Cable ties are one of my favorite things to use at the barn. They are right up there with duct tape and baling twine in their usefulness — need to tie up some electric fence? Fix a halter with a broken snap? Cable ties are perfect! But the absolute best use I’ve found for them is to keep the Velcro straps on my Cavello boots from coming undone.
I’m a big fan of Cavallo boots. I’ve been using them now for two years. I bought them originally as a stop gap measure when I took Freedom barefoot but they’ve worked so well that I’ve kept using them for foxhunting (Freedom goes barefoot now most of the time).
The trouble with foxhunting in boots is that you often have to go through mud, water and otherwise treacherous footing. After awhile, the Velcro straps on the boots simply don’t stay shut. No matter how much you
wash them, scrub them or otherwise clean them, there’s just not enough “stick” left after awhile.
There is an internal Velcro closure on the boot and in theory (I emailed a Cavallo rep about this) you don’t need to have the straps fastened to keep the boot on. In practice, I don’t think they’ve done much foxhunting because that didn’t work for me.
I tried to use the clips that they send with the boots but they are just too hard to use. While you’re crouching down next to your horse’s hoof you need to thread the end of the strap through the clip and then pull it tight.
Securing the straps with cable ties is, in comparison, a piece of cake. I generally secure both straps on all four boots and then I’m good to go. The straps stay closed and the cable ties are secure until I cut them off.