This post gives you our five top tips that will help your Flex Boots last longer.
1. Keep the hooves free of cracks and sharp edges
If you don’t trim your own horses, we suggest that you learn to do at least the maintenance trim: rasping the hooves when needed. How often you need to do this depends on the climate, terrain, the habitat the horse lives in and the season. We live in Finland and we trim our horses every 1 or 2 weeks, throughout the year.
When this is done, put the boot on and close the straps. Remember the rule: two fingers under the pastern strap, one finger snugly under the back strap. If the neoprene gaiter is fitted too low, the lowest point of it will be under the bulbs and it may wear off too quickly. You can lift the rubber band to make it fit better.
If the gaiter is too low with this position, like in these photos:
... you can adjust the rubber band a little bit higher. This way the gaiter may work better:
3. Adjust the back strap
Adjust the medial side of the straps (blue in the photo) so that there are no extra holes under the ball rivets. Then adjust the lateral side of the strap (yellow) so that there is one extra hole under the ball rivet.
Also, adjust the pastern strap so the neoprene gaiter will fit nicely.
In the first photo here, the back strap is little bit too high and the TPU gaiter gaps slightly over the heel bulbs.
In the second photo the back strap is adjusted on the lower holes, so the strap and TPU gaiter sit much better.
Here's the same adjustment as above, but from the back view.
We suggest you adjust the back strap length by cutting off extra holes.
4. Swap ball rivets if necessary
If your horse has a very narrow gait, you can change the medial side ball rivets to flat rivets.
5. Keep the boots clean
Wash your Flex Boots with water if needed. We recommend not to use soap.
KEEP YOUR BOOTS CLEAN! If you need to store your boots for long periods of time, clean the boots carefully and let them dry out in an airy place. Then store them away from direct sunlight, and somewhere with good air circulation and cool rather than hot temperature. Best way to store your Flex Boots is to hang them up on a wall if you can. We don’t recommend to store the boots in a plastic box, cupboard or similar, because the TPU material the boots are made of needs to breathe.
