CERA Endurance Shoes Australia

Testimonials

 September 2013
On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 12:37 PM, Kate Warren wrote:

Hi Clare

 

First off I need to say how impressed I am with Bubbas new 'sandals'..as my husband calls them.  He strides out with such confidence and we can go over any terrain...it's just great.

Yvonne also finished her 120km ride at the Shazada and one thing she made mention of,  was all the skid marks that she saw on the rocks from metal shod horses.  Whereas her boy never faulted once in his CERA shod feet.  Apparently his jumps from rock to rock were steady as.  Such a good product Clare.  I'm just so pleased I read about them in the Equine News.

 

Regards

Kate Warren

 

 January 2013

--- In Aussie_Endurance@yahoogroups.com, "Elizabeth Cullam" wrote:
I am trying to get some info on plastic horse shoes..and would be interested
in hearing from anyone who is using them, and what brand etc. Pros and cons
would be good to hear.
Thanks Lizzy Cullam 6353

Allo Lizzy,
I've applied about a gazillion of them. I'm sure Clare will pop up and give you a rundown on the ones she sells by the sea shore.
Currently I use the CERA shoes. Have used them for about 170 endurance rides now so well tested.
As Tamara says there's little to no concussion from them as they are very flexible. Haven't had a swollen pastern since using them.
Pros and cons are mostly farrier based. That is if your farrier doesn't like them and isn't keen on going through the learning curve to apply them then you will get basically nowhere.
If your farrier is keen to try new things and is prepared to give them a red hot go then they work a treat.
Yes they are more expensive than steel.
Wear? Depends on the horse. Some horses can be reset with the same set easy some trash them pretty fast. I've some horses that will do 400k easy a set and some under 200k. The horses action is the decider.
Some have criticised grip but I have never found an issue personally. I don't generally gallop over clay mud or moss covered rocks whether I'm in steel or plastic or boots or bare.
Hoof health is great in the shoe.No contracted heels ever. I'm not wanting an argument over hoof health but I apply them over a barefoot trim rather than a steel shoe trim.(no arguments please):)
Benefits have been excellent since using them.
Running at about 92% success rate against lameness in those 170 rides. I put this down to their flexibility and ability to soak up uneven terrain and concussion. (plus the good farrier):) Also there hasn't been a lost shoe in all of those rides.(touch wood)
No I don't work for the company:)I'm happy to try anything that comes along that I like the look of.
Worth a look for sure. For me they have worked well but I understand if they don't for others.
Help you I hope I have
Gerard Bou

 Nashama Equine 15th July 2012

Cora Becker 2011 

Bonesy the Whizz
I'd like to share how incredibly proud I am of my amazing horse's performance this weekend.
To have the courage and the will to win to come from behind and run the final 17km in 37 minutes was something to experience! At my reconing that's an average speed of just under 29kph, over uneven, sloppy and at times challenging footing.
He never once tripped or floundered.
His final vet check was A class with a pulse of 56/52.

A bit of background on your 2011 Australian FEI Champion:
Bones the Wizard is a nine year old 15.2hh gelding.
He is sired by the anglo Obi Rain Dance (by Cherox Mahaah), who is a champion endurance horse himself. His dam is a tough spotted mare called Yarraman.
He was bred by myself.

Bonesy has a ground covering stride at all paces, and remarkable heartrate recoveries.
He has had one other win, at 80km.
This is his first attempt at 160km.
Three cheers for this tremendous Australian horse!

CERA Endurance Shoes
I want to give a testimony to the quality of this product.
My horse wore these excellent horse shoes for the duration of the 160km course at the weekend's FEI Championships.
After heavy overnight rain and many horses on the tracks, the going was slippery, boggy and very testing of shoes.
I never had a moment of concern for the security of my horse's shoes, they remained tight.
The horse had good traction in all the given conditions.
He maintained A scores for gait throughout the ride.

