From Sally Tarbet:
I have had great success with Renegade® Hoof Boots with my young endurance gelding this year. This was Rebel’s first year at endurance so we took it pretty easy and kept to the Limited Distance rides (under 30 miles). He had terrible feet when I got him in March 2008 but improved greatly with good feed, Platinum Performance (awesome stuff!), plenty of exercise and great hoof protection with Renegade® Hoof Boots. Rebel did a few multi-day rides (30 miles each day) by the end of the season in the desert and the mountains of Idaho. I would put his copper boots on and never look down. I knew they’d be there when we finished. He l-o-v-e-s his boots!!
The last ride of the year for us was held in the Owyhee Desert of Southern Idaho in Oreana. We decided to try a pair of red Glue-Ons. I hadn’t experimented with the Glue-Ons yet but followed Kirt and Gina’s instructions to the “T”. Those puppies stayed on!! I finally manually removed them a week later. I think they’ll work great for a multi-day (5 day) event. (I love the red on him and will be buying Rebel a full set of red boots for this next ride season. He looks so cute in red ruby slippers).
I haven’t made any modifications to my boots since they seem to work/fit perfectly right out of the box for my boys. The only thing I do is add extra o-rings to the Velcro straps just in case you break one during a ride, then you already have a new o-ring ready to go. After each ride, if we have been in the mud, I drop them in a bucket of water and scrub them up with a brush – getting all the dirt out of the Velcro.
My non-competing horses have been barefoot for probably over 8 years now and the horses that I compete on have been barefoot for at least 4 years. I had always questioned the use of shoes and I always got the same answer… “because you have to.” Once I started thinking for my own, I pulled shoes. I had finally gotten to the point that if I couldn’t ride my horses barefoot then I wasn’t going to the ride – other boots just didn’t work for me or my horses. Too much fussing! I was so relieved when I got my first pair of Renegade Hoof Boots. They are the answers to all my prayers!!
My shod riding buddies have been watching me over the years with my failures and successes with going barefoot. They tease me and say that when I get it all figured out they’ll pull their shoes. They are starting to pull their shoes…and get their ponies in a pair or two of Renegades. Going barefoot isn’t an easy endeavor, but the benefits out weigh the extra effort.
The best thing I can say about Renegades is they are simple, simple, simple! No fussing, no messing around. Put them on and go ride!
We didn’t put on as many miles this ride season as we planned. Between putting on the Pink Flamingo Classic ride (www.pinkflamingoclassic.com), starting Rebel with LD’s, and then Granite tying up at a ride in Utah, cutting his season short, we only got in 375 miles this year. Next year we should have both boys ready for a fun season of 50s and hopefully a few more multi-days. We hope to make to a few out-of-state rides this next year, too.
Sally Tarbet, Idaho
www.pinkflamingoclassic.com
