Bandages & dressage

[Bay Mare]

I usually use boots but have been given some polo bandages to use! I'd like to have a go with them (they're a lovely purple colour :) ) but realised that I've never put on bandages for exercise before (lazy)!

So go on then, how do you put them on? I can put stable bandages on so am familiar with bandaging but how far up and down do you put them and what do you usually use underneath?

Is there anything that I need to be careful with? Is the 'one finger' rule still the same?

Ta

x

[Bay Mare]

Oh, and I know that you can't wear them (well, that the horse can't wear them) for tests :)

[lynz+ollie]

yer horses should really wear bandages for dressage as they could be covering things up. but a lot of people warm up abnnd school in them.
put them on almost as stables bandages. make sure they aren't too tight that they will ristrict the horse but not too loose that they will fall down. make sure each time you rap round there is not fold or lumps and bumps! each time you rap round should be equal and should finnish at the top on the outside of the leg. hope it helps.

[Bay Mare]

Thank you :)

I know how to put them on but am not sure how far up and down the leg they should go and also what is best to use under them.

[Lenvale]

Message deleted

[Bay Mare]

Thanks, that does make sense :)

So, if I've understood correctly they should be something like this?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v146/TashaKat/Rio20nice20dressage20trot.jpg

[Lenvale]

Message deleted

[Lgd]

And Inch's Saddlery have lush lilac dressage saddlecloth's to match.

I know I've got the matching Polo bandages and saddlecloth :blush:

[Bay Mare]

Well it's got to be done!

Oh, one question I forgot to ask ... why don't you need anything under polo bandages? I was always told that all bandages should have something underneath? Maybe I should stick to boots :D

[Alflover]

Oh, one question I forgot to ask ... why don't you need anything under polo bandages? I was always told that all bandages should have something underneath?

ive always wondered that too so obviously cant help you. But you can get some good boots that look just like bandages. Im going to get some of these:

http://www.equilibriumproducts.com/products/stretchandflex_training/stretchandflex_training_content.html

Easy to put on but look like bandages.

[cvb]

I have some neat bandages where the first half is fluffy fleece and the second half elastic :D

In the "old days" you used to use shorter bits of padding under exercise bandages, but no longer. I suspect its partly cos the bandage material is improved, more stretch and less likely to crease or fold.

[Bay Mare]

Urgh, does that mean that I'm showing my age then?

Thanks for that .... I think ;) :D


Alflover - I've already got some of those, they're GREAT :)

[Alflover]

opps well good to know you recommend them. Will definitely get them then/

[Bay Mare]

Unless you desperately want white I would go for the black as they do get very grubby and though you can hand wash them you can't just throw them in the machine!

[cvb]

Urgh, does that mean that I'm showing my age then?


No - it means I'm showing mine ! :D

I'm not quite sure when it all changed - sometime between my B test and my BHSAI (1990) :rolleyes:

[Stella2]

Could I just ask, would it be right to take broadly the same approach when bandaging to travel, but add a pad for extra protection and take the bandage lower towards the coronet? Also, what is the 1 finger rule? I'm guessing it means you should be able to insert a finger, but wouldn't they slip l down then?!

[cvb]

Stella - the 1 finger rule is about tension - and no they won't slip down then.

If you have them too tight, you can restrict the circulation ! :eek:

The basic approach is similar, but adapted for purpose i.e. stable and travel bandages are for support and protection. Exercise bandages are support, protection for different bits of the leg to stable/travel, but the horse needs to be able to move fully in them ;)

[Stella2]

can you tell me more about tension and the 1 finger rule?

[cvb]

Stella

Thought I would see if this was already written up somewhere, rather than reinvent the wheel ;)

It was interesting to see that the 1 finger rule came up in sport bandaging and first aid for people as well.

The aim with a bandage is to spread the pressure (support) of the bandage evenly, and that it fits snugly rather than being too tight or too loose. The "easy" test for this is to just sneak one finger down the top of the bandage. See this link

http://www.horses-and-horse-information.com/articles/0197bandg.shtml

which actually suggest one at the top and two at the bottom.

The way you "overlap" each layer is also part of making it smooth and crease-free. We're generally taught to overlap half the bandage. This means each area of the leg has 2 layers of bandage over it. Each layer should be at the same tension - or you can get odd things happening !

Of course you then need to be aware of how you start and finish the bandage. And I've seen more than one way of doing it. But again, as long as you aim not to get "high points" in banadage, and avoid any particularly senstive areas when you start and finish the bandage (which is why you tend to tie it off at the side). Even tho the ties are on the outside, tying them too tight, or in a particularly lumpy way can also create a pressure point :eek:

Basically its enough to create paranoia and drive everyone to using tail guard, and exercise and travel boots ! ;)

[Stella2]

Thanks for that CVB, its very helpful. I'm looking to move away from travel boots to bandages after hearing of a nasty accident with boots. I'd better not go into it here, as I fear I will be taking Baymare's thread too far off topic :eek:

[cvb]

I'm sure there are some nasty stories on bandages out there as well - I seem to recall some ones on tail bandages used to strike fear into us in Pony Club...

[Bay Mare]

Thanks for that CVB, its very helpful. I'm looking to move away from travel boots to bandages after hearing of a nasty accident with boots. I'd better not go into it here, as I fear I will be taking Baymare's thread too far off topic :eek:

Hey don't worry about that, my question (and the subsequent revelation that my knowlege of bandages puts me in my dotage ;) ) has been well and truly answered. As the Queen of Wanderism I give you permission to veer off at a related tangent :D

We were told scare stories too! I remember coming back to horses as an adult and spending most of the night worrying about the bandages that I had put on that evening. I was MOST delighted to find the horse not only standing up the next day but with 4 working legs and the bandages still in situ :cool:

[cvb]

LOl - I seem to remember coming up one morning to a stable-bandaged horse to find the bandages doing a Nora-Batty-stocking impression :rolleyes: (not sure it was my bandaging... probably big sis ;) )

[Stella2]

Hey don't worry about that, my question (and the subsequent revelation that my knowlege of bandages puts me in my dotage ;) ) has been well and truly answered. As the Queen of Wanderism I give you permission to veer off at a related tangent :D

We were told scare stories too! I remember coming back to horses as an adult and spending most of the night worrying about the bandages that I had put on that evening. I was MOST delighted to find the horse not only standing up the next day but with 4 working legs and the bandages still in situ :cool:

Okay then :D A guy at my previous yard loaded his horse on a wagon. During the journey there was lots of noise from the back. He didn't bother to check why :( When they arrived at their destination he discovered that one of the front travel boots had caught on a panel, the horse had apparantly panicked in a struggle to release its leg and in doing so had ripped away a large proportion of its hoof :( :eek:

This, together with knowledge that Flora has never worn them and they are very cumbersome, made me more inclined towards a pad and bandage. If done neatly, I felt that there is less to get caught on anything!

[Lgd]

I can give the opposite to the horror story.

Travel boots saved Peri from serious injury in a horsebox accident. I had the De Boiz ones which are a very neat fitting and are secured above the hock as well. She ended up with the partition between her hind legs :eek: (fortunately she didn't struggle or she'd have broken a leg). She was literally 'skinned' on her left hind from just above the hock (top of the boots) to level with her teats. Not a scratch on any other leg or lower down.

Without the boots it would certainly have involved the hock as well. They were expensive to buy but certainly paid for themselves that day.

[cvb]

Me thinks the lesson here is not about boots vs bandages but about stopping if you hear a commotion !! and checking what is going on.

If you do go for bandages, you used to be able to get padding which had "built in" hock or knee cover ....(i.e. the padding was shaped and extended above the bandage area).