Leg straps on rugs - potential design improvements?

Sooty

Sooty

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Following on from Rollestone's post about the horse trapping its leg in its rug strap, it struck me that this is not an unusual incident. A woman in the next village to ours lost a horse when it rolled in the field, caught its leg in the rug strap and broke the leg. An old pony in the field at the bottom of our road did the same thing, and although it didn't break anything, it was so exhausted after a night of struggling to free itself, and was generally so ancient, that in the end it was pts. In that particular case the rug itself was also too big, so maybe not a good example, but it does show that rugs have to fit well and be done up properly to be safe. I was thinking - would it make a difference if manufacturers were to put a bit of elastic in the end of each rug strap? The really stiff stuff, that may give just enough for a horse to be able to free itself. I suppose the only really safe thing is to use a surcingle, but they can slip. Anyone got any ideas?
 
mine has done this once and thankfully destroyed the rug and not herself, i dont like the rear leg straps and remove them and add a fillet now. do you remember the "spider" straps that came into fashion in the early 90's? whatever happened to them??
 
Maybe when you buy a rug, you buy the leg-straps/surcingles separately, and they are just chunks of elastic?? That buckle onto either side.

I agree with you on the fact that it is very common, as only the other day, my mare got her leg stuck through the strap after she rolled, and luckily as it was a replacement old strap as we had lost the old one, the clip broke before her.

Last month another mare was hobbling in from the field as though she was tucked up and turning colickey, so we went to remove her rug for a cooler, to find that actually it was that she had two legs through one leg-strap and it had cut into her above the hock.

Another idea, breed horses with velcro strips and stick the rugs to them
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I always remove the rear leg straps and just use a fillet string. I have known of too many horses having accidents with leg straps to risk it. Two of my horses are huge (size 7ft & 7ft 3in rugs) and never have problems keeping rugs in place without the leg straps - can't see why they are still made with leg straps now, if the rugs fit properly, leg straps aren't necessary.
 
I always always removed leg straps from rugs. IMO if a rug needs them to stay secure, it's poorly designed anyway. When they lay, they always tuck their legs in and the whole idea of having straps there is crazy.

The less *stuff* you can have dangling under the horse the better for me.
 
I remove them and re-use one as a fillet string as I hate leg straps. However, my brother prefers them and has them made up out of heavy duty elastic to replace the originals on the rugs - this way they'll strech and/or break under strain.
 
I always take one off and use the other as the fillet string. My YO put little loops of baler twine on her 4 yos rug loops, then she clips the leg straps to the baler twine. Clever YO!!
 
I never use leg straps, a friend's horse's legs were badly and deeply cut after getting stuck in them. I take them off and use one of them to make a fillet string, works perfectly. Perhaps we should write to the manufacturers? I think they are dangerous.
 
I've not had a problem with legs straps so one of mine still wears them. But there are always looped through each other and tight enough that when she rolls they don't move near her hocks, but not tight enough to rub her.
The other one doesn't have them as he uses them to rub his itchy legs on.
At work they don't loop them through each other and everytime one rolls I always worry as the straps could very close to going over their hocks.

One of my rugs, think its the new weatherbeetas have elastic at the top of the leg straps. Looks like it would break if they got stuck.
 
I tend to use leg straps made fully out of elastic in the field & just a fillet string on any stable rug.

Problem with a bit of elastic on a turnout rug is that it would need to be weak enough to break if caught but strong enough not to break regularly - otherwise horse owners would keep taking them back to the shops as faulty! Trying to persuade a horse owner that it's better to break the rug than the horse can be quite difficult with many people!

Best tip is if you use leg straps make them as tight as you can (without causing restriction or rubbing/friction).
 
I was very fond of Chaskit rugs with spider straps system... i thought the rug as whole was fanastic made... the straps are very strong but can easily break away (ie the d rings are quite weak at stitching) and very easily repaired. the straps can be replaced at 12 quid. I had 6 ft for many many years until my mare departed us. i now have a 17 hands horse and rug is too small... so i looked for one couldn't find the orginal (green which is very high denier) all they have is blue ones... I wonder why they stopped doing them....

As for leg straps, none of my horse's rugs have them... i have seen far too many rugs being destroyed by horses trapping their legs in them whilst rolling. I use fillet for out door rug and none indoor (why do we need them indoor??? the rugs are suppose to fit well)
 
Holmestead's (my local saddlery) own brand "Kildare" and "Buffalo" turnouts. I also have elastic inserts put on some Horseware rug (have it inserted on fastening side about the T section of the clip, costs about €5 a rug)
 
I think the cross surcingles are ok as long as people fit them snugly. See loads of horses with straps dangling in huge loops under their tummy. I hate to see it. Can't understand what keeps the rugs in place if everything is left so loose either.

Not sure the problem is really with the rugs Sooty, the human element can't be ignored.
 
Agree with Patches. If they are done up properly then the horse shouldn't be able to get their legs in the belly straps. But so many people don't do they up tight enough.
 
Same here. I've had 2 rugs blow up off his back and over his head in the wind because fillet string has come over his tail or has snapped. That wouldn't happen with leg straps. He's trashed one rug by getting his leg through the surcingle. If the leg straps are tight enough I don't see how they can get there leg through
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, surcingles are more likely to get caught. So I use leg straps on all my rugs (apart from stable rugs and those that came without clips).

Anyway, elastic or some safety feature would be good
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I think the leg straps hold the rug in place better than a fillet string anyway. Less likely to slip over the hips. Same as you though Weezy, I always use them to prevent rugs blowing up over the horses backs in the wind. Being on a hillside leading to the M6 I find our fields are quite windy. Bit of a wind tunnel flowing down the motorway.
 
I used to buy the Rambo rugs without leg straps...but found my TB mare shaking with cold when they blew right over her head just once too often....leg straps at least mean you know your horse will stay rugged!
S
 
I NEVER use leg straps. I think they are downright dangerous. I remove them and make a fillet string. So much easier for changing rugs and a whole lot safer. My lot roll, play and tear around and their rugs stay in place so can't see many positives in having them.
 
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