Wraps or Boots?

[LoveJubal]

To wrap or not to wrap... Looking for a little help!

Which is better - polo wraps or supportive neoprene sport/splint boots?

Also, are these really fancy/expensive polo wraps worth it? Do they really work that much better? Are they more supportive?

I have an older warmblood gelding that has some degeneration in the hocks and I want to make sure I am properly outfitting him when I go for a ride, whether it be hacking out, light jumping, trail riding, etc. Please tell me what you think! ;)

[dwblover]

I prefer dressage sport boots with fleece inside. I feel like the neoprene holds too much heat. I love the Pelham-Ascots. Got mine on Ebay.

[asterix]

Boots or wraps of any kind protect the horse from interfering, or from banging his legs on fences, debris while out on trail, etc.

They will not make any difference in terms of supporting his hocks.

[sk_pacer]

If he isn't interfering or going through brush leave the boots off and at any rate. you can do nothing for the hocks with boots anyway. If you want to clean your trails, by all means, use polos - they will pick up every bit of rubbish for many feet around :)

[LoveJubal]

Thanks for the input everyone!

My horse does brush behind and can overreach, so I keep boots on him mainly for those reasons. Unfortunately, the boots do not help his hocks, as you all quickly mentioned. No worries, I keep his hocks injected, he's on a joint supplement, and he also gets monthly injections of Adequan.

I use sport boots now, but I have seen some pretty hi-tech/expensive polo wraps that looked kinda cool. The Eskadron polos with the built-in Climatex liners were the ones that caught my eye originally. Have any of you all ever used those or anything like them? Are they worth the money?

I was just wondering if a wrap is better than a boot... I have never seen anything that recommends one over the other.

[sk_pacer]

Stick with the boot. Bandages can come undone and cause a lot of problems. When a boot comes undone, it just falls away, but bandages can wrap around the other leg and then you have a wreck on your hands. You also don't need high tech boots, just something easy to clean, and light weight, as long as the shell protects where the horse hits....a case of less is more

[Go Fish]

Hard shelled boots - I don't think the brand matters all that much. There's a lot out there now to choose from in all price ranges.

I've never understood wrapping in polos. After looking at the scuff marks on some of my Eskadrons, I don't see how polos would protect anything.

[deltawave]

IMO, "properly outfitting" the middle-aged horse with a few joint creaks is all about proper shoeing/hoof care, the fitness regimen, and footing and ZERO about what you strap on or wrap around the legs.

There is not a boot in the world (short of a hard cast) that supports diddly squat in the locomotor apparatus. Protection from knocks and dings is the best a boot can offer, and for that, whatever fits best and fills the need would be my choice. Polos are for making the horse look pretty. :)

[akumal987]

What our vet said when our horse tore his suspensory that when we started to ride him again he should either wear polo wraps (obviously wrapped correctly, we just used the fleese ones) or any boot that had a strap around the pastern, like a sports medicine boot. We use the Pegasus boots, they are really nice. If I don't need support, just protection from hitting legs together, I use the woof boots.