Renegade Hoof Boot News

Hello, I thought I’d share some photos of Renegades in use at our branding up here in the Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Hoof boots are foreign to the ranching community; I haven’t seen or heard of anyone else roping or riding the range with hoof boots.

I have had them for a couple months now to use on our 1000 head cattle ranch and have been really happy with my Renegades. I only have one horse in them due to hoof issues we have been working on. She is staying sound now that we have been using Renegades.

I plan to convert my other horses to boots when I can afford to. The boots are wearing well and do not rub my horse at all. I have galloped at high speeds chasing cattle, gone through mud, creeks, rocks, over logs and thick blowdown, etc without them moving.

They have only come off in a couple occasions from my horse over reaching at high speeds, nothing was broken and they stayed around her pastern so I just had to put them back on. I have lost one though from riding through hummocks by a lake shore.

I have yet to find it, but I’m sure my mare must have stepped it off…I can’t expect miracle retention with the terrain my horses see…a shod horse can easily pull a shoe in that stuff too. Nevertheless I am happy with my Renegades and just wanted to let you know! Thank you!

Cheers,

Crystal Grier
Chilco Ranch
Hanceville, BC

Note: Renegade offers a Cutback Option to minimize the possibility for an overreach.

We had a really fantastic ride at the Owyhee Fandango last weekend. I rode Chief 50 miles on Friday and Bo 100 miles on Sunday. Both horses did well. Bo finished the 100 with a 11:48 ride time, in 3rd place! Here are photos from Steve Bradley.

On Friday we rode through a fair amount of mud with several water crossings. I have concluded that Chief no longer needs to use boots with extra padding in them – he is back to being solid footed enough that I will only use regular Renegades on him. The padding makes the boots more slippery so they didn’t stay on very well in those conditions. Lucky for me, Chief is a patient horse and tolerates anything I do to him. Now that I know he can go a mile down the trail barefoot over rocks and not even hint that his boot had come off I guess I really don’t need to try and baby him with extra padding in his boots. The good thing is that once I changed over to the regular Renegade strap-on boots, they stayed on! It was a good learning experience for me.

My luck on the 100 with the Renegade strap ons was better! We had a really super ride. Bo and his Renegades went through the boulder field both times without any slipping, no dings or dents – it was great! We had one O-ring break and that was the extent of it. Not bad! I even went out into the Snake River in the mud a couple of feet and the boots were secure. I pre-rode in the boots the day before and made sure I had them sized and adjusted properly.

Any time this year I’ve had a boot issue it was due to my own inability to pay attention to the fit and adjustments that sometimes need to be monitored and changes made. I’m still learning!

I’m happy with how well the boots have been working for my horses this season. Bo has been using the strap on versions of the boots exclusively while Chief has used a combination of the glue-ons and the strap-on versions.

Happy trails,
Karen

Dear Renegade –

I’m writing to express my appreciation of both your product and your customer service. I’ve just completed my first 3 day pioneer and I’m exhausted so excuse my inability to put good sentences into decent paragraphs. You may use this letter in whole or in part in anyway you wish. I love your products and refer other riders to your products with no hesitation. This got a bit longer than I anticipated, but it’s because I waited too long to write and now I have too much story to tell!

I’ve used Renegade strap ons since September of 2009 with great success.

I need to define success. Success = I took them out of the box, fitted them by adjusting cables and cutting back when necessary and rode with them, no modifications to the hoof needed.

I completed two 50′s in them problem free, then took them to 20 mule team in February to test their meddle in extremely adverse conditions. 100 miles later in sand, mud, rocks, mucky rainy conditions, I still had my boots. I did have one malfunction – a cable broke at mile 60. It took me less than 30 seconds to jump off my horse, take it off, and replace it with a spare. After completing the ride I looked at my boots – the spare’s velcro straps had come undone – and it was obvious it had been that way for a while. I hadn’t fitted the straps properly under the o-rings, being in a hurry at the checks since I was crew-less and too stupid to ask for help. But the spare boot had stayed on through all those miles, including a canter into the finish.

And then I grew complacent.

How hard was this barefoot thing anyways? Where were all those “problems” everyone else was experiencing?

