Anyone within cursing or cheering earshot of me during this past competition season has borne witness to the fact that I struggled with keeping boots on my horse, Ace. Gloves and Glue-Ons, despite diligent effort, I scattered them all over a fair number of states in the Northeast Region, never mind Allegany State Park, where we do much of our conditioning.
When they stayed on, they were beyond heavenly! Grip on paved roads, concussion-reducing on hard-pack, padding for rocks. Put on pre-ride, pulled off post-ride, perfect for winter when our best bet was just plain conditioning barefoot in the snow. Need to trim a little here or there between workouts — easy peasy!
When they did not stay on, $(*&#!
My friend, Gene Limlaw, told me that EasyCare (www.easycareinc.com) was working on a new EasyShoe which could be glued on but also further secured with NAILS. I heard angels singing in my head! A possible solution to my issue?
I kept up to date, reading EasyCare’s blogs, seeing that my friends Garrett (Ford) and Kevin (Myers) and Rusty (Toth) were working on prototypes and gluing techniues, and then I saw that they had found synergy with a trimmer/farrier in southeast Pennsylvania named Daisy Bicking. Since so many of the EasyCare Team was west of the Mississippi, I was anxious to find a new contact who could help me with my keeping-our-footwear-on dilemma who was at least within striking distance (six hours).
So I reached out to Daisy.
When we finally spoke, it was like hearing from an old friend. She empathized with my special needs horse, the boot-flinging woes, and the need to find a solution without creating a cosmic rift in the barefoot/farrier continuum. She suggested we come on down to the Cadaver Workshop/Glue On Day she was holding at DaisyHaven Farm.
By way of photographic evidence of my conformationally challenged guy, here is Ace the day we bought him as a 5 year old. He’s Arabian and Saddlebred, fairly narrow up front, and calf kneed, what I think of as stereotypical fine harness Saddlebred front end:
Green Bean Ace as a 5 year old
As a result, he has what I have come to learn is called Forward Foot Syndrome. It is not his fault, it is not my farrier’s fault, nor my trimmer’s fault, it is Ace’s genetic and conformational makeup that means that, four weeks out from shoeing (or trimming) when everyone else looks balanced and still quite lovely, Ace leaves me wishing to rip my hair from my head, forging or interfering or sometimes dog-trotting with his hind end off to one side to avoid hitting himself. It has left me saying to almost every hoof care practitioner who has worked on him, “is it possible to get that foot underneath his bony column a little more?” or “will he look a little better a couple weeks into this shoeing cycle if we take a little more toe now?”
Here in 2011, obviously not after a bath!
Also 2011
With freshly shod feet, and with his toes taken back “too far” according to my farrier at the time (after I said I would take full responsibility for any mishap), he completed the VT Three Day 100 CTR in 2009 with no interference boots, without so much as a hair turned, not even an interference ding. And felt straight and true every single mile of it.
Photo by Nick Goldsmith
I flirted with the fact that this was a horse who might do better barefoot, so that he COULD be trimmed a bit every, say, two or three weeks, rather than waiting 5 weeks between shoeings to correct the ever-changing balance of his foot.
Ace, despite being so very lovely in so many ways, had high maintenance feet.
I have dozens of photos of Ace’s front feet. I have spent hours staring at them. I have rider-optioned several (I don’t dare count) rides, including 75s and 100s (which everyone knows are massive investments of time and emotional energy) because of failures or concerns with this horse’s feet.
Here are just a few random photos in various states of trim/shod/bare:
Left Front 2008
Left Front, same day
2010 after mistakenly riding the very rocky Ride Between the Rivers (WV) un-padded; abscesses in three of four feet by the time all was said and done (goodbye plans for VT 3 Day 100)
Heel view — poor kid!
July 2013 — eight months into being barefoot post-trim
September 2013 — 11 months in
September 2013 solar
Ace is a horse who travels longitudinally straight. He is, naturally, the straightest young horse I ever started and I remember turning to Rich and saying, “Ohmigosh, he is so nicely straight, how will I ever not #*(& that up?” But once his front feet get a little imbalanced, there is little room between those front legs for error; his short back and big stride does not allow for much fudge factor in breakover between his front and hind limbs. In other words, he has very narrow tolerances and a tendency to grow out of them.
So in October, 2012, after finishing two days of the XP Bryce Canyon ride, where he managed on one day to actually interfere on his medial carpus joint (inside of his knee), while staying in Durango, Colorado, we asked Rusty Toth to pull his shoes and trim him. This is Ace, four weeks out from being shod (and padded), with his right front trimmed, and his left foot untrimmed. It was the first time I didn’t look at his foot and think or say “hmmm, do you think we should take a little more toe?”
October, 2012, Ace gets his four week old shoes (and pads) pulled. Left front pre-trim; right front post-trim.
We ordered Gloves to fit Ace and Sarge, having opted to pull his shoes also.
We had our fair share of troubles keeping hind boots on, learned to use Mueller tape to help secure hind boots, did most of our dirt road winter conditioning and then into the spring and summer using Gloves in the front, often bare behind.
I anticipated some learning curve but learned that there was a reason no one ever gave me the nickname “Patient Patti.” I scattered boots several times on rides, but mostly managed to get around, only my temper truly lost.
I decided that gluing those suckers on might give me some real security, but had issues with that too. Small ones at first (lost one at Pine Tree 50 in Maine), but I lost all of my glued-on boots (and a few Gloves just for fun) by Mile 38 of the VT 75. I rider optioned a sound horse. After having four shoes nailed on, thinking that might be a short term fix. I didn’t like the way he reacted to having his hind shoes nailed and figured he was likely already foot sore from the miles barefoot before I’d realized he’d lost his boots. That was disappointing, as VT is my favorite ride of the season.
Success in Canada, glued on four, kept four on, could barely get them off!
Photo by Wendy Webb — these boots are so awesome when they stay on! Wheeee! I was so happy!
Lost glue ons at Hector and Fort Valley, but got around, albeit slower than I’d hoped, both from retrieving and replacing Gloves and by slowing down a bit in an attempt to keep them on. Cantering is still a death knell for Ace and hind Gloves.
One half mile in at Fort Valley; glue ons still in place (three red; one blue — what I was able to buy in his size — I figured they’d be easier to see when/if they came off; I was right) Finished with just that nice RF red boot in place– it was his fave, apparently! Becky Pearman Photo
We started working with a farrier again, and we nailed front shoes on Ace for Mustang but wasn’t happy about resorting to it. I had just about given up on the entire process.
This is all a long tangent to say that I was pleased to hear Daisy might have some suggestions for us that involved a product that would stay on and the ability to work with Ace’s tough-to-balance feet!
Daisy Haven Glue On Day — here we come! With all our dysfunction …