making use of prosthetic limbs with the blade like designs giving them a turn of speed hitherto unavailable to humankind. Despite the bionic man replacing up to 70% of human body parts with artificial components, all the guests agreed that technology could never replace the essence of what it is to be human. Prosthetic limbs and similar advances should be regarded as a symbol of human potentiality and not limitation.
I couldn't help but see the analogy to hoof boots, (bear with me if you're struggling to make the link!). Just as prosthetic limbs can assist, compensate and improve, they remain dependent upon the human to which they are attached. In the same way, hoof boots can assist a horse through transition, compensate for short comings in their feet and can improve their performance over rugged terrain and long distances. However, hoof boots also depend entirely upon the horse to which they are attached and specifically to the horses' hooves. Hooves remain the most amazing structures and boots merely release their potential.
So, after a rather long and meandering tangent, back to the subject of this post- buying hoof boots! Due to the wide range now on the market, it can seem confusing when trying to decide upon the best boots. It is possible to measure up your horse and then to consult the manufacturer's sizing charts to try and ascertain what would be the best fit. However, given the intricacies of fitting boots it is always advisable to consult an expert in the field.
My pet hate is product placement and endorsement but sometimes a service is just so good it has to be shared! I contacted Liz Hapgood at the online store The Hoofbootique- www.hoofbootique.co.uk As we have got four different horses all with very different shaped and sized feet, I imagined the process of successfully fitting them would resemble my child's first pair of shoes nightmares! However, upon supplying Liz with photos and dimensions of the horses' feet together with details on what they would be used for and any issues etc, she sent back an extremely comprehensive list of recommendations. This detailed for each horse several options with reasons given for each choice. Liz is also able to hire boots in order to be able to test them before committing to a purchase and can also supply the fitting kits that some manufacturers now recommend for the tighter fitting boots. Liz patiently answered multiple questions and went to great lengths to ensure that I was sufficiently informed to make the correct choice. Tips such as suggesting boots that can be rasped to mimic a horse's natural breakover for my very pigeon toed horse proved invaluable and advice on what pads if any to put in which boots was also much appreciated.
Happily for me, those Dragon Fire Red Renegades are indeed suitable for my youngster Alfie and I'm looking forward to ordering and receiving them in the near future, (once the bank balance has recovered from the Paddock Paradise construction!). As well as wearing the boots in the spirit of all that I have written above, I will also put them on with pride from the point of view of showing the world that we are moving on in how we manage our horses. Living in a very conservative horsey area where people remain blissfully unaware that is isn't necessary to bang nails into horses' feet, the red boots are sure to cause quite a stir.
I'll be writing about the specifics of the boots we have chosen together with reviews in a future post. In the mean time if you fancy a bit of guilt free bling and a relief from a desert of stylish equine spending, it's time to put on the red shoes!!!
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