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When you think about it, cavalry horses from Alexander the Great up to more modern times have trekked hundreds and thousands of miles with no leg protection. Cowboys who rode the open range to tend cattle never put leg wraps on their horses.

 

Sometimes I wonder if some of this stuff we do is becuase it makes US feel better, not necessarily the horse feel better!

 

chris

Zephyr Arabians <z_arabs@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

-----------------------------------------------------------
> From: Chris Paus
> Subject: Re: [RC] Professional's choice boots
>
> My mentor who is classically dressage trained,
> taught me to look at it like this: The way to build
> tendon and ligament strength is to use the legs
> enough to stress, but not so much as to do damage.
> If those body parts are overly protected, they are
> not going to gain the strength they need. It's why
> so many show horses go lame after being in a stall
> 23/7 and taken out one hour a day to be worked in a
> deep sand arena.

I agree with this. For years I used polo wraps or
splint boots when I rode. I thought not doing so was
the height of folly as that's what I had been trained
to think. But, I'd occationally be "bad" (that's how
I always thought of it) because on long trail rides I
wouldn't use them due to sand/dirt/water build-up.
And, when I got involved in NATRC I stopped using them
for trail rides, but continued to use wraps or boots
in the arena -- again, because my training had told me
that arena work subjected the horse's legs to torque
and interference that they needed protection from...

Then, I had a job where I was required to wear a back
brace. After only a few wearings, I found that my
back really hurt when I took that sucker off. That's
about when I stopped wrapping my horse's legs. I've
still got polo wraps & splint boots around and
occationally find a use for them -- during dressage
lessons I do use the polos, but that's more because
it's "expected" than anything else (and I'll admit I
think they look nice) & I have one gelding who used to
knock himself all the time so I'd put splint boots on
him, but he actually seems to have stopped after I
stopped booting him & I'll use the polos over standing
bandages sometimes when trailering and sometimes after
an endurance ride (don't ask me to explain why I do
these two things "sometimes" or why I decide to do or
not do them at any given moment; I think it's that old
ingrained training rearing it's head) -- but not
often...

~Nicole

Zephyr Arabians http://www.zephyrarabians.com
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