Boots

[Laura1234]

Ok, boots are baffling me, which ones to be worn when and what for, as in boots for the horse, not me!!

What boots for jumping?
Do you need boots for schooling, hacking and if so, which ones and why?

If anyone has some pics of the different ones too, that would be a lot of help for me!!

 

[nemo_]

You don't *need* boots, but most people prefer to use them as not much point in risking it! I would say just buy a decent pair of brushing or tendon boots, and that should be fine for most things (I manage!) but depends a bit on what level you're competing/riding at. My boy wears his tendon boots on his fronts for pretty much everything; hacking, jumping, schooling, but not dressage tests obviously. He also wears brushing boots on his hind legs and overreach boots for lungeing and xc. We're competing 2ft6-3ft sj and xc and these seem to do the job.
Try looking at this:
http://www.horsedata.co.uk/horse boots.asp
Will give you an idea of why boots are used and which boots do what!
Hope this helps!

 

[wilsha]

depends on what your horse is like my conemarra pony hardly ever ears boots i only put them on him for jumping and pony club and fun rides and there only a little pair of simple brushing boots
however some people have horses with more delicate legs and they prefer for them to be protected all the time
also the pony club manual of horsemanship has lots of pics of boots and tells you what they are for
hope this helps

 

[animal]

I find brushing boots on the fore legs fine for hacking, but some put more on. eg brushing boots on all four legs and overreach boots, it depends if you are doing fast galloping/jumping work out hacking, which in that situation would be fairly similar to xc i suppose.
I don't use boots/ bandages for schooling unless we are but occasionly when doing complicated lateral work, or he is feeling frisky i put badages/boots on.

I always put front boots (tendon) on for normal (pole) jumping, and sometimes team with over reach boots. I rarely put fetlock boots on, i only recently got some cheapy ones of ebay. At home jumping i somtimes use front brushing boots when i don't have my tendons with me, but i don't want him not to feel the jump, so generally i use tendon for showjumping.

For xc i used until recently ww club ones, but i felt i needed something slightly more substantial and a little bit more breathable for xc as i am doing biger courses. If i'm honest i don't always use overreach for jumping.

When i was younger and in the riding school, the horses did not wear boots, apart from 2 particular horses and for xc. They survived fine!

Took a quick snap of my ww brushing boots for you, brushing boots protect the lower leg more compared to tendon boots.

 

[Laura1234]

Thanks guys for the help! I'm not doing much yet, but hopefully will soon, as we get on with our lad - we have just started some basic pole work and very, very small jumps, and are careful out hacking, only walking at the mo as the ground is so hard where we are, but others put boots on and I've never really used them before as I did not know which ones to use, and all the different ones confused me (it does not take a lot to confuse me!!), but your information will help, thanks a lot!

 

[JenHunt]

I only use boots for cross country on my lad, mostly because he used to be a bit clumsy. I will put a pair of tendon boots on if we're jumping on wet, deep or slippery going just to provide a bit of support.

But you dont "need" boots, and whilst they protect against knocks and bumps, they are no substitute for proper fitness for protecting tendons and ligaments.