I entered American River 50 2 months after 20 mule team. My mare’s feet were so good I hadn’t used the boots since 100 mule team and I waited until the night before to drag them out. Mmmm….the boots from the 100 looked a bit…worn. Time to replace them. I slapped on 4 new boots, did some adjustments of the cables and went on my merry way.

I had 40 boot failures in 50 miles. I couldn’t keep the boots on. I was at a loss – how could a boot that had performed so well 2 months ago suddenly just…stop working?

I sent a pleading e-mail to renegade to help me diagnosis my problem – I had thought these boots were Tevis ready and now I was scared. Really really really scared.

Within 5 minutes Renegade’s Gina diagnosed my problem. All of my boot retention problems were due to my carelessness in fitting the second set of boots and my lack of attention to her changing hooves. 3 of the 4 boots needed to be sized up and fitted accordingly and the 4th needed to be cut back like my first set was!

I refitted a set of strap ons and prepared for the Wild West 3 day Pioneer.

But American River spooked me. I couldn’t handle 3 days of what I experienced at American River. I decided to try Renegade glue ons so I could have experience with both glue ons and strap ons before Tevis.

I carefully watched Renegade glue on videos and set out to duplicate the process. It went…..OK. It was a lot of work. I decided I really liked the strap ons and wouldn’t glue more than once or twice a year for big races. Hopefully I had done well enough they stayed on…..

Because of the weather forecasts, I glued on boots on Tuesday for a Friday/Saturday/Sunday race. It rained and rained and rained starting Tuesday night. It snowed Thursday night. Friday was a mucky muddy snowy slick awful day. The boots stayed on and my mare had excellent traction. The trails dried out for Saturday and Sunday and I continued to put in the miles. On Sunday I lost a boot. It was the first one I glued on and I think my lack of experience gluing and the rain/mud/snow for a week finally took it’s toll. I put a strap on on for the last 30 mile loop and crossed my fingers. Would it stay on? I told my riding partners that I was giving the boot one shot – the first time it came off on the trail it was staying off and spending the rest of the ride on my breast collar. I was NOT stopping every 10 minutes like American river to fiddle with boots!

That 30 mile loop had knee deep water, slick mud, rocks, down hill, uphill, sucking boggy mud, hardpacked dirt and soft single track. And the boot stayed on. The entire time. Without me having to touch it once. I’m GLAD I lost that glue on because it has restored my faith in my strap ons! GO RENEGADES! Obviously…..sizing is important!

So here I am on the heels of my first 100 mile completion in strap ons, and my first pioneer completion in glue ons (and spare). I think I’ve decided to do Tevis in Glue ons just because my crew isn’t experienced in boots and I won’t be able to maintain strap ons AND take care of myself, but I have my eye on continuing to use strap ons for all my other races, including 100′s. I couldn’t be happier with the product or your customer service. THANK YOU.

I’ve attached a picture of me at day one from Wild West, the pioneer I did over the weekend. It was my first time riding in the snow and it was wonderful to not be in shoes. Quite a few shod horses were taking it easy because of snow balls in the shoes, but my Renegades gave me the protection to go over snow and rocks without fear. I rode to a top 10 placing on the third day, to place 2nd overall over the 3 days.

Melinda Faubel

PS photo is by Bill Gore

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Check out my blog – Boots and Saddles!

www.bootsandsaddles4mel.blogspot.com

My name is Kathy and this is Wrangler. We just started endurance riding in 2009 and had not heard too much about hoof coverings/boots. I have to admit in my research the Renegade boot was ignited by the picture of the beautiful horse and rider going up the mountain side in the Tevis 2009 photo; someone I hope to aspire to be with my faithful, strong mustang in Renegade boots. Yes, it read like a fairy tale.

Prior to our first ride, I had tried Wrangler’s Renegade boots out twice; once the front twisted to the inside and the second time they seemed fine. The day of the ride came and to say the least I was very anxious, for more than one reason. This was it, can we do it…it was only a 30 mile but my last try at a fun ride, I tore my acl and ended up in surgery a month later…Wranlger could sense something was happening as we started our ride.

