Bandages....bad for the tendons?

kc100

kc100

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I've been reading an interesting series of articles on the training of competition horses and staying sound, written by 2 vets in the Netherlands. Here is the link to the full series for those that are interested:
http://www.horsesinternational.com/sport/training-and-staying-sound/

One interesting point in part 5 (link below) is that bandages are not good for the tendons because they overheat the legs, with temperatures of up to 40 degrees celcius measured under the bandages. At those temperatures (this is their analogy) you could fry an egg on your car bonnet, so it is the same for the tendons which are made up of proteins - the heat starts to break down the protein. Bandages dont allow the heat to escape, hence why the vet in this article recommends they are not used for the training of the competition horse.

http://www.horsesinternational.com/articles/talent-deserves-to-be-protected/

I've never heard this before, so was interested to hear any thoughts/views on this? Presumably air temperature has to be a factor, the legs are never going to heat to over 40 degrees under the bandages if its a chilly UK winter day? I know Premier Equine do a lot of ventilated sports boots which seem to be popular with the eventing crowd, should us dressage folk be ditching the bandages too? I know I am guilty of a love of matchy matchy so would much prefer to be using bandages from an aesthetic point of view (and of course wanting to protect his legs), but with my (nearly 2 year old) baby horse I am so keen on ensuring he has a long, healthy career that aesthetics shouldnt come into it. I've pretty much raised him as they recommend in this article (part 3) - outdoors 24/7 to ensure healthy bone and ligament development, so I want to continue on the right path with him when I start to do a little more with him later this year (maybe some long reining in the summer).

I would have been putting bandages on him until I read this - so interested to hear other thoughts! I know we all have different opinions and I know there are obvious merits to protecting the legs with bandages, but should we be using ventilated boots instead? Or perhaps pestering Eskadron daily to make ventilated bandages (Hy seem to offer them but not in many colours!)......
 
This has been fairly common knowledge for a while now, hence why we have the flood of ventilated and 'air cooled' boots on the market! �� it's an interesting point and one I suppose we have to weigh up in regards to leg protection; boot/bandage to protect against knocks, or nothing to protect against over heating? Like you pointed out, I don't have an issue bandaging on cool days, I've noted that even after a long session there will often be no sweat under the bandages! It's summer in Aus now, and we have an average of 30°C + days, often peaking into the mid 40°C, so by the article, our horses are frying like eggs before we even work them! I have a lovely pair of felt boots which are just for the warm season (they're useless in winter!) and on hot days legs are cooler in these than any other boots I've used (yup, even PE air cooled!) I suppose a lot of it comes down to management, feeding the horse properly for recovery and muscle repair, boots off and legs cooled as soon as work is finished, and ensuring the horse is properly legged up for the work being done!
 
Having had issues with soundness before in other horses I am super stressy about things like this and now only use air cooled boots but I am an eventer. After I've been cross country or galloping I also use cold water boots. Have you seen the premier equine sports wraps? I think these have an air cooled option and I have seen the White ones on some horses warming up when I have been out BD. I believe a couple of companies now make air cooled schooling wraps which look pretty smart. I always think better to be safe than sorry!
 
I do wonder how much airflow actually goes on with air cooled wraps etc. - even more so with bandages once you have wrapped them round a few times!

I don't ever boot or bandage these days apart from XC, mostly because I have a welsh who gets skin issues if his legs get too warm anyway! It would be interesting to stick a probe in some bandages

Lyle I guess even if it is 40C outside by not covering the horse's legs you are permitting them to use their natural methods of cooling to the maximum. If you cover them you aren't helping. I guess I err on the side it is better for tendons to be cool but am not sure about their egg frying analogy/general science comments about protein denaturation!
 
I don't use anything on my horses legs - he doesn't wear shoes so not going to cause himself too much damage, isn't close in front or behind so doesn't tend to knock himself anyway and I would worry about over heating tendons.

