Leg stuck in rug... Advice please

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hannahlow

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My horse got his leg stuck in his rug, it looked as if he had tried to itch his stomach with his left hind and got his leg stuck in it, I do not know how long he had been like this. Initially he was very lame on it, now he is a lot better but his fetlock seems enlarged. He had managed to get it through both surcingle's and both back leg straps!

I do not want critiscm as I have dealt with it accordingly so far.

Has anyone ever had this problem?
 
Horse's do the daftest things sometimes! Topaz is the master at breaking leg straps, we think she does it when rolling, we've found making sure that all straps and surcingle's are nice and snug so there is much less room to get legs in the wrong places! Topaz's best trick was removing the rug entirely with all straps still done up, we think the wind got under it, she was fully clipped and it was february at the time, I think she regretted it as I found her cuddling up to the other horses :D.

x x
 
I remove all leg straps from rugs and make one of them into a fillet string. I also ensure that the belly straps are snug so that they cannot get their feet in them. As far as your horse's injury is concerned, then I would certainly have got the vet if he was lame or the leg was noticeably swollen. There could be ligament damage and he may need a scan.
 
I have had this happen once, the cross surcingles on my rug were too long and so to shorten then I had tied knots in them. Someone using the bridleway alongside my field saw this and thought the horse has somehow knotted them and thinking they were being helpful unknotted them. Then when my horse rolled she got her back leg under the cross surcingle. Luckily the rug ripped and she was able to stick her leg through and get up and walk. I've since cut and shortened them so this can't happen again, you may need to do the same with your rug if it is already on the tightest fitting.

Hope your horse makes a quick recovery.
 
That's the reason surcingles need to be snug - was it caught in one of them? Lucky he didn't totally panic and do himself (and the rug) serious harm. Personally I don't like fillet strings, too easy for them to be too long and the rug to blow over a horse's back, it happened with mine but he is used to problem solving so he just wandered around with it. Leg straps need to be snug too - do the first one up then pass the second one through it before fastening, that way they don't rub. Sorry if its grandmother and eggs but a leg caught could be really nasty.
 
They were snug, and he had managed to wedge his leg through 4 straps. I do know how to put a rug on. His leg was caught, he was stood on 3 legs when I went to collect him from the field. Which is why he was unable to almost snap through them, he's not lame on it, just a bit stiff and it is slightly swollen.
 
AlexHyde said:
Horse's do the daftest things sometimes! Topaz is the master at breaking leg straps, we think she does it when rolling, we've found making sure that all straps and surcingle's are nice and snug so there is much less room to get legs in the wrong places! Topaz's best trick was removing the rug entirely with all straps still done up, we think the wind got under it, she was fully clipped and it was february at the time, I think she regretted it as I found her cuddling up to the other horses :D.

x x
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I don't know how he managed to do it! Lol, he seems happy enough at the moment, they do anything to make us worry!! xx
 
One of mine has got a hind caught in a belly strap from time to time. Luckily he has never been hurt, or panicked, but its still a worry. The straps are properly snug - he seems to do it more when there are midges about.
So glad yours was ok.
 
Sprout said:
One of mine has got a hind caught in a belly strap from time to time. Luckily he has never been hurt, or panicked, but its still a worry. The straps are properly snug - he seems to do it more when there are midges about.
So glad yours was ok.
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Im hoping the swelling goes down with walking out, as he's not lame! Glad yours wasn't hurt either! He does get itchy so I imagine he was trying to get rid of a fly
 
hannahlow said:
They were snug, and he had managed to wedge his leg through 4 straps. I do know how to put a rug on. His leg was caught, he was stood on 3 legs when I went to collect him from the field. Which is why he was unable to almost snap through them, he's not lame on it, just a bit stiff and it is slightly swollen.
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what advice is it you are looking for? sometimes horses just manage to get themselves into the craziest scrapes.. as above I make sure surcingles are snug and remove leg straps. Not much more you can do.
 
hannahlow said:
They were snug, and he had managed to wedge his leg through 4 straps. I do know how to put a rug on. His leg was caught, he was stood on 3 legs when I went to collect him from the field. Which is why he was unable to almost snap through them, he's not lame on it, just a bit stiff and it is slightly swollen.
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I am confused about what help you are asking for in this thread. You said he was "Very lame" but now is "much better" not "completely better" hence why I assumed he was still a bit lame. And you said "his fetlock seems enlarged", so I assumed you might be asking for advice on this. Now you say he isn't lame at all and it is only slightly swollen, and that you know how to put a rug on. So just what, exactly, did you want people to help you with? Thread title says "advice please".
 
Freddy does this with lightweight rugs (no idea why he doesn't do it with all of them!). If I put a fillet string he pulls the whole rug off, if I put nice tight leg straps with elesticated safety parts he gets his leg caught. I've even tried an emergency release gadget that failed to release. The third time he did it he really got stuck and damaged his tendon which needed 12 weeks off work and quite a few vet visits so now he just does not wear light weight rugs.

If your horse is still lame he needs a vet ASAP. He may be slightly lame which is quite difficult to see with the hind legs so I would get a vet out either way.
 
hannahlow said:
My horse got his leg stuck in his rug, it looked as if he had tried to itch his stomach with his left hind and got his leg stuck in it, I do not know how long he had been like this. Initially he was very lame on it, now he is a lot better but his fetlock seems enlarged. He had managed to get it through both surcingle's and both back leg straps!

