Renegade boots and peripheral loading of a bare hoof

Take a close look at the wear pattern inside the boot in this photo. Here you can clearly see the evidence as to why most horses don’t need thick foam pads when wearing Renegades.

As mentioned elsewhere on the Renegade web site, Renegade Hoof Boots were designed specifically for naturally trimmed hooves with a low heel, a short toe and a mustang roll. When properly trimmed as was the horse wearing this boot, the outer hoof wall will be about 1/16″ positive to the adjacent sole. When trimmed this way, the boot is resilient enough that the sole adjacent to the outer hoof wall will make considerable contact with the insole of the boot allowing the sole to be a player in the weight bearing game as it should.

When hoof walls are unnaturally long, and or have high heels, most all of the weight of the horse is born by the just the hoof wall resulting in considerable load on the lamina which attach the hoof wall to the coffin bone within. Overloading of the lamina can result in hoof wall flaring, greater shock and concussion and reduced comfort and performance.

Also obvious in this photo is how well a naturally low heel allows the frog to bear considerable weight which provides support for the digital cushion. The digital cushion acts as a rubber shock absorber for the short pastern bone which can naturally rotate downward at extreme angles during various gaits of the horse. This extreme pastern movement is a natural part of the suspension system of the horse and can be readily seen in slow motion video of the galloping horse and sometimes in still photography.

The Renegade boot in this photo was used to complete 100 miles in two days on an endurance horse. It was not cleaned after being removed. To read more about this boot visit Karen’s blog or click here.

Be sure to check out our page on correct hoof conformation. Renegade hoof boots will not work very well if the hoof is not maintained with a natural trim.