I have a new 3/4 year old draftx mare. She is really green, we are just starting her cantering. I want to make this a good experience for her, and for her to be healthy through everything. Should I wrap her legs, or leave them be? We're taking it slow, I'm only working on her cantering once or twice a week so she doesn't get pushed too much. I don't want to overface her. If this horse was older, I'd wrap no matter what, but I don't know if wrapping her this young will have any ill affects on her later in life...
buffy2009-02-06T13:55:38Z
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What happens to you if you wear high boots laced tightly? When you go to do the same activities in slippers of low-top tennies, your ankles are weak.
Personally, I proscribe to the 'natural as possible' theory. If you wrap a horse's legs all the time, the wraps become an artificial support which disallows the legs to become strong enough to support themselves without them.
However, if you're doing high-intensity workouts, not wrapping can cause undue stress.
I would say that if you're working slowly, there should be no need to wrap, but if you're turning a lot and performing intricate maneuvers, wraps are necessary. Simple cantering around an arena carefully shouldn't require them, but turning and increasing rate, etc up and down quite frequently may require them.
A 3-4 year old horse has physically matured from the knees down. They're bones are no longer as soft as they were at 2 or younger. She's recently matured from the knee to the shoulder and likely is nearly as tall as she'll get. Now gaining width, breadth and a small amount in height is how she'll grow.
Use common sense and be consistent. Learn how to identify when her legs are fatigued and learn the proper ways to rub her down afterward. You may find that at this point in her training, wraps aren't necessary, but a good leg rub-down after her workout does wonders.
You'll hear a lot of people tell you that you should ALWAYS have your horse's legs wrapped when riding, especially with young horses, or you risk all sorts of terrible problems.
Personally, I think most of it is stupid. In 20 years of owning horses, my family has never had a horse injure a leg (tendon, bone, muscle, or otherwise) while riding...only during turnout. That's not to say that it can't and doesn't happen, of course, because it certainly does. However, if your horse is physically developed enough to start ridden work (which I'm assuming she is) and you're taking it slow, the extra "support" provided by the wraps really isn't going to be all that necessary. On the other hand, if she's the type of horse that interferes a lot or is all over the place (hitting her legs with other hooves, tripping, etc.) then wrapping could help protect her from cutting herself.
I've heard that constantly wrapping a horse's legs puts the horse more at risk for injury when the horse's legs aren't wrapped because the muscles/tendons/whatever never had the chance to strengthen. This could be a complete myth, but I thought I'd pass it along :).
I've owned various breeds (QHs, Arabians, TBs, mutts, ponies, etc.), ridden multiple disciplines over the years (jumping, dressage, hunters, western performance stuff), and never wrapped for under saddle work and have not experienced a problem because of it. If a horse incurred a leg injury, it was unrelated to the lack of wraps. I did used to use splint boots and bell boots on my jumper, but I haven't used the bells since he caught one of them with another foot and flipped over a solid 2'6 jump. I quit using the splints because he never had any issues that caused interference, so they really didn't seem necessary. I did use bells on my QH the first summer I got him because of a hoof/shoe issue, but that was it.
Then again, my sister, who gives lessons and rides out of a fancy h/j barn, will never ride her horse without wraps.
To each his own, I guess, and if you are willing to wrap and have the desire to do so, go ahead. Just be sure you do it correctly because a poor wrapping job can cause more problems than not wrapping.
1. It is not good for the legs of a healthy horse. It is better to let their body move and respond to different physical demands naturally. By wrapping the legs you will not be conditioning her tendons properly and it will do more damage in the long run than good.
2. If she is a really green horse, she may not like wraps on her legs. If you do decide to put wraps on, I would lunge her at walk/trot/canter first to see how she responds. Not all horses take to it well at first. If she is very green, it would be wise to test her from the ground first. It would be safer to just not use them.
I think wraps would be an excellent idea, especially on her front legs, but all 4 for proper balance and support...but the front legs are more likely to be injured and can "splint" where the splint bone breaks off from the bone and in an attempt to fuse it back into place a bump forms---the leg will always be weaker in this spot and the horse will put more weight on the non-splinted leg---over-time the leg with more pressure will splint out as well due to the added pressure and weight put on it...
A good idea would be Saratoga Wraps--they offer great support and can be used as the horse grows, unlike Sports Medicine Boots which need to be purchased in co-ordination with the horses height, since a 3 or 4 yr old is still growing you may find yourself needing to get bigger SMB's later on which can be quite pricey--better to wait until they are full grown before purchasing these...
Just Google Search "Saratoga Wraps" and you will find a few sites where you can purchase them--they are definitely worth the price! I've had mine for 9 yrs already and the velcro is just starting to wear out!
If you are going to go with the SMB's I recommend Professional's Choice SMB Elite (get the Value Pack--you will need all 4 boots anyways) or Classic Equine's Legacy System boots--great boots!
There are 2 trains of thought regarding this. 1, is use wraps and protect the horse, using overreach boots too. 2, and my train of thought, that has worked on both of the horses we have started from 4 year olds, is not to wrap. This way they learn for themselves not to overreachh or brush. I use wraps and boots now, but know that in the event that we lose a boot or forget to put them on he will be safe. It's the same when jumping, if a young horse starting out in jumping wears boots he won't learn how much it hurts when he knocks a rail, this way he wont respect them, When schooling over jumps I never use boots, this way he learns if he hits a rail it's gonna hurt. I always use boots when competing!!! Good luck!