Hoof Boot Maintenance

If you ride in any kind of hoof boot you already know that they require a certain amount of work to maintain them.

That amount of work depends on the type of boot and how often you ride in it and how hard or easy your horse is on your boots.

It’s no different than any other type of tack or riding equipment that you use.  If you take care of your hoof boots, they will last longer and provide better service with less trouble.

A lot of problems I see people having with boots can be avoided.  It takes attention to detail, and often times some fiddling to get everything right.  Once you do then the effort is worth it.  Maintenance is an important part of using hoof boots successfully.  It can also keep you from having to experience a boot failure on the trail.

I mainly use Renegade strap on boots.  On a few occasions each year I will use the glue-on version of the boots.  The glue-ons are pretty easy – I trim the backs to the exact length of my horses hoof prior to gluing them on.  Then, when I remove them I simply throw them away.

With the strap-on version of the Renegades I will usually get several hundred miles out of a set of boots.  During that time I usually will need to replace the toe straps a couple of times and possibly the pastern straps.

The pastern straps usually do not need to be replaced as frequently as the toe straps do.  The important strap is the toe strap.

For the really rocky rides I will also replace worn or old  rubber O-rings and lots of times will put three O-rings on each toe strap.  That way if one breaks I still have two left.

For this post I am only going to cover what to do AFTER riding in the boots and not go into anything having to do with fitting, sizing or applying boots.  However, I would like to mention that if somebody is having difficulty with their boots that they should contact the manufacturer directly for help.  Or, check with another boot user that is having good luck with the same type of boots that rides in the same type of terrain as you do.

As an example of what I do to maintain my horses hoof boots, I can start with what I did after I finished the EHSC 50 a week ago on Chief.  For that ride I used four orange Renegades – two size 1′s (fronts) and two size 0′s (hinds).  The only time I removed the boots was after I finished the ride.  I then put them into a 5 gallon bucket of water.  While my boots were in the bucket of water I used a soft brush to clean the back of Chief’s pasterns thoroughly.  This makes sure there are no sand pebbles, rocks or dirt embedded anywhere.  I like to inspect everything thoroughly to make sure there are no rubs, tenderness or sore spots.  This is something I will continue to do for a few days after every ride.  So far, I have not had any rubs from using these boots.  (knocking on wood–this is why I LOVE these boots!)  Note:  I also check and clean the pasterns prior to applying boots to make sure everything is clean on the horse and on the boots!

Next I take a medium soft brush and use it to clean each boot.  I unstrap the velcro and pull it apart.  Using the brush I will go over the surface of the velcro on both sides.  This removes any dirt, sand or other debris.  Those that really want their velcro clean can use a cleaner made exclusively for cleaning velcro.  I just received one of these as a completion award at the Strawberry Fields Ride.  I haven’t opened it yet, and have yet to have ever used anything like that to clean velcro on any of my hoof boots.  Usually water and brushing over it is sufficient.

I then continue cleaning the boots, taking care to make sure that the inside of the pastern straps and the captivator liner in the heel area is clean.  I make sure the inside of the boot is clean and the bottom is clean.

Check the tread wear on the bottom of the boot.  Is it wearing evenly?  If it is not, then you may want to check your horses trim and/or way of going.  Once boots get worn down enough that you can no longer see any tread they may become slippery.  Don’t keep using them once they reach that point.  Once my boots get worn down to a certain point I usually relegate them to “spares”.  At that point they still have tread remaining.

An example of a frayed cable

The next thing is to check for any fraying of the cables.  If your horse has stepped and pulled a boot off or had one come off then there is a chance there a cable may be frayed.  A boot that comes off with the pastern strap still attached is more likely to become frayed than a boot that comes completely off.

On a rare occasion, a cable will need to be replaced.  It is a good idea to have a couple of extra cables in each size.  It helps to use silicone spray to get the cables to guide through easier.  Click here for instructions on how to change a cable on a Renegade boot.

Now that I have a clean and inspected boot I will fold the velcro back onto itself.  This trains it to go the way you will want it once you put the boots back on your horse.  I don’t feed the pastern strap back through the captivator though, I just lay it over the top of the pastern strap.  This will also help keep your boots from getting attached to each other.  If I am going to store the boots for a couple of weeks between uses, I will do so like this (boot strap tip).

Thoroughly inspect the velcro straps on your boots.  Look for signs that the velcro is wearing out.   Over time you will learn on average how often you might need to replace any straps.  That amount of time will vary considerably depending upon the terrain that you ride in, your horse, and also how you care for your boots and velcro.

You will often see my boots drying on the back of my trailer ramp each day at an endurance ride.  Like trailer tires, it’s not good to leave your boots out in the hot sun for extended periods so I will bring the boots inside as soon as they are dry.

If you don’t have time to rinse your boots out after riding or it is too cold then be prepared with enough extra straps ahead of time.  That way you can switch them out and then get the dirty ones cleaned later.  It is really important to keep the velcro clean so that it will work properly.

I have found that using any kind of hoof boot requires attention to detail and a bit of effort.  It isn’t as easy as having shoes nailed on your horse.  Using strap on boots is also not a easy for a rider as using boots that are glued-on, but I believe are healthier in the long run if used more often than glue-ons are used.

It is up to each of us to decide how much effort and time we are willing to devote to keeping our horses barefoot and/or to using hoof boots.  If you are going to use hoof boots, it pays to become as educated as possible on their use, which includes proper care and maintenance.