Boots, Wraps or Nude?

As I'm sure I have mentioned countless times, Riggs has an eight month old bowed tendon. I don't know the specifics of the injury except it happened during his final race, felt like a catastrophic sesamoid snap to his jockey, is a low bow and has healed/is healing really well. I find no heat in the leg after light trotting on the lunge, but then the real test will come when the heavier work begins. I watch my horse's legs like a hawk to detect the slightest amount of troubling heat.

With injury comes the question of prevention and support. As a human with multiple tendon and ligament injuries in all limbs (and now a broken bone) it has always been my strategy to provide strength and support to my given injured joint when under stress. I have heavily utilised strapping tape, tubi grip, straps and braces to strengthen, protect and support susceptible limbs. But is it the same for horses?

So far as I can tell there are two schools. You protect your horse's legs or you leave them bare.

Within the protective group are those who use polo wraps and those who use boots. The pro polos out there spout the support polos give, but given the nature of that wrap, how can that be? Research has suggested that the support offered by polo wraps is about 1% and for me, the negatives far outweigh the positives. Those negatives being the potential for bandage bow and the array of dangerous situations incorrectly wrapped polos can create. Further to that, it is strongly suggested from multiple sources that polos do exactly zero to prevent injury. However, many others (vets included) suggest that used correctly, polos provide a superior support, but not necessarily protection. At the end of the day, I must confess that I am not comfortable wrapping my horse's legs.

Boots are another matter entirely. I think that the primary function of boots is to prevent hard impact, in which case Riggs' legs would be in no way supported. He has a set of tendon boots which, for all intents and purposes, stop him or anything else knocking his tendon. So this is a kind of prevention, but not necessarily the prevention/protection I am after. In the course of my research I have become partial to sports medicine boots (SMBs). However, I am still sceptical about how much support they'd give Riggs. But that doesn't stop me from returning to them. I'm particularly fond of the way they cover the fetlock - something I value for a horse with a low bow. My other great concern with any kind of neoprene type boot is the heat retention - which brings me to my final school of thought.

Bowed tendons need to be brought back slowly so that the tendon fibres can realign in a way that allows as much movement in the leg as possible. The tendon also must be kept cool. So this is where the bare legs come in. Many feel that there is no substitute for pure conditioning to strengthen a horse's legs with the aid of boots or wraps. Some feel that boots, SMBs in particular, weaken the horse's legs as they learn to rely on the support of the boot or wrap. All these boots and wraps also affect the natural heat dissipation of the tendon. As the tendon surpasses its optimum temperature the cells begin to die and the tendon is left in distress - which is why we are told to remove boots after exercise and to hose legs off. And there is another reason to leave his legs bare. In terms of prevention, this is essentially it.

On the whole, this is a subject that continues to trouble me. I want to do the best by my boy; I don't want to protect him so much that I hurt him. But I also don't want to under protect him to the point of injury. And still the question remains... boots, wraps or nude?