So - boots or no boots? (Horse not rider!)

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There was a post in NL today so just wondered what you guys thought.

Do you always boot up your horse or not at all? For what reasons?

We tend to go by the horse but tend to go for no boots if it's a possible option, so Badger and Caffrey go with naked legs.
 
I stopped booting up when my pony got rub marks on the back of his fetlocks. I found that whatever I did (tape, etc) and whatever the type of boot, they had always slipped down after a couple of hours bloodhounding (the same happened on fun rides). I think that the rub marks occured because the boot slipped despite being taped, and there was no give in the tape and so it put pressure on when it slipped over the wider part of the leg.
 
I started off going with no boots on P, but she kept coming home with the same size/type of cut on her right leg...in slightly different places.

She clearly does something with her other foot, perhaps catches a road nail on it somehow as it's a clean "slice" when jumping out hunting, so I now boot up to prevent that happening.

She wears NEW Airflow XC Boots.
 
Generally no, not unless I have to.

Depends on the horse - I'll put boots on if I know they're likely to catch themselves anyway.

Had a young horse years ago I took hunting for the 1st time and put brushing boots all round. He came back with a huge front leg and the vet was convinced he'd done a tendon. Came back with the scanner - and found the rub marks off the boot which had ground mud into his leg..... huge relief all round!
 
No boots for me! Never found any that really fit Bodey Cob well, and that don’t slip (I use sports wraps XC but wouldn't want them on all day). Plus he is a toughty cob, he doesn’t need them.
 
No boots, although two on mine do hunt in overeaches purely because of liking the idea of coming back with a horse with four feet intact not three :P
 
I go by the horse, and the meet. I couldn't really think of anything worse than poor horses labouring through plough with boots on for example, and when I knew we were going to have a lot of walls with the RH I would put those knee knockers on, after seeing what happened to Becca a couple od seasons ago.
Obviously at the mo I'm not hunting my horses, so whatever OH decides to do I do.
 
Always wear boots. I have seen some horrific injuries that could have been prevented by horses slicing into tendons. My horse wears boots with tendon guards and came home with a horrible hole in them which was hoof shaped.
 
Only one of our 8 do. He is 20yrs old and is an ex eventer and he wears fronts just to give him some support and protection. He only goes out very occasionally on nice, quiet days.
I don't boot mine as I can't get boots to fit and she doesn't need them.
 
no boots here. he's a tough sort and is careful. Plus, in 20 years I've never had a horse with an injury that could have been prevented by boots.

I had one horse who wore OR boots for everything, and still managed to take his shoes off out hunting, so gave up in the end.

my sisters horse wears Prolite event boots if he goes hunting cos he's a fairy, but even the Bilsdale's bogs haven't managed to take them off!
 
Thanks guys.

I do sometimes wonder if I should put Badger in knee knockers for big wall days. He has had a slight knee up once in 4 seasons (went down in a few days).. so I do kind of trust him not to do anything silly.

Funny thing is, he's hunted and evented/SJed with no boots with no real injury for so long and then about a week after I'd decided to give him a summer to chill, he fell over walking along a track with a girl who helps us out with hacking and totally buggered his knees up!! :smirk:
 
Badger is quite careful though- all the time we were hunting together you never knocked anything.
The only reason I wore them with Oshk is because he gets all silly and rushes into things- I can't trust him not to pick his self up, especially when he hadn't been out in a while.
 
mine are always booted all round with prolites and overreach boots too.

the boots fit well so never slip, mud doesn't get down them etc.

pilfer has legs like crow bars but i still boot as i would rather protect him if i can.
 
i wear knee boots and thats it although might put over reach boots on for next few meets as he over reached on wed and dont want him to re open it up before boxing day. but generally just knee boots.
 
No boots here either, the ground is so so boggy at the moment that any boots would just be either sucked off or rub like mad. We went out yesterday and there were several people whose horses had boots on that were getting off and having to readjust the boots because they had slipped/got full of mud.
 
Yep, prolite fronts at the very least. They have prevented at least one injury. I have never ever had them slip, and they dont get grit/mud down them even in deep going, my old boy had white legs so was very obvious if anything got down them!!
 
Boots! had a bloody great rip in a pair of boots from when my horse went over some hidden barbed wire - horse unscathed. Horse behind bootless cut its leg open and had to go home after 20 mins hunting. Sort of did if for me but then I have never had any boot rubs on my boy, guess you should judge it by the horse but don't buy new boots and expect them to hunt all day
 
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