Check this out, 7 of the top 10 horses in the AERC National Mileage Championship are competing in hoof boots and are NOT using nailed on shoes for hoof protection!
My two horses are both in the standings – Chief is 4th with 970 miles and Bo is 7th with 750 miles- though Bo now has another 100 miles to his credit. Bo has done a lot of miles totally barefoot as well, and Chief has too (tho not as much as Bo has).
Cool, huh? In 2005, I won the mileage championship using boots – the first time that had been done in history. Kind of surprising really, that it will take 5 years for it to happen again but I predict that it will. Congratulations to these riders for doing what it takes to keep their horses free of nailed on shoes. My horses are better off, though it is more work – they are worth it! By the way – all of Bo’s mileage has been done in strap on Renegades up until the Tevis – the first time in 14 months I competed on him with a glued on boot. Chief has had a mixture of both and has only used glue-ons when he has done rides that have been 3 days or more. Mostly I’m excited to see that Chief is still placing in national standings now that he’s past the 10,000 mile mark – I wonder how much it helped him pulling his shoes six ride seasons ago contributed? Gotta love these outstanding horses, all of them – good luck everyone on the rest of your ride seasons! I can’t wait for the next ride!! See you on trail…..
Ooh, two gaited horses too! Barefoot plus gaited is the only thing better than barefoot
Bubba wears shoes tho! You might also be interested to know that four of the booted horses are using Renegades – mostly the strap-ons. That’s pretty cool!
Karen, being french I do not know those horses. Can you point which ones are shod ?
Bubba G has officially gone bare!