First and foremost, I am in no way, shape, or form paid by or affiliated with this company, nor did anyone give me any incentives to review these boots.  I did my own research, and decided on this purchase due to the good price of these in comparison to other brands, plus the reviews I read on the internet (which, lets be honest, you can’t always trust).

Short version:

Cavallo Simple Boot is well constructed, easy to apply, and immediately helped Fizzy walk across rocks like he still had shoes on 10 days after having them removed.  They stayed on at a walk, trot, canter, and gallop, and did not twist or turn.  I look forward to using them a while and writing another review!

Long version:

Let’s backtrack for a minute and let me explain what led us to the decision of purchasing hoof boots to begin with.  If you read our blog, you read about the shoe throwing incident on the day from hell a few weeks ago.  If not, that story:  Just Stay Home!  Well, the farrier could not get out to reapply the shoe, and Fizzy managed to destroy that hoof in the two weeks it was off.  We had planned on one more show this year, but did not want to put the shoe back on a shorter hoof, just to pull all 4 shoes less than a month later.  We decided to go ahead and pull all 4 shoes, and let him go barefoot until spring.  However, he is very uncomfortable walking on rocks, as we also shared, and seems not as comfortable even in the arena as he was with shoes on.  It’s now 10 days after the shoe removal, and it’s obvious it will be a long process to get him comfortable being barefoot.  To aid in this and allow us to keep working him lightly and maybe even go on a few more trail rides, we decided to try the boots because, well, we will do anything to make our horse happy and comfortable.  That plus the cost of them is less than one shoeing for 4 hooves!  Since our plan is to keep him barefoot until April, we’ve got 7 months ahead of us.

So, I ordered the Cavallo Simple Boot via Amazon Prime (sold by Cavallo Inc) in a size 2 Friday night after measuring using the tool they had provided on their website www.cavallo-inc.com.  First of all, it was VERY easy to measure using this tool, and if you know even the slightest teeny tiny little bit about horses you can use this tool.  The boots and also the pastern wraps (purchased separately) had come by Sunday.  Oh the joys of amazon prime and 2 day shipping especially as a horse owner, but that’s another conversation.

Anyway, I was excited as a kid on Christmas morning opening up my (Fizzy’s) new boots! They even sent me a free hoofpick and another free gift (some digital info on barefoot trimming that is very informative). From here on out, I will probably refer to these boots as his “Nikes” because they are indeed comparable to a tennis shoe for horses. They came in a box very similar to a shoe box human shoes come in, too!  Upon initial inspection, I can tell in their new state that the boots are well constructed, sturdy, and to me very interesting looking contraptions! They appear easy to apply, so I head on over to the barn to give them a go. I wish I had taken photos and video of him actually wearing them, but I was a little bit pressed for time and wanted to pay him the attention he needed while I was there.  I promise I will provide more photos at a later date, and also intend on doing a follow up review after using them for a while.

Putting them on was not hard, once I figured it out. I’ll admit,  I might be slightly slow with new things I’ve never seen before.  I proceeded to put on the pastern wraps first. Of course I read the directions! (Those of you who don’t know me, understand this is the first thing I normally throw away). Yes, I will admit I tried to put them on upside down, then felt really dumb after I actually DID read the instructions. I felt dumb again after I put the first boot on the wrong hoof and didn’t realize it until I went to latch it.  I share these mishaps with you all because it does us all good to be able to laugh at ourselves at times.  Anyway, once I got them on the correct hooves, and all latched up, I took Fizzy to the arena (across the rocky driveway at the barn) and could immediately tell a difference in his level of comfort vs. having nothing on his feet.  Praise Jesus! Because watching him walk on rocks barefoot as it is right now makes me want to cry.

We did some free lunging at a walk, trot, canter, and Fizzy’s personal favorite, the uncontrolled gallop.  They stayed on at all speeds!  They stayed latched and didn’t twist or turn.  So far, so good and I am impressed!  I look forward to using them to work and hopefully trail ride him some this fall, and then I will update with another review of how they performed doing those things.  So far, I love them for what we purchased them for and would recommend them to a friend. I feel like if Fizzy could speak, he’d recommend them to a friend too, because he seems to feel like a million bucks wearing them on rough ground vs not wearing them.

Check out the video of Fizzy wearing the boots!

Cavallo Simple Boots Video