Soaking Old Macs & Comfort Pads

shellonabeach

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Jun 3, 2002
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Having discovered this forum for barefoot discussion and read loads and loads of old posts on here I would really appreciate your advice on the above.

I read in a post further down about soaking old macs in water before the first use. Does this help break them in faster? And how long should I soak them for?

Secondly my horse got concussive laminitis last summer, we did a lot of pleasure rides and he has never got on well with hard ground. Rather than try natural balance shoes and gel pads in front as recommended by my farrier I decided to go for hoof boots and comfort pads.

After much deliberation and trying both size 4 and size 5 old mac g2's I settled on the size 4's for the fronts and returned the 5's. I bought both the 6mm & 12mm comfort pads intending to use the thicker ones in the summer when the ground was hard. However the boots are very snug to get on with the 6mm pads to the point I wasn't happy with the fit and so have been using them without.

Of course this is an expensive business and now I'm thinking to fit the comfort pads in I should have gone with the size 5 g2's :(

Any words of advice or tips would be gratefully received.
 
Hi, the soaking tip might have been me, it's something I've found helps if you're putting well used boots on dry and then riding into wet or boggy ground. I wouldn't have thought you'd need to do it with new boots though.

Pads do affect the fit, the foot is raised in the boot and you end up with less pastern strap to play with and possibly less to wrap around and do up at the back of the boot as well. Sounds like you're already a tight fit and the pads are making it even worse. The next size up is probably the answer, but at least you can console yourself having more than one pair that both boots will last you longer, especially if you're doing some distances in them.

Another useful tip I found with them if the velcro on the pastern strap starts to get a bit tired is to drill a couple of holes through them and thread a loop of garden tie wire or similar and twist it off when you put them on. If you lose one of these boots under duress it's generally because the pastern strap has come undone and this makes them much more secure.
 
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