I know that Clare Fleming (who markets these shoes in Australia) often writes about the concussion sparing qualities of these shoes. A far as I'm concerned, the hard roads so many of our rides use are the one greatest hazard to our wonderful hardworking endurance horses.
Thank you Clare, for providing these shoes for sale in Australia.
Cora Becker
(Queensland Endurance Rider; membership number: 41814)

Leah Begley  21^st  April 2011
Dear Clare
Chapter 1: We got the shoes today.
WOW how cooool are they!!!! I can't get over how flexible they are!!  People need to feel these little beauties in their hands before they say that they are like any other shoe and restrict barefoot movement......load of putty!!  My horses feet can flex where ever they damn well want to in these babies!!  AWESOME!!!!
Cheers Leah

Leah Begley 29 April, 2011
Hey Clare, 
Chapter 2: YAY, we got party shoes on!!
.....and yes I was too wrapped up and focused on what was happening to take photos.  I will however take some tomorrow.  Even next time he does it I may tee up my father-in-law in video it.
I would say that Nick on the front looks a little cyteck looking with his chopped off toe...but don't stress, Nick has a very short break-over (which I prefer) and the farrier had to work with what Nick gave him.  The normal ones on the front were just a tad not quite right when seen on him so he's in the natural balance ones. We had to change up the size 1 bridge to a 2 and perhaps after a few shoeings he may go a 3.   I don't know much yet about how the shoes should or shouldn't look but they looked pretty good to me. The farrier only cut the bars back and took the heel height down on Nick's smaller foot, otherwise he didn't have to do much to the feet themselves as far a prep was concerned. I was very pleased. 
I can't wait though to ride in them tomorrow morning at Spring Mountain. I can picture him being even more of a handful...nothing can slow him down now, not even the rock....that's not a good thing really, he's a machine out there and I need a break sometimes from his insistant "go go go" :o)
I'll tell you all about how our training session went when I get back. 
Cheers Leah

Leah Begley 30 April 2011
Hi Clare,
Get your coffee/glass of wine and a comfy chair. Here come Chapter 3 - The First Ride Out.
When I ordered my first set of new CERA endurance shoes and received them in the mail, I didn't expect to get a new horse attached to them.  WOW is all I have to say! Where did this cool, calm and controllable horse come from? How did you fit him into the 3kg postage bag.......I like him very much!!! From barefoot to CERA like a match made in heaven.  He strode out in confidence straight up. 
Now the reason why I say "where did the new horse come from?" is because normally when we come to certain very rocky hills and stretches of track, he normally pelts, not bolt or gallop, pelt. Out of control going as fast as he can till he reaches the top or the end of the rocky track.  Well today he just sat back and cantered up the hills enjoying every stride and the view on the way. Not once did he scramble or leap across washouts to seek out soft track, he stayed cool, calm, relaxed and in control and felt sure footed at every stride.  The rest of the training team all noticed how much more relaxed he was, even noticing his muscles in his rump looking more relaxed. All I can think of to explain the change is that before we has hurting and just wanted to get the painful bits out the way, now he can calmly run up and over the same tracks without the pain response of pelting. 
The shoes will continue to settle, as I've been told by the farrier, and he'll recheck them before I head off to Tenterfield. A barefoot horses foot has to adjust more I think.  Nick has had an intimate relationship between the ground and his feet for his whole life till now.  With the CERA shoes, while he can still feel the terrain, he doesn't feel the pain. OOh that rhymes!! You can use that in adverts of you like, hehe.  Because the shoes flex so can his feet still flex over the uneven ground and rocks, and because the nails are forward in the foot the back of the foot is still able to expand.  With the width of the shoe, the added support of the bar at the frog, and the fact that the dirt can fill the gap in the middle, spreads the horses weight over the entire hoof surface in the same way as when he was either barefoot or booted.  From me trimming Nick, he has very little peripheral loading, his weight is taken by his heels, frog, sole and bars and that can continue with the CERA's. He is not peripherally loaded, not this time anyway.
So some little things I noticed.  When cantering along hard ground I could hear the clickty clack others have mentioned.  At first, I too thought they may have been loose but they weren't, it's just testament to their flexibility.  He had traction on all surfaces that he normally has traction on, if not better as he wasn't leaping silly to avoid rocky patches to seek softer track.  He did however still slip on the same surfaces he usually slips on, firm but slippery mud.  Sloppy and/or sticky mud, water, wet grass, rocks, road, sand, dirt, etc, not a problem at all.  Also, VERY quiet, they don't make any noise on the road...would no noise on the road also be apart of the whole absorbing shock business.....I mean, sound does comes in waves and vibrations and if there's less sound producing less waves and vibration that would equal less concussion through the hoof and into the bones and joints and muscles......right??
I am now, REALLY looking forward to Tenterfield and can't wait to continue my new venture in life with this new horse in CERA shoes.
I'll keep you posted. Signing out for tonight,
Regards Leah
 
