Bikes Don’t Faze Her, But Boots Do!

 

In preparation for this weekend’s Santa Fe ACTHA rides on both Saturday and Sunday, one of the things I wanted to test was Apache’s tolerance for mountain bikes, because these are something that can often be seen up at the Caja del Rio and I had no idea how Apache would deal with them.

So, I asked my twinling Jax to ride his bike around Apache’s paddock just to see if she had a reaction to it.

As soon as we entered her paddock, she surprised me by walking right up to us and right up to Jax on his bike.

She never once spooked, shied away, or bolted. I think she may have thought we were a little bit weird for even wasting her time.

So, yeah. I think we’ll probably be alright if a mountain biker approaches us from behind……

or from the front.

 

~~~~~~~~~~

But, hoof boots are a totally different ball game…..

I was so excited to get Apache’s Cavallo hoof boots today. I had ordered them on Friday night…..a holiday weekend no less, and received them on Tuesday, via Fed Ex. Now that’s fast!

My farrier recommended I get some hoof boots for Apache because he feels her hoof walls aren’t strong enough for metal shoes and he doesn’t want to weaken the walls by hammering nails into them. But she gets ouchy when I ride her over sharp gravel and large rocks.

I ordered a Size 2 because that’s the size that matched up when both my farrier and I followed the instructions and took Apache’s hoof measurements 2 weeks ago. I chose the brown boots because I figured they would look better on Apache than the black. And I decided to go with the Cavallo Boots because I had $50.00 in ACTHA Bucks to spend and Cavallo is one of their sponsors. And with the ACTHA Bucks the boots would only cost me $79.00.

Well, we had a few problems with these Cavallo hoof boots.

I asked my twinling Jax to help hold Apache’s lead while I tried the boots on her, because I wasn’t about to tie her after what happened with my previous horse, Baby Doll when walking up to her with a tube of wormer. I definitely didn’t want a Repeat of that Performance. And something told me to put my helmet on, so I did.

First I placed an old towel on the ground for her to stand on, in front of a pile of hay, and then I wrapped her hoof in some thin plastic wrap. I spent a few seconds just getting her used to the sound of the velcro on the shoes ripping open, and she wasn’t even concerned. So I commenced with the hoof boot fitting, not thinking that anything could go wrong.

I’ve done hours of research while learning about hoof boots, comparing brands, and reading reviews. I’ve read the Hoof Boot company’s instructions for sizing and putting the hoof boot on the horse’s foot.

But not once have I read anything about the possibility of a horse reacting negatively, essentially “freaking out”, when wearing a hoof boot for the first time.

Yeah. That’s exactly what happened.

I fitted the hoof boot easily on her foot and she wasn’t concerned at all……until she placed her booted foot onto the ground. Then all hell broke loose!

Seriously, I think I saw my life flash before my eyes!

Apache’s head shot up high and she sprung forward in the stall. I scooted over to the right, as did Jax.

Jax was still holding the lead rope, which happened to be behind me now because he had been standing by her head as I placed the hoof boot on her foot, and when I stood up, he leapt to the side. Apache had me cornered with only her large water bucket protecting me from her being on top of me. The thought crossed my mind to try and remove the hoof boot, but Apache was too far gone, just quivering with fear and wanting to take off, to even consider placing myself down there by her hooves.

I yelled to Jax to drop the lead rope and he finally did, and Apache turned and ran out of the stall, still wearing the one boot and trailing the lead rope behind her. And on she ran down to the bottom of the hill in her paddock, where she finally slowed down and took some tentative slow steps while glancing down at the hoof boot and stepping on her lead rope.

Jax and I watched her and figured we might have to walk down the hill to get her, but she surprised me when just after a few minutes, she turned and walked directly back up to the barn, and then into her stall, and just stood there staring at me, calmly waiting.

I wanted to be sure she wasn’t going to lose her mind again and bolt away before I got close to her and removed the hoof boot. So, I stood beside Jax and we talked while observing her behavior. She just stood there, watching us, and waiting. A few times she licked and chewed, but mostly she just stood there at the door to her stall with her head down.

Finally after about 5 minutes, I walked over to her, and stroked her shoulder, her neck, face and her back. And she seemed relieved and relaxed for the contact. So, I moved my hand slowly down her leg, down to her foot, and played with the straps. All good. So then I picked up her foot, and wiggled the hoof boot and quickly discovered that the boot was too big because it’s supposed to wiggle a little for the natural expansion/contraction of the foot, but it’s not supposed to swivel around the hoof, like it was doing on Apache’s foot.

So, still holding Apache’s hoof, and remembering to breathe, I removed the hoof boot, and then reached my arms around Apache’s neck and stroked her cheeks. She still continued to stand there at the door to the stall, until I walked away from her and called her over to finish eating her hay. Then I just stood there for a long while just stroking her back, shoulders and neck. After she finished her hay, I led her back to her paddock, where I had asked Jax to leave her some more hay, and then I released her. She still seemed a little uneasy, so I stood by her for a few more minutes while she settled into her pile of hay.

I checked out the boot when I returned to the barn, and thankfully the inside of the boot was still clean due to the plastic I had wrapped around her hoof before putting it on, but the bottom of the boot did have some dirt caked on it. So I brought it back to the house and cleaned the bottom off really well with a toothbrush and water and wiped everything down, and it looks brand new again. I can’t even tell which hoof boot she had on. So hopefully I won’t have any problems returning them and getting my money back. But, unfortunately Cavallo does charge a $10 restocking fee. bah.

So, has anyone ever heard of a horse freaking out over wearing a hoof boot for the first time?

Not me.

After the adrenaline rush subsided and my legs had turned to jello, I decided to do some research and only found one listing where someone’s horse reacted behaviorally negatively to the hoof boot while riding. Basically, the horse was acting reactive and spooky to things on the trail that would normally have never bothered him before.

Here’s the link to that situation: "Unusual Problem with Hoof Boots" 

But I have yet to find any information online about a horse reacting negatively or fearfully while wearing a hoof boot for the first time, not even from the hoof boot companies themselves. Is my horse the only one that has reacted this way?