If I jumped any higher than about 90cm I would use open fronted tendon boots but I don't so no need :)
 
Lyle said:
This has been fairly common knowledge for a while now, hence why we have the flood of ventilated and 'air cooled' boots on the market! ��
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I guess I had always thought that with the air cooled/ventilated boots they were more for high speed/fast work like galloping/XC as you are going to get a greater benefit of air flow through the boot at a higher speed. I'd never thought of it in relation to bandages really, that they will cause overheating (probably a bit silly of me as of course wrapping a nice fleecy bandage around a leg is going to heat it up!).

In this case, with bandages being the issue - why do so many dressage riders use them? Obviously the eventing and jumping world tend to use boots that offer more protection against knocks, the chance of a major knock is lesser in dressage so bandages seem to be more appropriate in that sense, for support more than protection against knocks. But if we are all overheating our horses legs with bandages, and we know that dressage horses are getting more and more problems with tendons & ligaments....why are we still doing it?
 
Maybe if we bred better horses with legs that go in the right direction and are correctly conformed we would have sounder, better moving horses, that do not bang themselves so much. Having spent a lot of time in 2014 sourcing horses for people I have come to the conclusion that barely anything has decent limbs that move straight.

Interestingly there are less and less boots/bandages seen on NH horses now, none on flat horses.

Said with tongue in cheek ! and from someone who booted a top class show horse up to turn it out in the years it was competing and it never went anywhere without being wrapped in cotton wool. I still look back to the day he bucked adjacent to a gate and shredded his hind boot and gave himself a nasty cut to the tendon. Without the boot it would have been all over.

It is an interesting subject that probably does not have a cover all answer and as owners we just have to do what we think is best for the horse in our care.
 
kc100 said:
I guess I had always thought that with the air cooled/ventilated boots they were more for high speed/fast work like galloping/XC as you are going to get a greater benefit of air flow through the boot at a higher speed. I'd never thought of it in relation to bandages really, that they will cause overheating (probably a bit silly of me as of course wrapping a nice fleecy bandage around a leg is going to heat it up!).

In this case, with bandages being the issue - why do so many dressage riders use them? Obviously the eventing and jumping world tend to use boots that offer more protection against knocks, the chance of a major knock is lesser in dressage so bandages seem to be more appropriate in that sense, for support more than protection against knocks. But if we are all overheating our horses legs with bandages, and we know that dressage horses are getting more and more problems with tendons & ligaments....why are we still doing it?
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Other than more coverage for knocks (people tend to get closer to knees than I would with boots :p) I have no idea why people bandage ;). - To make themselves feel better?
 
AdorableAlice said:
I still look back to the day he bucked adjacent to a gate and shredded his hind boot and gave himself a nasty cut to the tendon. Without the boot it would have been all over.
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This is a very good point/story - most DR riders or amateurs that compete at DR dont use boots to turn-out, yet arguably they have a higher chance of injury out in the field than they do under saddle in a schooling session. My little fella had an almighty injury caused by jumping a gate out in the field, not to his legs so nothing a boot could have helped with, but I now think he is far more likely to hurt himself being turned out (having him live out 24/7 after that injury doesnt half play on my mind!).

I think when he gets to the age when I decide to back him (need to see how he gets on with growing first!) I will start using boots for turn-out, once he is in his routine of being stabled for part of the day and turned out (obviously wouldnt bother with him being out 24/7, he'll just lose one!). I feel boots would do far more for him out in the field than they ever would when we are schooling.
 
ester said:
Other than more coverage for knocks (people tend to get closer to knees than I would with boots :p) I have no idea why people bandage ;). - To make themselves feel better?
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I think you may well be right......because us silly dressage folk like the pretty colours the bandages come in may have a part to play as well!
 
ester said:
Other than more coverage for knocks (people tend to get closer to knees than I would with boots :p) I have no idea why people bandage ;). - To make themselves feel better?
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cos they go with the matchy matchy stuff is why the people on my yard use them, one bandages at night, bandages for work the turns out in a mud pit where it is half way up the cannon bones for a third of the field with no boots on!
 
