Renegade Hoof boot success: Avoiding Equipment Failure

Learn how to avoid equipment failure while using Renegade Hoof Boots with these tips. 

Sounds simple?  Yet, we are human and it is all too easy to get sidetracked with a hundred other tasks while camping or tacking up to ride our horses. 

Doing a safety check of all of our equipment including our Renegade’s is vital to ensuring not just safety for ourselves and our horses, but will also ensure a pleasant ride that is free of any hoof boot issues. 

Check these items on your Renegade Hoof Boots, each and every time you use them: 

• Check for signs of cables fraying
  

  • Once a cable starts to fray this becomes an inherent weakness. This will eventually lead to parts of your boot coming apart.  Cables can fray due to a horse interference, and, more likely — due to being used in seriously rocky or technical conditions. 

• Check for wear, cleanliness and strength of your Velcro toe and pastern straps
  

  • Your boot straps may wear at different intervals depending upon the footing and conditions that you are riding in.  Ideally, your boot straps should be free of mud, sand, dirt and foxtails.  Toe straps tend to need to be replaced more frequently than pastern straps.

• Check over captivator and pastern strap lining
  

  • Use your fingers and feel inside and outside the lining that is inside your heel captivator, as well as the lining inside your pastern straps.  It is easy to pick up a foxtail, or a cholla cactus or other thorn or sticker that works it’s way inside the material.  You’ll also find if there are any other types of debris or mud stuck inside those areas.

• O-Ring inspection

  • There should be two O-Rings on both your pastern strap as well as your toe strap.  These O-Rings are helpful and sometimes even necessary for holding your Velcro straps together.  Especially if you are riding in wet and muddy conditions. 

• Hardware tightness

  • This is important if you have changed any parts.  If you have recently changed or adjusted the length of a cable, make sure your set screws are super tight.  Loose set screws can lead to cables loosening which can result in your captivator and boot base parting ways. 

• Tread wear

  • How much tread you should have on the bottom of your boot may vary upon the terrain you are riding in, and the experience level of your horse.  Be safe, and replace your boot bottoms or boots entirely prior to having them wear completely smooth. 

Getting into a routine of checking over each of your Renegade Hoof Boots every time you ride.will allow you to find and fix any of these looming issues prior to something going wrong. 

Do you need replacement parts for your boots?  If so, click here.  We have a page all about adjusting cables here. Just getting started with Renegades?  Check out our boot installation and removal page here.