New XC boots needed after horse sliced half his fetlock off

Vickijay

Vickijay

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Hi,

I have a full set of Style XC boots which I have always liked. My horse jumped into water (down quite a big step) and hopped his back legs down and sliced a big chunk of fetlock off in a V shape from under the boot.

2 visits to the vets later and a month or so hes back in work and Im thinking I need new hind XC boots.

Having looked a bit the only ones I can see with under fetlock protection are the Sports medicine boots (or simular) but there not tough like my ones with the carbon filling in.

Does anyone have any ideas? or are SMBs the way forward?

Thanks for reading and hopefully answering!x
 
SMB's offer very little impact porotection at all, I personally wouldnt use them for XC. Did your horse take the flesh off the back of the joint or the front?
 
It was the back. A fairly sizeable chunk. He just hopped off and slid down the step and cut upwards under the boot almost underneith the fetlock but running up.
Grrrrr
 
SMBs get the tendons very hot imho, i won't use them any more, even for hacking. whether they provide any 'support' to the tendons is doubtful too, in in vitro testing they did not.
tbh i doubt any boot would protect that area, because it is such an odd place to injure. you could bandage to protect as much of it as possible, but bandages have inherent risks too. you could put long leather Sabre hind boots on, but again, i doubt they'd protect that area as well as you need. hopefully your lad will have learnt to jump out further from steps, poor boy.
i think the Premier Equine and Dalmar boots are about the best i've seen, fwiw.
 
KatB I would disagree with that - they are used in polo and provide good general impact protection. However don't compare to the carbon fibre / kevlar guards for sharp impacts to the tendons.

They would protect the hind fetlock, but I'd use something better on the front tendons. Also be careful as you'll need SMB II's as they don't absorb water, plus they need watching in sandy conditions in case they rub.
 
I think you would be very unlikely to have the same thing happen again - most steps and most jumps for that matter wouldn't cut like that and the worst you'd get would be a bruise and a graze. There must have been something pretty sharp to cause that injury, I'd have thought?
 
Thanks everyone. Its so tricky isnt it! I know its unusual, but its scary thinking I hope he just doesnt do it again. I like the idea of bandaging his legs even less, esp under the fetlock.
Bloody horses!
 
what about a pastern wrap? or a sausage boot to help prevent it
smile.gif
 
What are SMB boots? Sorry, racking my brains here...cant work out what it stands for!

Agree re; premier equine's air cooled boots are great.
 
The problem is anything that totally "cups" the hind fetlock and extends down the pastern has to be soft or it will interfere with the action of the joint and/or not follow the movement of the joint and cause rubbing. I suspect that's why you don't see rigid boots in that configuration. As mentioned, depending on where the injury is, some sort of fetlock wrap might give it some cover but again, they're flexible by definition.
 
Yeah I wondered about pastern wraps but just discounted them as not being tough enough, maybe some more googeling!! And I dont think a sausage boot would of helped, altho I might put one on just to protect that bit a bit more!
 
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