In Search of Squishiness - Feet

This post (started back in April and never finished until now) goes hand in hand with the next one on Fergus' lameness. This particular blob deals with attempts to pad boots back in late March/early April. Although it wasn't really in the forefront of my brain, apparently I wanted to get Fergus more comfortable on hard footing. 

Who knew then how important this issue was to become by the end of the May?

Artificial Squishy Feet

Fergus likes easy footing. Most of my horses are seemingly indifferent to what they're trotting on, but with Fergus you can really feel the difference when you let him go on softer terrain. Taking him out in the sand results in huge movement, and any soft duff makes him feel filled with energy.

As a result, whenever I've glued on boots for a big ride, he always feels way better than on a normal training ride.

For that reason, this spring I was investigating if I could install some kind of gel pad into his boots for everyday workouts. I talked a little to Larkin at the Adhere Booth at the AERC Convention in March and he recommended three possible "weights" of "Pak":

Coming up to NV Derby, both Roo and Fergus would be going and doing the 50s each day, so I figured it was a good time to do some experimenting. They were both due for new boots, so I duly purchased the fixings and the prior weekend pft and I put together a big box of boots from glue-on shells, add-on gaiters*, and, in Roo's case, yellow power straps.

(* buying a box of four glue-ons and adding gaiters yourself is by far the cheapest way to keep your horses in boots. Unfortunately, it requires some homework, a certain amount of dexterity and some muscle to get them all put together. Thanks, pft, for being my muscle). 

Box o' boots.

My spiffy new glue-gun. After years of wrestling with my old one that would jam at regular intervals, causing already stressful gluing to become even more stressful, I finally got a replacement at the Convention - and it's a lovely thing

Unfortunately my supplier (Riding Warehouse) were out of my first choice - the blue label standard Equipak, but I figured it couldn't hurt to try the Equipak Soft (pink label). We squirted out pads for Roo's front and back boots, and Fergus' front boots:

Roo front

Roo back (I think)

Fergus front

Fergus:

We poured in these pads on Sunday morning, but unfortunately I was due to ride Fergus that afternoon. The pads were still a little tacky, so I smeared in some vaseline. Unclear why, since I promptly wiped it all out again. Off we all went to Balderston Corrals for a quick 5-6 mile romp with dogs and pft-onna-mtn-bike in tow:

I think we managed to get almost a whole mile before we got to the first hill and Fergus promptly popped off his boot. I hopped off, went back down the hill to retrieve it, stuck it back on, and it came off again. On the return journey, after the boot came off for about the fourth time, I took both front boots off, fearing he was going to rip off a gaiter. 

Verdict: Fail. 

Left and right boots, later that afternoon

I'm unclear if it was because we needed to let the Equi-Pak set up for a lot longer, or if he's just too hard on the material, but it looks like he pretty much scooped out the toes almost immediately, then trashed the rest of the pad. 

My conclusion, for him, at least, was that Equipak Soft is way too soft for him. I may try this experiment with him again, using the blue-label Equipak - and let it set up for a week or so beforehand.

Roo:

By Thursday, I knew I had to get Roo out to at least try his new squishy soles, to make sure it was going to work. My Facebook entry for that morning:

April 2 · Sacramento, CA ·

I'd like to say "Here we are, up early for a relaxed, before-work ride on my mild-mannered, adult horse in the morning sunshine".

But the caption actually reads: "WTF?!? was up with Roo this morning, acting like a stupid idiot half-wit horse with no brain!?".

Came the closest I have in a while to being dumped, while clinging on frantically like a limpet and tweaked my back trying to keep some semblance of control.

But he did give his squishy-soled boots a work out (twisting and turning - the soles stayed intact, so are a go for NV Derby); put me firmly in the "hell no" category for starting Roo on the first loop in his borrowed S-Hack; and concluded that - yes, he really has gone up yet another size in boots all the way around (now size 1 in front, 0.5 in back).

Much more satisfactory - Roo's front and back boots. The packing had deteriorated slightly, but was still doing its job. 

So Roo got to wear Equipak for NV Derby, but since he isn't terribly reactive to footing, I can't say with any conviction whether it made any difference or not. At the end of the 50 miles, the packing looked more ragged than shown above, but was still intact.

Either way, maybe OK for a one-off application, but certainly not going to stand up to regular everyday boot wear, which was the purpose of the exercise.