Sports medicine boots and tendon injuries

[nat308]

My horse sprained his tendon around 4 months ago and is now sound and being bought slowly back into gentle work. He has always worn boots and i am paranoid that he is getting not enough protection.

Do you think sports medicine boots are any good for this sort of problem?

 

[brightmount]

There has been a fair amount of discussion on this topic, and the consensus has been that a general purpose Sports medicine Boot made of textile is not going to support the weight of a 500kg horse bearing down on it. They can protect against knocks, but other than that they can overheat the leg and may be counterproductive used during controlled exercise.

The exception to this is the Dalmar Boot, this is a different thing altogether:

http://www.simviation.com/dalmar/treatment.htm

Probably best talking it through with your vet.

 

[AandK]

when i quizzed my vet on the boots subject (horse has suspensory injury) he said no boot or bandage would be able to support any tendons/ligaments so to carry on using what i would normally use..
as per brightmount, they can also overheat the leg. which is probably more applicable for fast work but i would just carry on with brushing boots if that is what you usually use.!

 

[Madasmaz]

Don't quote me, but Professionals Choice SMB do say that they help prevent hyper extension, which is how some suspensory ligament injuries occur. Yes I guess the leg would heat up under the boot, however, I would question anyone who works their horse, without doing leg maintenance afterward be it applying cooling compresses, or using the good old hosepipe.

 

[spaniel]

I entered into in depth debate and research when SMBs first came out and would classify them as effective as any of the other so called sport/support type boots.

 

[nat308]

that was exactly what i was worrying about - the over heating issue.

ok thanks guys, i suppose i might as well stick to what i usually use.