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 the 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 on a strap-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, downhill, 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 ten placing on the third day, to place 2nd overall over the 3 days.
Melinda Faubel
[Editor’s Note: Melinda is one of our boot distributors as of October 2010. Her website is Boots and Saddles 4 Mel. She is also available for in-person consultations, fittings, or appointments in the Davis/Auburn/Chico, CA area]