Does your horse wear boots in the field?

D

Dressage donkey

New Member
May 14, 2007
72
0
0
I was wondering if anyone turns their horses/ponies out with boots on?
If so, what do they wear? Do they wear them all year round, or in the winter to help keep mud off their legs??
If you've tried it were there any reasons why you stopped?
Just curious. Thank you :)
 
Forest recently had to start wearing fetlock boots on his back legs, but he can't wear them in the mud, as the mud gets underneath and makes them rub so hes not wearing them at the moment.

In the summer he is out 24/7 so its not fair to make him wear them all the time, but hopefully he will be ok. Hes just a very clumsey horse!
If he is having a clumsey phase then he wears his over reach boots, because he charges around and cuts just above his hoof! :)
 
TheG used to wear over reach boots in the field, even living out in the summer as he was very prone to overreach badly. I was very careful to clean underneath the boots everday though and check for sweaty heels leading to skin problems etc and he did have a portion of each day with them either turned up or off. Last summer he didn't need them though - he simply stopped overreaching. I assume it was because he got older and stiffer and so his movement wasn't so extravagant..

Stan or Trigger don't wear boots but they don't need to. If I was turning out after a long period in or ina new place/herd I would boot up though "just in case" as I feel it's better to be safe than sorry.

I always boot Stan behind to work as he brushes when unbalanced. I boot up with tendon boots to jump too.
 
Last edited:
I booted Louie up with brushing boots for a while the summer before last as he got a bad cut on one of his front legs that needed stitching and then i got paranoid about him getting another as we didnt know if it was from a kick or what, so put them on him for a while, but then stopped as thought there was plenty of other places he could get injured anyway.

He also had bandages for turnout back in october/november after his operation on his fetlock when he first went out i left them on for a while just to give support but now he goes out without them again.
 
my mare wore hardy chaps to keep her legs warm (one of her laminitis triggers was cold legs :rolleyes: i was booting toby up on his hinds to support his injured leg and also to act as a pressure bandage to bring the swelling down but tbh he got hot, uncomfortable and despite being well fitting boots they began to rub. my preference is not to boot up for turning out, unless it's the hardy/equi chaps which are designed for such a job. or over-reach boots which are handy if you've a horse with heart bars on or one that over tracks.
 
It's not something I like doing at all after sport boots left Daffy's legs raw and infected - long story, but the moral is, if you do turn out in boots of any description, be very very careful and check under them at least once a day.
 
I put over reach boots on if he's not been out for a few days, but it'll only be for the first day then he'll be back to not wearing anything - just like the added protection of his heels if he's going to be flying around!
 
Thanks again everyone :)
Was just something i was thinking about and wondered who does/did do it.
Poor Daffy. That must have been very sore :(
 
newrider.com
Top Bottom
Back