The posts on the EZ boot prompted me to write this:
I was riding my mare last august and she had a ez boot on her front right after she threw a shoe. I had put my pesky nephew on an airplane that morning and was having a good old time all by myself listening to the birds and enjoying the mountain scenery. The wire that the ski boot latch hooks on caught a root in the trail. Of course she thought the boogey man had grabbed her and pulled and pulled until the wire broke and we all went over backwards. Luckily all I had was a bruise on my left hip from my .44 for a month.
IF YOU USE AN EZBOOT COVER THE LATCH WITH DUCT TAPE!!
Or better yet, just use duct tape and a piece of rubber cut to fit from an innertube. Put the rubber over the hoof sole and tape it down, it will take less room in your saddle bag and you can always use duct tape!

I had too many problems breaking buckles and cables with the Easyboot plain and Epics. I swtiched out the EasyBoot BARES. (No Buckles or cables) and I have had no problems since the change.

If you just buy new boots. Buy the BARES in place of the regular Easyboot. Then you won't need to duct tape the buckle.

Here what a set of the Epics looked like after a 10 mile mountain ride.


The BARES are little tougher to put on the first couple of times you use them. Once they break in, they are just the same as putting on any other boot.

Looking at the knee on that grey horse makes me wonder how he made a 10 mile ride??

I'm not sure what you are looking at. But that horse has put many many miles on trails both before and since that photo and never missed a step or shown any indication of a problem.

I do competetive trail rides with him where VETs are looking at him 4-8 times a weekend as we ride 50 mile trails, and they have never seen a problem with his movements or joints.

I think it is the camera angle, the depth of field makes the rf knee look larger and possibly swollen. I have never heard of competitive trail riding.

You show up Friday afternoon, Vet in and get your registration package. Saturday and Sunday you ride. Usually it's 45-50 miles between the two days. Vet and Horsemanship judge try to observe you as much as they can during the weekend. Vet watches horse for Metabolics, respiration, heart rate etc. He also watches for filling in legs, nicks or cuts that might indicate interference, Soreness in the back, any signs of Lamenss or stiffness. Horse has to be all natural during the event. No rubbing lintiments, no clay packs, No medicine for pain relief or to reduce swelling. The vet will see your horse Friday before it starts the ride, 2-3 times saturday and sunday during the ride, He will see the horse un-saddled at the end of each days ride. He is looking to see if the horse is getting stressed and how well conditioned the horse is.

Horsemanship judge watches more how the horse behaves and responds and your skills as a horseman. They watch how well you deal with natural obsitcles such as crossing streams, blow downs, or going up or down steep grades. They also contrive man made obsticles such as opening a closed gate from the saddle, sidepassing over to a tree and tying a ribbon on a tree branch. Or anything else the judge dreams up to see how much control you have.

This is not a race, but more of a Road Rally. You have a predefined time to cover the distance. You must rate your horses speed to arrive in that window of time for that days ride. 15 minutes too fast or too slow and you are out of the game. They give out ribbons and a few prizes, There is no money to be won, It's more of just a fun sport and opportunity to go see new country and hang with other horse people.

Google NATRC (North American Trail Ride Conference) for more info