To boot or not to boot....

L

LickettySplit

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....that is the question.

I wouldn't normally, however, my horse is out of action and I have been extremely fortunate in being able to loan a horse to hunt who is returning to work after a year off following a tendon injury.

So, do the pros of offering his legs a bit of support outweigh the cons??
 
Personally I would avoid hunting with boots (except knee boots in wall country!) - but then you say the horse has had tendon issues in the past - how fit is he now, how long has he been back in work and how is he coping with it?

if you do decide to go with boots, I recommend the prolite ones as they're the only ones we've found that stay put out hunting!
 
Not.
You'll only heat the tendon up in them, sweating under neoprene all day.
Either the tendons are hard/good and up to hunting or stay at home till they are.
 
I have never booted hunt horses, just heat up tendons and wet muddy boots can irritate, had 1 in my last season as groom with a bowed tendon and 2 that were fired. Both ex p2p'ers. Plenty of conditioning work, make sure the horse is fit enough and keep an eye for any heat etc.
 
Thanks all! That's kind of what I was thinking but have in the back of my mind that he's not my horse and I want him to last all season.

There's no way of knowing whether the leg is up to the job until we get out there and do it. Meanwhile, I'm taking my time over getting him fit - he's had an hour of walk every day for nearly three weeks, we start trotting next week and faster work a few weeks after that which means we'll probably miss out on autumn hunting so will have to take it easy once hunting begins.

Thanks again :-)
 
LickettySplit said:
There's no way of knowing whether the leg is up to the job until we get out there and do it.
Click to expand...

When was the leg last scanned? What was the degree of initial trauma? What does the attending vet advise?

Yes, ultimately, you have to make a leap of faith but if I was going to hunt someone else's horse, with a history, then I would want to make sure I monitored it every inch of the way.
 
The horse has had an initial veterinary inspection and is being monitored. If the previous loaner had been a bit more honest, and not returned the horse to his owner with no mention of any injury, we would at least know what he did, and when. As it is, a much loved horse was lent to a hunt in excellent condition and came back a shadow of his former self. Licketty is doing an excellent job, with the support and backing of the horse's owner.
 
Quick update - took him autumn hunting today. Fairly low-key event, fairly wooded country so lots of standing around and no opportunity for anything quicker than trot.
He behaved impeccably, leg fine and no sign of any heat. A good start and v excited about the hunting to come!
 
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