Like a lot of other things, people do things to fit with a trend without considering the actual impact.
I would never use bandages for anything other than warmth on an ill horse. They do not support, they heat delicate structures up and they have provide no better protection than boots
 
Interestingly this has made me think, I use some air flow for XC but then for having I use normal woof wear brushing boots which in mid summer must have a heating effect? Would it then be best to just not boot?
 
I think looking into bandaging and boots this deep is always gonna be a fight between two evils. Over worrying about the legs over-heating, under bandages or any boots which haven't got air flow (Which even then, i'm not sure how much effect they have, as i use the tri-zone ones on my SJ mare,and she has quite often been sweaty under them) or ride without anything on, which will increase the risk of injury. I am a pansy with my horses and wrap them up no end. they are turned out in boots,schooled,jumped & hacked in boots, but i am soft :) and they are always warmed up/cooled off properly, and have there legs hosed off after any hard work, or hot days when they have been sweating
 
you just have to risk assess every situation.

ours work in bandages and over reach boots as bandages give protection all round the leg which is important for lateral work.
I find bandages heat the legs LESS than the wrap around style boots.

for turnout, ours go out all day every day,on excellent sandy soil, in level fields, in individual paddocks. we feel the chance of a serious injury is fairly low, so they wear over reach boots only.

for travel we normally use brushing boots as slip less and again keep the leg cooler than huge padded travel boots. Goofy is a bit of a dolt on the move so has the wrap around sport boots for travel as they still dont make the legs as hot as travel boots. So in that situation i had to take extra protection over less heating. I could bandage to travel but its bad enough getting one set of white bandages on an impatient youngster at a show, let alone trying to get one set off and a white set on!!!!!!

i do cringe when i see a dressage horse in flannel pads, bandages, with sports boots ON TOP-how hot?!
 
do dressage horses really hit themselves that often during lateral work to require such all round bash protection?! especially if unshod? and perhaps depends on the type of boots you have used - although am still unconvinced by how good breathable neoprene aka PE might be.

I'm surprised that with flannel pads, bandages, and sports boots they can move at all/dont have fat enough legs that they rub together anyway :p.
 
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I certainly dont bandage for matchy matchys sake, as i dont do matchy matchy, but i do work my horses in bandages with climatex liners underneath, its very rare the legs sweat under that, but i find quite common for the legs to sweat under wrap round boots. So i bandage to work my horses, except at shows, when i use boots as i have to rely on a kind passing stranger to remove them, and i think asking someone to reel in bandages is a bit much, boots are just that much quicker and easier. I also put ice boots (that live in the freezer) on my horses legs immediately after the bandages are removed to drop the tendon temperature. My horses are working at a high level and i just wouldnt be happy asking them to do that with no protection.
 
This worries me - my horse has an abject fear of travel boots (I'm not even joking, if they move at all he FREAKS, to the extent that it's too dangerous to try and desensitise him) so we bandage for travelling instead.

Ventilated alternatives? That will NOT slip even if he prats about?
 
In endurance v few people use boots due to the overheating problem - if that helps at all.

I think it's the norm to use boots here but most horses don't really need them! Obviously some do, in which case again it's the lesser of two evils and depends on the horse's movement and how hard it is working I guess.
 
In my horse owning career of 17 years (eep how did that happen!) I have only had injuries in the field. Less is more for me. No shoes rarely use boots and don't use anything to travel either. I travel mine alone or occasionally with other unshod ones. Might boot if the neighbouring horse was shod I suppose.
 
I can vouch for the Dalmar Air Cooled a Event Boots genuinely keeping legs cool. I've evented on hot days and used the same boots for show jumping and cross country without a break in between and his legs haven't sweated at all. For me boots are a must due to the movement of my horse (close behind and big over track) but obviously depends on the horse. My retired mare I barely put boots on and in 15 years of working her she had one injury from over reaching which was only in later years and we competed for many years BS.
 
