Suspensory ligament support - boots

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Stroppy Mare

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Is there such a thing as a pair of boots to protect and support the lateral branch of the suspensory ligament? What's best?
 
My girl did her high suspensory and now i prefer to have her in her sports boots or bandages- personal pref

Are you lookin gor when ridden or in the stable?
 
Ridden. At the moment she's on semi box rest (in at night, out in a small paddock, otherwise box rest blows her brain). However ringing the vet again. It's not confirmed yet but the vet was leaning towards suspensory. I just want something to support her legs for when I reintroduce work.

In the stable she's bandaged on both legs.

She's not actually lame at the mo, it's intermittent and the vet was struggling to see it last week.
 
Sports medicine boots where developed to support this area in western horses.
When I was rehabing a horse after a serious injury to the branches of the suspensory these where recommended be a vet who is a sports horse lameness specialist .
I bought some, unfortunatly the horse was consistently unlevel in them so they are in the back of a cupboard somewhere ,you see them on eBay so it's worth trying to pick some up there if you want to try some.
 
Thanks, do the elite ones heat the legs up at all? Obviously the least amount of heat underneath over the top of the usual boot heat?
 
I think many vets will generally tell you, you can't actually 'support' the legs of half a tonne of horse by putting boots or bandages on them - protect from knocks yes, support? Not convinced.
 
Hi Ladyt25, I'm on my phone so can't quote you - but this is exactly what my vet told me - when I asked when dealing with my horse with damage to the suspensory in both hinds, my vet stated that if anything the boots can make the situation worse because they heat up the leg which doesn't help - the best help you can give a horse recovering is time and initially work on hard flat surfaces so the ligament doesn't have to stretch
 
ladyt25 said:
I think many vets will generally tell you, you can't actually 'support' the legs of half a tonne of horse by putting boots or bandages on them - protect from knocks yes, support? Not convinced.
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I was told exactly the same when mine did her hind limb suspensory - that nothing can support the weight of a half tonne horse and that I would be wasting my money. I was also told that the heating action of the wraps/boots could actually make the problem worse.
 
Well, when you think about it they have a point! A horses limbs are designed to hold the weight. A little bandage/boot is going to do nothing. Yes bandages can be used to help reduce swellings etc but they don't support the structures themselves.
 
Fair point. I'm umming and arring over them anyway, as its a branch that *may* have been the cause of lameness I wonder if normal brushing or tendon boots would support the ligament anyway? (As much as the pro choice would do).
 
There's not a boot made that can support the horse in the way you want. The SMBs are awful for tendon health because they heat the leg up so much.
 
Holly Hocks said:
I was told exactly the same when mine did her hind limb suspensory - that nothing can support the weight of a half tonne horse and that I would be wasting my money. I was also told that the heating action of the wraps/boots could actually make the problem worse.
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And I was told exactly the opposite by a very well known equine vet .
SHB's where developed to support and protect the branches of the suspensory in western horses .
Any one who has sprained an Achilles tendon will know how much support nepprene can give.
however I am seriously not a fan of these boots they make the legs to hot and the horse I bought them for was never sound in them.
Tight boots restrict movement that how they support this is much easier to achieve for a suspensory branch than for a flexor tendon.
These type of boots are completly different to boots seeking to protect the horse from blows and strikes.
 
To protect my horses leg, as he did his suspensory quite low down when he raced and the injury was bad enough to end his race career, I use open front jump boots when schooling.

This is not for support, it's more to protect from knocks and blows. I don't like SM boot's as IMO the neoprene heats up the leg too much.
 
There have been a number of studies that show boots and bandages offer no support and in fact can do more harm than good. Heating of the area actually kills cells and you are also putting extra pressure on other areas of the limbs. Boots are really only good for protection and the lighter they are and more air they can circulate the better to prevent heating.
 
The surgeon who operated on my mare said as per ladyt & Benjaminbunny...also the suspensory is placed so deep in the structure of the leg a boot couldn't offer any support to it anyway.
 
Thanks, I was slightly sceptical about it (hence not wanting to pay much for them) but now I think I'll stick with using her brushing boots or tendon boots when I bring her back into work. I only boot her hinds up for XC (she's fairly difficult to boot behind as she kicks out) so they're not a concern, but I just wanted to ensure her fronts were adequately protected.
 
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