Newsletter - Issue #8

Back to School!

August is the time when kids are going back to school, summer travels are wrapping up, and people are starting to think about getting their barns in order before the temperatures cool down. While our temps are still incredibly high at our manufacturing facility in South Texas, we know the mercury in our thermometers will be dropping soon. As the air gets cooler there are a few things that we need to get ready for. We’re excited to keep you up to date on the conferences and shows we’re attending and the equine professionals we get to interact with on the road. We’re also topping up our stock as the yearly threat of fall laminitis begins. While we hope you’re putting on your Soft Rides for all the fun things happening this fall, we try to be prepared for everything. Read on to learn a little about fall laminitis, who’s winning big in Soft Rides, and what we have in store for our travel team!

Soft Ride Team

Learn About Soft Ride Boots

Fall Laminitis

Laminitis. It’s a word horse owners hope to avoid, but research shows 10-15% of all horses will suffer from laminitis in their lifetime. While laminitis can happen at any time due to a variety of factors, there tend to be spikes of laminitis diagnoses in the spring and fall particularly.

Fall pasture grass can cause laminitis because the sugar content in the grass can rise as temperatures cool. Cooler temperatures encourage faster growth and the new growth grass is often higher in sugar content. Horses with metabolic disorders are especially susceptible to pasture-induced laminitis because of the fluctuation of the sugar content in the grass and the horse’s inability to metabolize that sugar.

Most laminitic cases are either endocrine or hormone related. Fall laminitis can also be related to the natural rise of the hormone ACTH (Adrenocorticotropic hormone) which happens naturally from late summer through the end of autumn as days get shorter. ACTH stimulates the release of cortisol. In older horses and horses with early onset Cushing’s disease, this rise in ACTH can be excessive. This can cause or increase insulin resistance, which in turn can make the horse founder. These issues should be addressed by carefully monitoring the horse’s diet and paying attention to soundness.

Fall laminitis is just as serious as spring laminitis. If you notice your horse displaying signs of sore-footedness or lameness get them in Soft Ride boots and call your vet immediately.

Learn More About Laminitis

Learn More About How Our Orthotics Work

Winning big with Soft Ride Boots

Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi and Birdie image courtesy of Facebook

Our Soft Ride team is extending a BIG congratulations to Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi on crossing the $3 million mark for WPRA career winnings! Brittany has won the Reno, Calgary, and Utah Days of ‘47 rodeo this summer. She has raced aboard Jets Top Gun (Benny) for all three of these wins.

Benny depends on Soft Ride boots for the long trailer rides between rodeos to support and protect his hooves and legs. Resting in Soft Ride’s deep gel orthotics allows horses to relax more in the trailer because the gel continues to load and unload the hoof as well as minimizes the strain and vibration from the road. Having Benny travel in Soft Ride Boots helps him arrive ready to compete.

Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi joins Sherry Cervi and Lisa Lockhart as the only WPRA members to cross the $3 million mark for career winnings. All three of these phenomenal riders and their horses depend on Soft Ride boots on the road.

Hear what Brittany has to say about Soft Rides

Learn More About How Soft Rides Help on the Road

Soft Ride on the Road

Texas Equine Veterinary Association: Summer Symposium

We kicked off August in Fort Worth at the TEVA Summer Symposium listening to lectures and meeting with the members of the Texas Equine Vet community about their needs and uses for Soft Ride Boots. Several vet clinics designed the custom logos we offer to equine vets and farriers that keep a stock of Soft Ride Boots in their clinics. We also got to spend some time speaking with Texas vets that depend on Soft Ride Ice Spas for treatments, especially this time of year when the summer days are hot and long and ice melts faster than the starch in our shirts!

Our sponsorship also helped bring in third year large animal vet students from Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, and LSU. Soft Ride strives to support vet students and the future of the equine veterinary industry with these sponsorships. Scholarships to attend conferences like TEVA helps new members of the field get their bearings and make the connections they’ll need to have successful practices of their own. Our next student centered conference is OEPS in Lexington, Kentucky at the beginning of September.

Upcoming Events

2023 Equine Sports Medicine Symposium

This event is hosted by Carolina Equine Sports Medicine. It will focus on the health and treatment of the equine back. Topics will include the importance of the hind feet to back stability, treatment of the equine skeleton, and analysis of primary and secondary injuries in Equine Sports Medicine.

Event Information:
August 26-27th
Chatham County Convention Center
Pittsboro, NC

This meeting currently has attendance availability both in person and online. Visit equinesportsmedicinesymposium.com/register to register.

OEPS Meeting

Opportunities in Equine Practice Seminar (OEPS) is the leading student forum in equine veterinary medicine, with over 3,900 students attending. Third-year veterinary students attend the meeting, where they receive information about various avenues and disciplines of equine practice, employment, and practice ownership. Students gain valuable information through face-to-face encounters and presentations from current practitioners, and veterinary practice management consultants.

Event Information:
September 1-3
The Embassy Suites in Lexington
Lexington, KY

For more information please contact seminar host Dr. Craig Lesser at info@oeps.com

Saved by Soft Ride

We LOVE hearing from our customers and getting updates on how your horses are doing! Please send us your story and a photo of your horse in their Soft Ride products for a chance to be featured on our social media, in an upcoming issue of our newsletter, and to be entered in a Soft Ride giveaway!

Email us here: socialmedia@srboots.com

Text us photos and stories to 419-469-5293 (this number only receives texts, for questions please call our main customer service number).

Tag us:
Facebook: Soft Ride Equine Comfort Boots
Instagram: @soft.ride

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Soft Ride Mission

As we continue our drive to keep your horse on his feet, we've received more than 15 patents, ship to over 50 countries, and work with more than 6,000 veterinarians around the world, as well as every veterinarian school in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. And with horse owners from every discipline using our products, we can safely and proudly say, "The best in the world rely on Soft Ride."

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Disclaimer: This content is for education and is not medical advice. If you suspect medical illness or injury contact your veterinarian for medical advise.

Back to School!

Fall Laminitis

Winning big with Soft Ride Boots

Soft Ride on the Road

Texas Equine Veterinary Association: Summer Symposium

Upcoming Events

2023 Equine Sports Medicine Symposium

OEPS Meeting

Saved by Soft Ride

Thanks for Reading!

Soft Ride Mission

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