Pinch boots - what are they?

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littlefluffball

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Guessing there is a chance this has already been discussed on here at some point but the search isn't working on it.

A friend of a friend was saying (in a group discussion) that she is going to start using pinch boots on her horse to get his feet up over jumps.

I had never heard of them so had a google but of course that brings up so much to trawl through i thought I would ask you lovely lot.

What are they? How do they work? they sounds rather controversial? Are they cruel???

I don't do any kind of advanced jumping so they will never be of any desire to me but my first thought on this was that it just doesn't sit right with me at all.....but as I am far from educated on the subject I am interested in views of others?? no arguments please just genuine knowledge/opinions
 
I always thought of them as being quite controversial, but almost everyone at my old yard used them for shows and didn't seem to think of it as a big deal at all. They will make a horse flick up with their backend more over jumps and you can adjust how tight they are.

They're not allowed in some BS classes like 2nd rounds but the standard BN, disco etc they are. I have never used them but I think you'd be hard pushed to find a BS show where no one had them. I'd rather my horse enjoys jumping and gets over the fence because he wants to and I have set him up well enough to do it - not because he's being pinched. Then if we have an unlucky pole, we have an unlucky pole - that's what happens in SJ. I don't really want to be forcing my horse to flick up unnaturally for the sake of a clear round in a BN or Discovery!
 
They're boots you put on the hinds usually and during a certain point of leverage, they apply quick pressure to the leg. They're not quite as dramatic as they sound.
 
They're not something I would willingly use on a horse. But that said they're still legal here in the USA for non-young jumper classes. I too think of them as a method on par with poling/rapping.

Agree horse should be happy doing it's job as naturally as possible.

There was that one horse in the World Cup last year that really overreacted to it's boots. That would be a less ideal outcome.


Em
 
Afaik they seem the norm in showjumping. They make it uncomfortable for the horse if it doesn't lift up it's legs, so I think it is fair to compare it to rapping. It's considered on the lighter end of the scale.
I don't think anyone can know what degree of discomfort/ pain it causes the horse.

Judging by the controversy that the video Bunny posted caused, they could end up being disallowed in comps but still used in training.
 
Thanks for all your informative replies. It didn't really sit comfortably with me...... I am in the camp of relying on as little "training aids" as possible in lieu of proper schooling. But I suppose that is easy for me to say when I don't compete at any level..... every day is a school day
 
I have beenthinking about this alot today. Is this a "lazy" (for want of a better word) option in the sense of actually horses could be taught to pick their feet up properly without the use of such equipment but using these boots gets the desired effect quicker? Or does it achieve an effect that otherwise wouldn't be achieved?

Is it going a step too far and actually forcing a horse that would otherwise be over faced by the height?
 
Hands up. We used them on robin. I cant see any differemce looking at them to normal fetlock boots. On balance i dont think they made a difference but perhaps we wernt jumping big enough and perhaps i didnt have them tight enough.
 
littlefluffball said:
I have beenthinking about this alot today. Is this a "lazy" (for want of a better word) option in the sense of actually horses could be taught to pick their feet up properly without the use of such equipment but using these boots gets the desired effect quicker? Or does it achieve an effect that otherwise wouldn't be achieved?

Is it going a step too far and actually forcing a horse that would otherwise be over faced by the height?
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I think if you were constantly overfacing your horse they would have poles whether they have the boots on or not. They don't force the horse up into the air and over the jump, they make the horse flick it's hind legs. If the horse was overfaced I am not sure they'd make any difference as the horse wouldn't be able to get up enough to clear it anyway - I think instead they are used to make a horse who sometimes has a 'lazy' pole to flick up behind.
 
Interesting... I was always under the impression that they should be used in the warm up, say for your final 3-4 jumps in the warm up and then taken off. Gives the horse a reminder to watch his hinds, not just his fronts. I guess this use would stop awful situations like the video above.
 
Lyle said:
Interesting... I was always under the impression that they should be used in the warm up, say for your final 3-4 jumps in the warm up and then taken off. Gives the horse a reminder to watch his hinds, not just his fronts. I guess this use would stop awful situations like the video above.
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I still don't really get this perspective if I'm honest. Ride a horse a fraction behind the vertical people are up in arms (even if a rider said oh it's just 1 minute in a warm up, helps to free the back or some such). Cause physical pain to horse to pick its' legs up and everyone is 'yeah it's alright as long as it's not too long' or 'it needs it to not be lazy'. What?
 
Interesting, I had always wondered what these are and I'm still not entirely clear from this thread? If they actually cause pain or discomfort when jumping I would have thought they wouldn't work particularly well as the horse would likely stop jumping at all with them on if it had any sense. I would have thought that, however they work, if they are causing unnaturally exagerated movement and as such should certainly be banned in competition and for warm up as rapping etc is.
 
We borrowed a pair from a friend to try with billy as he had a tendency to be careless behind and we had done a lot of work to improve this eg. Grids, strengthening work, poles, different methods of approach. Tbh the pinch boots didn’t make any difference the 2 times we used them but maybe they were meant to be tighter than I had them (just fitted them as a normal fetlock boot) but I don’t think they are the worst thing out there and can be useful if used at the right time I suppose. I can’t really see the benefit of using them every time you jump or everyday use, as they’d loose their “effect” and cause the weird hind jump in above video. I feel more strongly about people using painkillers to get a horse through a 3 day jump competition as that’s not right imo.

I’m surprised they are allowed in competition, but I suppose they’re no worse than someone riding with a very tight running rein or placing the horse wrong on purpose to make them make an effort.

In the end I found a way to approach a jump with billy that worked much better, not as “pretty” and a little unconventional but it worked for him!
 
BunnyDog said:
They're not something I would willingly use on a horse. But that said they're still legal here in the USA for non-young jumper classes. I too think of them as a method on par with poling/rapping.

Agree horse should be happy doing it's job as naturally as possible.

There was that one horse in the World Cup last year that really overreacted to it's boots. That would be a less ideal outcome.


Em
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Nasty!
 
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