Best Leather for bell boots

[Silverd]

Hello Equestrian leather workers.

I have a client who wants a pair of custom leather bell boots made.  My question is what would be a good choice of leather type for this application?  Chrome Tanned. Bison. Buffalo. Heavily oiled Veg Tanned?  

These are the Veg Tan prototypes I made to check the fit and to workout the proprietary no turn knob feature.  My concern is wet conditions.

Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

Thank you!

Silverd

[Mulesaw]

First of all, beautiful work!

Second: Since they look so good and in leather, I was wondering if you could substitute the lower reinforcement with some leather as well? I think it will hold up better, but it is just a guess. Kind of like that beautiful upper soft looking round cushion.

For leather I would go with heavily oiled veg tan, I am not an expert by any means, but for horse gear I like to use something that can just get the same treatment as the rest of the gear I use. It is possible that you can also do it with chrome tanned, but again I am not that much into that science.
 

Would you perhaps be so kind as to show a picture of the backside and the inside too? I would like to make a set of those for our son's jumping horse, and it looks like you have really nailed it with those (That is if you don't mind me trying to make a copy)

Brgds Jonas (awestruck with those that you have made)

[Silverd]

9 hours ago, Mulesaw said:

First of all, beautiful work!

Second: Since they look so good and in leather, I was wondering if you could substitute the lower reinforcement with some leather as well? I think it will hold up better, but it is just a guess. Kind of like that beautiful upper soft looking round cushion.

For leather I would go with heavily oiled veg tan, I am not an expert by any means, but for horse gear I like to use something that can just get the same treatment as the rest of the gear I use. It is possible that you can also do it with chrome tanned, but again I am not that much into that science.
 

Would you perhaps be so kind as to show a picture of the backside and the inside too? I would like to make a set of those for our son's jumping horse, and it looks like you have really nailed it with those (That is if you don't mind me trying to make a copy)

Brgds Jonas (awestruck with those that you have made)

If you send me your email address I can fwd you a pretty comprehensive photo collection of my build and some instructions.  I'm not wanting to disclose the clients design ideas in a public forum.  

Send a response to the address below.

Don

Pacificleather2018@yahoo.com 

[TomE]

Very pretty.  I'd second the idea of using smooth leather for the bottom trim.  If the horse is tacked up and placed in a stall between jumping rounds there will be shavings, liquid, etc sticking to the fabric.  Also, I wonder if the velcro closure will be enough.  Might test this with the prototype and reinforce with buckle(s) if needed.  Bell boots protect the front heels from interference (contact) by the back toes as the horse tracks up.  If the horse really needs boots they will give that closure a workout.

[Sheilajeanne]

I second what TomE said!

Let me tell you about my experience with velcro closures on bell boots. If your horse is working in wet, muddy conditions, you are going to loose your bell boots. This happened to me once, even though I had the vecro covered with waterproof surgical tape - you know, the type that rips all the hair off when you're removing it from a wound!

I'd strongly recommend going with buckles instead.

Edited February 26, 2022 by Sheilajeanne

[Silverd]

Interesting observations and greatly appreciated. 

The current closure design utilizes quality velcro sewn to balistic nylon webbing that acts as the strength member of the system.  A Dee Ring is sewn onto one side of the boot and a double sided velcro tongue on the other.  When wrapping the boot around the hoof, the tongue is threaded through the Dee and folded back then a second peice is folded over the tongue forming a velcro sandwich.  Using a Dee in the closure system reduces the stress on the velcro by 50%.  Water and mud reduce the effectiveness of the velcro hooks as you have noted.  The Dee Ring reduces the strain so should improve the overall effectiveness of the system but I think more testing in wet conditions is needed before making a final decision.

I've considered using buckles but they have the down side of giving the horse a feature to pull on with their teeth.  It may be that buckles are better for certain environments and for horses that don't fiddle and velcro suitable for dry environments.  My client is in So California so wet conditions are seldom.  

These are the latest version.  

[Sheilajeanne]

Horses usually only wear bell boots when they are being ridden. This would prevent the horse from fooling with the buckles.

These bell boots were, IIRC, rubber. I was taking part in a combined training event, and we'd had a very bad thunderstorm that had turned the dressage ring into a muddy mess. I lost one of the boots during the dressage test, but because the tape was still wrapped around the horse's hoof, I THOUGHT it was still there.

So, I went ahead and did the cross country course - where I really NEEDED the bell boots! Fortunately, everything went okay, and we came in 10th out of 54 entries.

I never did get the missing boot back, and I replaced them with one that had a leather thong going through two metal pieces to lock them closed. That might be an alternative to velcro or buckles, if you can picture it. 

[TomE]

20 hours ago, Silverd said:

Interesting observations and greatly appreciated. 

The current closure design utilizes quality velcro sewn to balistic nylon webbing that acts as the strength member of the system.  A Dee Ring is sewn onto one side of the boot and a double sided velcro tongue on the other.  When wrapping the boot around the hoof, the tongue is threaded through the Dee and folded back then a second peice is folded over the tongue forming a velcro sandwich.  Using a Dee in the closure system reduces the stress on the velcro by 50%.  Water and mud reduce the effectiveness of the velcro hooks as you have noted.  The Dee Ring reduces the strain so should improve the overall effectiveness of the system but I think more testing in wet conditions is needed before making a final decision.

I've considered using buckles but they have the down side of giving the horse a feature to pull on with their teeth.  It may be that buckles are better for certain environments and for horses that don't fiddle and velcro suitable for dry environments.  My client is in So California so wet conditions are seldom.  

These are the latest version.  

 

Those are very good looking boots.  I imagine most clients will be familiar with velcro closures and can tell you if they want more.  Extending the tab and adding a snap could be an option.  Might also consider padding around the top of the boot.  The coronary band (hairline at top of hoof) is sensitive tissue that produces new hoof.  When bandaging a leg we take care to pad around the coronary band to avoid irritation.  

Edited February 27, 2022 by TomE

[Silverd]

Understand.  Not sure why my client does not want the top padding and she may have me add it back on once she reviews these latest boots.  She has many years of experience, a 30 horse ranch and high profile clients.  Her goal is to develop her own high end equestrian product line.  My roll in the project is to make the prototypes to her specifications for testing and evaluation then help with transitioning the designs into production.  My professional background is just that but not with leather.  

 

Silverd