Well, it was bound to happen.  When I got my nice, new pair of purple SP200's back in September of 2006, I knew that they would not last forever.

I am pretty picky about my gear, and once it's worn enough to need replacing, it goes.  I don't wait for it to disentegrate.  So usually, I get about a year out of a set of boots.  I do boot my horses front and back, and most get bells.  And I boot them every time I ride, and even just about every time I round pen or lunge them.  To me, it's an insurance policy.  Give them a little support, protection from kicking the fence in the round pen, and so on.  I look at as the $115-200 I spend once a year on boots is cheap insurance against a vet bill or time off from training.

Anyway, back to my story here.  I finally spotted some stitching just starting to pull loose on one of the fetlock sling straps, so I decided to give them a thorough exam.  That was the only visible damage I could find, other than one of the Pro Equine emblems starting to pull a little bit loose.  And that was on 4 boots.  I will admit that the stretch was all used up in the sling, which explained why I had started getting a little sand in them.  But they look like they have only been used about 3 months!  The velcro is still better than some brand new boots.  I thought well, I've gotten my money's worth out of 'em.  Time to retire them.  I thought I had been using these boots for 12 months.  Then I decided to bring them in and show them off here at work.  How good the velcro held up, how little damage you could see, and in visiting with folks I started thinking.  I didn't get those boots in '07.  I got them in '06!  I could not believe that I had actually kept a set of boots for two years.  I don't think I've ever been able to do that before. 

With results like this, I can finally understand why ProEquine puts a 12 month warranty on the boots.  They know that the SP200 will hold up that long.  In fact, the warranty covers bad or torn velcro and stitching problems - The two most common reasons that I have to trash my horses' leg gear.  If you are needing a new set of boots, check these out.  And, right now you can get fronts and hinds for only $115!