For Love of the Barefoot Horse
I have been riding barefoot all my life. In 2018, I begun seriously planning our East to West ride across Australia. I wanted the flexibility of barefoot and boots, but I had yet to find a boot that fitted Mr Richard properly - the main issue we had was rubbing along his pasterns. I found Renegade Vipers whilst trawling through the internet, and decided to test them out. With their unique hoof bulb captivator, there was zero pastern rubbing, and even better, Mr Richard loved them! So I committed to fitting out my horses in Renegades for the whole trip.
These boots performed relentlessly under the rigours of long riding. In over 4500km, I only had a boot come off once, and that was when a wire failed. They wear out slower than hiking boots. They can be removed for easy, soft ground, and days would pass where I wouldn’t put them on at all. But when the gravel got big and the horses’ feet got worn down, out would come the Renegades and we would power onwards.
One of the things I have really enjoyed is watching my stockhorse Micky’s feet change over the years. I purchased him as a green-as-grass 3.5yo in the high country of Vic, where he had been raised with only semi-regular trims and whacked into shoes when he was broken in. Watching his heels de-contract and his frog develop over the miles has been fascinating. He has a slight conformational anomaly in his fronts, and his feet will always be a bit unbalanced, but learning how to keep him comfortable and sound has been an inspiring journey for me. It shows that a horse doesn’t have to have perfect feet or perfect conformation to go barefoot. Hoof boots allow the development of the natural hoof whilst providing the extra cushioning on rough terrain for horses that need it, as well as allowing our horses to travel the distances we ask of them.
I am so excited to be partnering with Renegade for our 6000km+ journey across Canada this year. It is such a confidence boost that we will be using such quality products to keep our horses happily moving forward on the road. I can’t wait to share their performance on this journey with you.
If you are interested in exploring the range of Renegade boots, check out their website: https://renegadehoofboots.com/
For more information on barefoot long riding, check out my webpage here.
Photos by the amazing Kari @pacificophoto