A few years I ago I was super excited to see that Cavallo was now making the most adorable little boot for miniature horses. I immediately ordered a pair (actually my mom bought them for me for my birthday!) and tried them out.
I was very happy when I opened the box and saw how cute and little they were. That excitement turned to trepidation when I realized just how small they were. Teeny tiny. The only mini I had at the time that they would fit was Sky. That was fine because she was the one I was driving anyway. But I was disappointed that they didn’t make the boots bigger.
Sky and her CLB’s.
Sky wore the boots for about 10 miles when I discovered there was a hole in the sole. I emailed Cavallo and they said my horse’s didn’t have the right hoof shape for the boot but they would send me another pair to try. I thought that was strange. Her hoof measurement said the boots would fit. They DID fit, though they did rub here and there at the top, but the soles were basically plastic and just wore out on the gravel we drive on. I felt that had little do with the shape of her foot and more to do with the material they were using for the sole of the boot.
I received the other pair of boots and we tried those as well. After about another 10 miles there were holes in those as well. That pretty much ended our run on Cavallo boots.
I had also found that they were very slippery. The soles were a hard plastic with no traction and when Sky was worked on wet grass she would slip and even fell. When we walked on lots of gravel the boots would slide through the gravel making her feel unconfident with the boots on. At the time I also had the Mini Easy Boots so we just used those instead.
I have a blog that compares the different boots I’ve used over the years. You can find that here –> Boot Comparison.
I felt that a re-design was necessary for these boots. I sent Cavallo an email expressing my disappointment and that was that. Then about a month and a half ago I had an email from them saying they had re-designed their boots, making them bigger and wondered if I was interested. I said I was only interested if they also changed the sole material of the boot. They said they had and sent me two pairs to try.
I was happy to see the soles were not that hard plastic any longer and have some traction. The boots are bigger so that part is great! However, after using the Equine Fusion boots I have to say the tops of the boots are not great. They don’t close very tight thereby allowing quite a few of the smaller stones from the road to work their way down inside the boot. Not something I like to have happen, especially on the longer drives!
Below is a photo showing the Cavallo boot next to the Equine Fusion boot. These boots are meant to fit the same size hoof as well. I noticed that the Cavallos were a bit sloppy on Zorro when he walked…
Cavallo boot on the left, Equine Fusion boot on the right.
Cavallo boot on the left, Equine Fusion boot on the right.
There is something very strange about the toe area of the boot. They have this long piece that sticks forward, blocking the roll over. We work so hard to have a nice beveled toe so our ponies have a good break over, why would we want to block that with the boot? I really don’t understand what the thought process was with this design. They don’t have this on ANY of the big horse boots.
Below is a photo showing the beveled toe of the Equine Fusion boots:
Though minis are small they are might athletes and should be considered as such. It frustrates me to no end how some of these boots are designed. They do not help them do their job but instead hinder them.
This style of boot was making Zorro trip and the break over was stopping him from rolling all the way over onto his toe, which would make his knee give out. I tried to capture it on video (video is below) but was doing this by myself so it’s hard to see. But I think you get the idea. And I’m sure many of you can see the problem just by looking at the boot!
So. I took my hoof nippers and rasp to the front of these boots to make them work better.
Here is a video I made showing Zorro walk before I trimmed the front and then after!
This is just my opinion on these boots. Of course you should do what you think is best for your pony!