Bet your boots

Mustangs are known for their good, strong feet, so I was surprised when Olive - who had been out of work for a really long time - arrived with front shoes. I asked if there was a reason and was told she just does better with shoes. Okay.

The first time my farrier saw her, he asked why she had shoes. I told him what I had been told, and together we decided to leave the shoes for one more cycle, then pull them off to see what happened. For the first month or two, barefoot was a big success. Then the weather warmed up, I started riding more and Olive started wearing her toes down faster than she could grow them. 

We put the shoes back on, and it was fine for a while, but only for a while. Then I discovered that Olive is a shoe throwing machine.

That was pretty much the story all last summer and fall. We pulled her shoes for winter, and once again, that was fine until I started riding more. We put the shoes back on and within three weeks, she'd lost the left one. Juan put it back on, and then three days later, she lost the right one. The next set of shoes came off ever quicker.

I am over it. Juan is over it. Even Olive is over it.

So I decided to try something different. I bought her a pair of Cavallo Trek boots.

I chose these because they are a well regarded boot with good ratings for fit, durability and the ability to stay on. Of course, it also helped that Dover carries them and I could use my employee discount. Olive wears a size 00 shoe, so I started with a size 0. Surprisingly, that was much too small.

I returned those and ordered the next size up. They arrived yesterday. I took them straight to the barn and slipped one of Olive's old shoes inside. It was a perfect fit.

The next challenge was getting them on Olive. She can be reactive, so it took us a couple tries to get the first one on her foot. Then we both kind of figured it out, and the second one was no problem.

Sadly, I didn't get video of Olive's first few, confused steps. Trust me, they were pretty funny.

She got over that pretty quickly, though.

Out of an abundance of caution, I put her on the lunge line before I climbed aboard. She was fine.

She has been a little tender footed lately, but she trotted out without any signs of shortness or discomfort.

I got on, and while she was clearly bothered by the bugs, the boots were a nonissue.

I don't know if this is the solution, but I am hopeful.

Whatever happens, I'll keep you posted, and maybe - just maybe - there will be some 1:9 scale boots in my future!