I do not want critiscm as I have dealt with it accordingly so far.

Has anyone ever had this problem?
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Sorry to hear about your horse - horses do get into scrapes - you only have to ask me whose horse Billy managed to stand on the base of a broom and it flicked up and he got the handle up his backside! Unbelievable.

We aren't allowed cross over leg straps on our rugs and either have to take them off or use them as a fillet string under the tail.
 
my daughters mare was a master at getting her legs through the belly straps-three times she split the rugs right down the back, all straps were snug fitted and legs straps removed in favour of a fillet string.
If he is just a bit stiff I would walk out in hand 3 times a day for 2 days then vet if still not right, if he is lame I would have the vet.
 
I don't understand how a horse can get a leg through a surcingle or elastic leg strap you can only just about get a finger behind. In dozens of horses wearing many different rugs over many years (including the old New Zealand Rugs which fitted where they touched) that has never happened here, and it may just be luck but physically I can't see how it can be done.
 
JillA said:
I don't understand how a horse can get a leg through a surcingle or elastic leg strap you can only just about get a finger behind. In dozens of horses wearing many different rugs over many years (including the old New Zealand Rugs which fitted where they touched) that has never happened here, and it may just be luck but physically I can't see how it can be done.
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I used to think that, but I do think that as they get up or down from rolling maybe the stomach muscles tighten allow a gap between belly and rug cos my daughters mares surcingles were tight, in fact as tight as I could get them but she still used to do it
 
It's really sad how spiteful some people can be when all I asked for is some advice, initially on what people would do if it was yours.

It has never happened to me before so I was looking more if anyone had had a similar experience.
 
WE had a new forest mare who did it a few times, like some others I really tightened her x surcingles so they were really snug and she did not do it again. Oddly she was the only one to do it, so far! She was stiff for a couple of days and had rubbed the hair off her leg but it had no lasting effects.
 
hannahlow said:
It's really sad how spiteful some people can be when all I asked for is some advice, initially on what people would do if it was yours.

It has never happened to me before so I was looking more if anyone had had a similar experience.
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Which is what people have done. But you answered "I do know how to put rugs on" as though taking offence at people trying to help. So I simply asked you what advice exactly were you after as virtually everyone has said to make sure all the straps are snug. And now that is "spiteful".
 
hannahlow said:
It's really sad how spiteful some people can be when all I asked for is some advice, initially on what people would do if it was yours.

It has never happened to me before so I was looking more if anyone had had a similar experience.
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No-one is being spiteful at all - people have offered plenty of good advice on trying to prevent it happening again and how they feel you should deal with the affected leg.
 
Elasticated leg straps and snug straps under belly should stop it happening again. I couldn't have a rug without leg straps, would get pulled over the head like a jersey in no time!
 
I'm not quite sure what 'advice' the OP is after, either, apart from making sure the cross surcingles are not too loose. I always fit them initially very snugly on a new rug (aim to be able to just slide my hand in under the belly where they cross over, with the palm vertical.) I then slacken or loosen them as necessary so that the rug is a good fit when the horse is turned out, without rubbing.

My Rambo turnouts have a velcro fitting on the attachment point of the surcingles, so in theory this is an emergency release. No idea how effective it would be, though.
 
One of my ponies did this. She must have watched her field mate remove his rug (which he could,without damaging it or himself) and tried it herself. She got her foot stuck under the belly strap and was very stiff when I rescued her. I rang the Vet who told me that if there was no swelling,to leave her out to move around. Within a day or two she was back to normal and hasn't tried it since.
 
Mine gets his leg stuck through the belly sraps. I just make sure they are tight enough not to be able to get a leg through
 
hannahlow said:
My horse got his leg stuck in his rug, it looked as if he had tried to itch his stomach with his left hind and got his leg stuck in it, I do not know how long he had been like this. Initially he was very lame on it, now he is a lot better but his fetlock seems enlarged. He had managed to get it through both surcingle's and both back leg straps!

I do not want critiscm as I have dealt with it accordingly so far.

Has anyone ever had this problem?
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I had a youngster that did that did that a few times - I cut the belly straps off. Make sure the leg straps are short enough that he can't get a leg through and loop them around each other.

After I did this he no longer got in a pickle
 
applecart14 said:
We aren't allowed cross over leg straps on our rugs and either have to take them off or use them as a fillet string under the tail.
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Hope your yard has good insurance - the racing yard I worked at had over 100 horses in training - all turned out with good old New Zealand Rugs with leg straps, looped around each other. Never ever had a problem with any - no belly straps either.
 
A mare of mine did this once, but it was the fillet strap. It was an amigo rug with the strong nylon fillet. She was very lame and swollen, the vet came and scanned the leg and diagnosed a 'bruised tendon'. It healed fairly quickly, she had about a month or so off work, keeping the swelling down with the aid of Compagel. She was none the worse for it, but these days I replace all of my fillet strings with something more breakable than the thick nylon strap, and I don't buy amigo rugs unless you can replace the standard fillet strap.
 
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