If you’ve been following us for a while, you may have seen our Cavallo Simple Boots: An Initial Review back in 2016 when we got our first pair of hoof boots for Fizz. We have been a customer of Cavallo, Inc and a buyer of their products since! I have not ventured out to other brands because I have been happy with these so I really haven’t needed to.  Cavallo is now offering their customers incentives for referring others to their brand.  Since I am still a user of and believer in their product, I signed up for my own link to the incentive program!  As a benefit, if you purchase from my link, you get 20% off your purchase! Just click here: Referral Program Link

Fizz and Duke both have their own sets of 4 cavallos to wear when they are barefoot. While we don’t typically turn them out wearing them or work them in the round pen using the boots because the ground is usually pretty decent and the round pen sand is soft, there are times when we choose to use them consistently. We do always use them on any unshod foot when trail riding to protect their feet from this kind of disaster that happened a few years ago to Duke while trail riding with no protection on his rear feet.

After the above happened, that’s when both boys got new sets of cavallos for their rear feet. Duke’s “sports” when they were brand new!

A few weeks ago, we had a massive snow storm, followed by a massive ice storm, followed by more snow, and then it was frigid temps for several weeks following that. There was jagged ice everywhere, but I couldn’t bring myself to make the boys stay inside because I was scared for their safety. During this time, I opted to let the boys wear their cavallos on their front feet to protect them where they put the most weight and my hope was the treads on the boots would give them more/better traction and the pads would offer them some comfort/support on the hard surface. Incase you didn’t know, a horse carries approximately 60% of it’s body weight on the front feet.

Both boys have different setups and sizes. Fizz wears simple boots on the front and treks on the rear. Duke wears simple boots on the front and sports on the rear. Overall, I like the trek and sport closures better, but I bought the simple boots first and have not really had a reason to change them out. When (if) these things ever wear out (so far they’ve been really sturdy!) I will likely get treks or sports for their fronts as well, only because I think the closures are easier than the simple boots. You can see the differences in the image below. The treks are my personal favorite of these 3 if I’m being completely honest.

I also want to note, we have used them both barefoot and over shoes. You may need different sizing for either type of application (barefoot/over shoes) so make sure to measure to be safe before ordering. Fizz especially likes to be a wild man and he will overreach and clip his front shoes with his rear feet and bend/loosen/rip off his front shoes and he has damaged his heels this way too. If I notice a shoe is loose, bent, or otherwise in danger of getting ripped off in any way, I will stick his cavallos on to protect his feet and the shoes until the farrier can come fix the shoe. If you do this, make sure to put them on both sides (left and right) so the horse is able to stand/travel evenly. Just fronts or just rears should be OK as long as there is one on the left and right side on the same “end” of the horse so they don’t have to stand crooked. This should be common sense, but you know, sometimes we don’t think of things and just get in a rush to put a bandaid on something because, horses, so I feel like it’s worth mentioning. In instances where he has lost a shoe, I just add a few pad inserts to the inside of the boot going on the foot without a shoe and leave them out of the other to make up the height difference.

Both boys in their full sets of Cavallos! Happy as can be to go to work.

As for accessories offered by Cavallo: Both boys wear pads in their boots, front and rear (because I like the idea of some extra cushion) and we use both the pastern wraps and comfort sleeves. The pastern wraps I find a little more difficult to use, but they hold up better and in my opinion are better when there is moisture involved. If you’re trail riding where there will be a creek or mud, the neoprene pastern wraps would by my choice. They hold some moisture, but it seems to be more wicking away from their skin and they keep their nice sturdy form around the foot. The comfort sleeves are more like a cotton sock. They are so easy to use and very convenient while still offering protection for the pasterns and heel bulbs. It’s just when they get wet, they get soggy like wet socks. I personally don’t prefer wet socks so I don’t like them on my horses either. The protection is the same and the horses don’t care, it’s just my personal preferences based on the experiences I’ve had with both items! I use the sleeves when it’s dry, I’ll be riding in dry places, and I know they won’t get wet. Take that with a grain of salt and do with the info what you will. You can see the differences in those items in the image below.

So, after 9 years of using Cavallo hoof boots, I can say with confidence that these are boots I would recommend and here are some of the reasons why, among many others that I am probably not thinking of right now.