Our Fell pony can no longer have shoes on the front as there is nothing to nail to! He doesn't have shoes behind. My farrier has said he needs to have as long as possible without shoes and has recommended hoof boots. He cannot go barefoot, we have tried that one and he just doesn't cope. (My other 4 are all barefoot!)

Has anyone had any experience of hoof boots. They will need to be used for Pony Club and general hacking. My farrier has suggested Boa Boots but after looking it up on google it seems that alot of people have had problems with them. The others I am considering are Old Mac's G2, Marquis Supergrip and Cavellos(?) Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

My daughter used Old Macs on her IDxTB mare while she transitioned to barefoot. Provided they fit then they're very good. She did only hack in them as PC work was on a surface or grass.

There's an article in H&H today about new style glue on shoes which more and more people are now using instead of traditional shoes - Sigafoo (alloy) and Imprint (plastic) are the two makes.

Also an advert for something called Sole-Guard for transitioning bear feet - looks like a resin that sticks to the sole for up to 3 weeks - which might help with tender tootsies? Their website is www.vettec.com

The Peasants Are Revolting...

www.forestuprising.org.uk

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we use Cavellos on both of our horses and one of them, like your Fell, has no foot left to nail to and extremely tender feet but also with dropped soles.

They are brilliant, really easy to put on and they seem to stay put for most general riding things. I use the pastern wraps with my Hanovarian as he sems to get alot down the front of the boots, but the Haflinger has just the boots on and she seems fine.

If fact, i worked out, that they are cheaper for me than the shoes because they were losing so many shoes just after they were put on that it was costing me a small fortune to keep having to get the farrier in to replace them.

Hope this helps

I have used Cavello boots on my forrester. They worked really well and were very easy to put on and take off. When I was looking into hoofboots I learnt that different makes of boot fitted different shaped feet. Some companys will hire out boots for you to try and take the hire charge off the full price. Hope this helps.

Nicki

My pony had the Marquis boots when he transitioned from a 'shod' to 'barefoot' boy. The boots are great, but do take some time for them to adjust to them - I could only use them for 20 minutes per day initially and then built it up from there, as they rubbed his heels a bit - a bit like breaking in a new pair of shoes for us - you know the delights of the blister on the back of your heels!!

Anyways, once he was happy wearing them we did hacking (although if cantering fast in deep mud, they did come off occassionally - led to the odd afternoon trekking on foot back through a random field hunting them back down!!)and jumping in them.

He finds them a bit scary to put on - due to the noise of the pump and the tightening feeling as they inflate - and it did take a while to adjust to the hissing sound whilst deflating. It is also worthwhile buying a couple of spare 'air bags' as the valve is a weak point.

So whilst I was happy with them, and they did the job I needed, I think there might be less complicated products on the market - although i haven't tried any others.

Good luck with your naked footed pony!!

we use Cavello boots, absolutely fab in all ways!

Thank you all for all your comments and advice. I'll let you know how I get on when he finally get his boots!