I bandage for schooling as my pony has very sensitive skin and boots tend to rub/let in grit- I want to protect his legs when doing lateral work (plus it looks nice)- if he was galloping then no, I would use air-cooled boots instead.
I don't turn out in boots, only overreach, due to rubbing issues and heated legs.
 
daffy44 said:
. My horses are working at a high level and i just wouldnt be happy asking them to do that with no protection.
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What injuries are common in unbooted/unbandaged dressage horses? It's a genuine question, I always booted up my old dressage horse as that's what his previous owner did, but I now wonder why I didn't question it, particularly as I couldn't use them in the ring. As others have said, he usually injured himself in the field.
 
I stopped bandaging a couple of years ago, because it was bothering me that Alf had hot sweaty legs after work. He's a former PSG horse, and I decided that he was probably balanced enough not to clout himself - I was right, he has never marked his legs schooling.

Hacking is a slightly different story, as he's a complete idiot, so he wears very cheap, very lightweight brushing boots to hack - I was right to do that too, as he gave them a proper hammering on their first outing, due to an excessive number of dragons in hedges that day.

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If he were younger/less balanced/more inclined to be a prat in the school, I'd use some form of leg protection - but I'm lucky in that respect. He knows that school is for work, and hacking is for fun, so his leg protection requirements are easily managed.
 
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Light bandages on dark legs can also help while schooling, so that you can see better in the mirror what's going on with the legs. But hi-viz bands fulfill this purpose just as well as bandages. I travel my horses without leg protection, and have never had one step on itself while schooling, so I do without. Perhaps if they were shod, I might feel differently. :)

I've got a German vet diary that I think was written in the 1980s. He complains about bandaging, and calls especially the use of stable bandages into question, going far enough to call some uses of bandaging a "deadly sin". So this idea isn't exactly new!
 
Just leave the damn boots/bandages off! I only put bandages on to travel (on the way there only, for poo protection) and I only use boots for cross country. The rest: naked legs. They soon learn not to knock into themselves when they actually feel it...
 
I would normally chuck brushing boots on bill all round if going to ride, but as he lives out his legs tend to be covered in mud so at moment he has no boots.
I don't want to risk a rub or worse from booting up muddy legs, and I don't want to hose them before riding to reduce risk of mud fever. He isn't clipped either so the less I do with his legs the better atm! Although he has good legs and moves straight, but even though he is short in back he never over reaches.

We don't bandage for dressage unless having a very fancy lesson (as bandages do look much smarter) but have ordered a smart set of boots for shows & fancy lessons etc. so the bandages are on the way out! Plus we tend to do more lateral work and new movements in lessons so higher chance of him brushing. That said, I haven't had a lesson in almost 16 months...

SJ he doesn't wear boots (but that's because he is better without) and xc he wears boots all round and over reach boots mainly because I don't want him to tread on his shoe or stud himself, as lots of jumps are done at angles etc. plus he knows full well you can brush through brush :P

The best time for him to wear boots is probably in the field, as it is flat, then steep decline, then flat. And he absolutely LOVES galloping straight to the bottom especially after breakfast, no matter what the ground is like!! But due to clay soil the Mud would most likely rub and also his legs would sweat (plus the small matter of him playing in the river everyday) , he doesn't wear them as I try to let him live out 24/7.
 
I find this interesting. I live in a hot part of the world where it can regularly reach 40 degrees celcius in the day during the summer. Now I can't bring myself to boot or bandage my horse at all when it's this hot but the locals still do.
I wonder if horses who live and compete in hot countries suffer more degenerative tendon issues than horses in colder climates. OR would they suffer less because their muscles and tendons are already warmer before the rider gets on?That would be interesting to research I think.
 
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