Permanent marker isn't all that permanent and rubs off rather quickly. Ditto trying to get any kind of paint to stick to the boot material.
So my suggestion was to take a colored hair elastic and wrap it around the pastern strap, next to the o-rings.
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| Unvelcro the pastern strap entirely and wrap the elastic off to the side of the o-rings. Orange would have made more of a statement, but blue was what I had at hand. |
This afternoon, I thought another option: colorful duct tape.
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| I found this stuff at a craft store and added it to my stash of stuff. |
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| I don't know if it'll be as long-wearing as the elastic. I'll have to test it. |
Mix and match! Both the tape and the elastics are available in a variety of colors. They're cheap and easily replaceable. They're low-profile and won't interfere with the boot function.
(And if you're like me, you have close to a zillion hair elastics floating around.)
I like the elastic, that is a great color blue and really stands out.
ReplyDeleteI bedazzled my crew bag at the 50 last Saturday with zebra striped duct tape on the top, handles, and bucket taped to it, coz so many others always have wine colored bags. It worked WONDERS and the ppl loading and unloading even it remembered it after the fact :)
Hey, the blue goes with your tack color scheme!
DeleteI'm planning to slap this duct tape on my crew box, and buckets, and anything else that could potentially grow legs and wander away. I like that it's still light-colored enough that I can grab the Sharpie and scribble my name on everything as well. I had a friend describe endurance (especially talking about Tevis and all the stuff associated with doing that ride) as 'like sending a child off to camp - you wonder how much of this stuff will find its way back home.'
For me, the more color I can add to anything and everything, the better.
ReplyDeleteNice idea! And nice tiedye tape. It's a shame that the fun colors aren't as super-sticky as "real" duct tape, but it's sure nice to have "my colors" to mark things with.
ReplyDeleteThe nice thing about it being not quite as sticky is it doesn't leave as much gooey tape residue behind when it does come off or I decide to remove it.
DeleteSilly question... if they're the same size, why do you need to tell them apart?
ReplyDeleteNot a silly question at all! I know that for me, personally, I use my boots as movement feedback: I rely on seeing how the boots are wearing to tell me if my horse is traveling evenly or not, so I want the same boot to end up on the same hoof every time. The way the Renegade straps are set up, it's easy to tell right from left, because the "loose" end of the velcro should always point to the outside.
DeleteFor some people, it might not make a difference, but I figure that if they wear down the boots according to how they move, then hopefully it's creating a minimal impact on their natural way of going. For example, Mimi wears down the outsides of her front boots faster. If I were to then put those on her hind feet, where she tracks pretty straight, I'd wonder if it might not thrown off her stride.
That makes a ton of sense. The wear is definitely telling. I know some people also pad different boots differently to make up for conformation, etc.
DeleteYes, there's a lot you can do to adapt the boots. Renegades have an option to do a high-impact, low-profile gel pad inside the boot for extra concussion protection, or for a bit of extra cushion for a foot-sore horse.
DeleteGood idea, but what about a good way to put some ID on the boot? I lost one recently, and wished it had my contact info on it. Couldn't hurt at least! I think a floppy metal ID tag would catch on stuff, anything that dangles is out. I took my backup old pair and tried using my woodburning tool and added my phone number, but it's not pretty. Any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteHmmm...good question! I know my dad wrote his name and phone number on the inside bottom of the boot on one of his early pairs of boots, and surprisingly, it's still on there. You're right that any kind of ID tags would probably catch on stuff. Maybe take a piece of duct tape that's trimmed to the width and shape of the channel where the toe strap runs and write your contact info on it and tape to that channel underneath the toe strap. A single layer of tape shouldn't be too thick, and as long as it's trimmed to match the area, I wouldn't think it would interfere with boot function. It's something I'm going to test out on a pair of my boots and see how it works.
DeleteYou might even be able to use that same area to just write in your name and contact info, but I don't know how long it would last before the velcro straps would end up rubbing off the permanent marker and you'd have to keep re-writing it. Again, something I'm going to test.
DeleteI'd think you could use a dremmel (spelling!)with an engraving tip. I've engraved limestone creek rock with it. Then brush on black paint, then wipe off leaving only the paint in the engraving. Also in the craft section of many walmart stores you can get permanent paint pens. I'd think these would hold up to the inside bottom of most any boot.
ReplyDelete