Leah Begley 8 May 2011
Dear Clare
I wanted to email you, before I headed off to bed, with all my excitement in going so well and placing 3rd Lwt and 3BC at the Tenterfield Endurance Ride this weekend, using the CERA Endurance Shoes.
Regards Leah

Fia Cumming    26^th July 2010
Hi Clare,
You will be pleased to hear that BH Ventura's CERA Endurance shoes not only got him through the Quilty and subsequent riding but 80kms at Coolamon last weekend, where he got equal 1st Lightweight and best conditioned!
I have NO doubt that the shoes were a major factor, he was bright as a button in his best con workout. My horse and Talea's horse in contrast were quite sore from having steel shoes on for 4 1/2 weeks, in fact T's horse went out lame and I am sure that was the reason (damned if you shoe, damned if you don't). I just didn't have time to take them off and took a risk.
So now I am looking for some more of these shoes, and someone to put them on for us! Can you supply the name of a farrier in the Canberra region who is capable?
Thanks Fia  

Noel Cossins    14^th August 2010
Dear Clare
Peter Petty our farrier had some time available and he was curious to see how the shoes had performed, so he came down to check things out. We wanted to do two things:
 * see how much wear had occurred so to do this we took them off
 * check the new Natural Balance front shoes for fit 

Results:
 * we think we could easily have left the shoes on for the next 4/5 weeks and then replaced just before New Italy, Tad’s next planned endurance ride.
 * interestingly the wear on the toe of the offside front shoe was greater than on the nearside which may either reflect a gait preference or Tad’s riding style
 * front shoes had greater wear than rear shoes
 * all were in reasonable shape and had worn down to nail level

Outcome:
 * We certainly are converts.
 * We would like to order more CERA Endurance Shoes

Some people have questioned the cost vis a vis steel shoes. My reply is that an extra $30 or so is peanuts compared two other aspects:
 * the apparent very positive affects on horse performance and recovery – we think Syl has recovered at a far faster rate than previously
 * that $30+ per ride is a tiny fraction of all the other costs associated with a ride

Best regards
Noel Cossins
Note: Tad won Heavyweight and the Best Conditioned Horse award at Upper Corindi Endurance Ride using CERA Endurance Shoes.

Adeline Gibson  17^th August 2010
Hi Clare,
I’d like to order some more CERA Endurance shoes for State Champs, and thought it would be good if you could pass them onto mum at Shahzada.
I won my first Best Conditioned Horse award on the weekend. I am very proud of Ventura! He is going from strength to strength. His feet have always let him down, so I am thrilled to have found CERA!
If I could get the NBS M’s, with size 3 bridge for both, that would be great! If you send me your bank details can I pay you that way?
Adeline.

Note: Adeline won Lightweight and the Best Conditioned Horse award at Coolamon Endurance Ride using CERA Endurance Shoes.

Fran Fleming   1 September 2010

Hi Clare
Just thought I'd drop you a line about how my polocross horse is going with the CERA Endurance Shoes.
I am really happy with them. He has not been able to reef off these shoes as he normally would a steel shoe pawing at the fence. It was so frustrating to get him shod one day, only to fine I had to call the farrier again the next day to put a shoe back on.
I have been able to use the one set of shoes all season. In total, my horse has been shod three times with the same shoes – yeah! So that makes them very affordable.
It was great to see him so alive and alert on the Monday after a carnival weekend using CERA Endurance Shoes. Before, he was so tired and sore, he would spend most of the day lying down.
Cheers Fran

Note: Fran won best number3 player at Inverell Polocross

Clare Fleming   1 December 2010