I kept looking down and concentrating to feel his steps, please don’t twist, please don’t come loose…my mantra. I rode with a veteran endurance rider and kept asking him, “how do the boots look Nate?” He kept answering…’fine’.

At the 18 mile vet check, they were still fine but I had to check for rubbing…I took them off to find only a small amount of sand and not a single hair rubbed. I was impressed but I was also too new to know, that was great. Wrangler barely broke a sweat and the vet said he was doing awesome.

We took off the the remaining 12 mile leg of the ride and I kept asking the question and Nate faithfully kept answering, “fine”. He finally started asking questions of my Renegade boots as his horse was shod. He noticed that I had taken them off with ease at the vet check and put them back on just as easily. He also noticed the flow thru design as we crossed a swampy bog and small creek. He said he had tried several different name brand boots and even a few spin offs but it was just easier to keep a horse shod but he was going to look into these Renegade boots in the future.

I thought I did a good thing by putting my horse in Renegades as he is a mustang and has very hard hoof walls, the farrier discouraged shoeing him…and now after a 30 mile ride, not a single rub, a sound vet check, a happy horse and an impressed veteran endurance rider…YEP, I am sure I made the right choice! Thanks Renegade! Kathy Pape (NM) and Wrangler

Congratulations to these riders that attended the recent Mt. Carmel XP 5 day 250 mile pioneer endurance ride! These riders rode successfully in Renegade hoof boots! Many riders used glue on Renegades but quite a few also chose to use the Renegade strap-on boots.

Feedback was quite positive from riders over the ease of use of the strap on boots. There were several riders who rode multiple days in Renegades including some that completed all 5 days successfully using a combination of both types of Renegades.

Chad Larsen was on hand to help fit, size and install the boots and provide support as well as provide hoof trimming services. Photos by Steve Bradley.

After my most successful year in Endurance last year wearing Renegade boots Bo Tucker and I did our first ride of 2010 on the55 at Old Pueblo March 5th. As you can see in the photo from Old Pueblo he isn’t wearing rear boots. Bo has come along great in Renegades. We seldom use boots on his hind feet at rides any more. Not because I have trouble keeping them on, it is just the opposite If I need them over a very rough section I can get off and put them on so easily. The two straps (toe and heel captivator) attach so easily and hold great, even through mud and water.

Renegade boots have helped Bo transition to much more bare foot riding. We have ridden through snow, mud, deep sand washes and water in the past year. My Renegades have never caused a rub and in fact in one incident actually healed a heel bulb cut that Bo got while playing in a turn-out before a ride. It (the injury) happened at one of the last rides of 2009. Kirt was at the ride and we decided although it was easy footing to use the front boots because the heel captivator would cover the wound. It was healed closed after I finished.

Both Kirt and Gina Lander of Renegade boots are always so helpful whether it be at a ride or on the telephone. There are very few companies you can call and actually speak to the inventor and manufacturer of a product nowdays!

In my opinion, these are a far superior boot to others on the market. They are easy to put on. Easy to take off. Fewer moving parts means fewer things to break or be replaced. They do not cause any rubs on my horses without the need for vet wrap, duct tape, special ointments or treatments to the horse before application to do a 50 mile ride. I have never had the problem of not being able to ride the next day on a multiday ride due to rubbing even with the above prep as I often did with another brand. I am back to being able to ride multiday rides this year. Not one rub or sore foot.

At the Git-R-Done ride last weekend I only rode the 55 miler, but there is a lot of sand and hard packed road. Once again, no foot soreness, and not one rub and we actually did quite a bit a cantering this ride. Not once did I loose a boot. I didn’t have a single strap failure. In fact I didn’t touch my boots at all during this ride. All straps and boots were intact and in place when I took them off at the end of the ride.

Oh, and these were my originally purchased set of Renegade Hoof Boots from July 2008. These boots are well over a year old. Looking it up to see because I think they are nearly 2 years old. These boots wear as well as anything on the market. They have easily over 500 miles on them. Check my record. Every competition mile has been in boots, except for the November 2009 Get R Done second day, which we did barefoot.

I will be more than happy to help anyone with boots at any ride I attend. Becky Hackworth