Equestrian Strategies with Liana Antanovich

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Podcast with Liana Antanovich (English) Liana Antanovich, originally from Belarus, has journeyed through Russia, Europe and the United States and now currently visits in Latvia. Her unique experien...

Watching Youth Show Jumping competition in Incunkains, Latvia. 90-100 cm course. Quick observations:

Next horse is already in the arena, when a current rider starts, sometimes two following horses in the arena, and they manage to keep away of competing horse just fine.

Same classical attire, but mostly black jackets, do not think i saw any navy.

All horses are on the bit in a round frame between fences. Majority of horses are on the aids and many in front of the leg, in the uphill balance.

Most effective riders who did the course in 29-35 seconds had old school seat, maintaining vertical body position over every obstacle or combination. They also had zero or minimal faults.

J. Morris style riders who dive with chest on horse necks showed slower pace on a course, 36-59 sec, more faults.

Very good footing and maintenance. Horses look surefooted, even in super tight speedy turns.

Not a single kid cries. Started class is in the comfort zone for everyone, and kids look like - hey, can we raise the course 20cm higher?

Light trailers are pulled by SUV with hitches, this is very impressive. There are big vans as well with side load, but mostly light trailers for 2 horses straight load pulled by SUVs.

It is -1C today, ground is frozen outside.

Lots of natural light in the warmup and competition arenas.

Norhing is heated 🙂

More later!

Medium trot can be as high as collected trot in some horses

Remember Always !!!

Was reflecting on Cesar Parra's videos floating around on the internet, and surfing the internet thinking how can we professionally define what is over the limit? Came across this concept explaining by highly regarded Walter Zettl. Video starts right on that concept:

A Matter of Trust Volume I - Walter Zettl A Matter of Trust, Volume l - in this series Walter covers the basic guidelines for equine behavior, movement, gaits, physical and mental characteristics of ...

A distressed rider pinged me about discussion going on in media regarding training video with Cesar Parra in FL. I browsed Internet and found this video. https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/usef-and-fei-investigating-training-video-of-cesar-parra/. Nowadays, it is very disturbing to see beating up of a young, lovely, gorgeous horse like this, who only demonstrates body language of coping, willing to understand demands of a rider. In my youth, which was all in 19th century, it was a common deal to "school" a horse like that into delivering reflecsive, precise reactions of desired effects and amplitudes "on a push button". Horses, especially in big sport, were on "sports economics" schedules, and many still are. Riders, especially professional/commercial riders (not professional in terms of methods, but in terms that they are making money for living from that), are always under a very big stress. They mount a horse, and horse must deliver, else the whole sporto-economic machine breaks and someone has to file bankruptcy or leave commercial sport. It would be helpful of course to use and leverage FEI and National Federations regulation engines to stop and prevent beating up sport horses. And it is also great when tactful riders demonstrate their training long videos to cultivate letting a horse develop and respond on their individual schedules, not sporto-economical ones. Please share your imperfect videos and descriptions of what you are doing in social media! Let's enjoy THEM.

Is it ok to trail ride, ride on uneven terrain, or go over small jumps in dressage saddle? - this question (paraphrased) was asked in a Saddle Fitting group here on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/793338210719804. Here is what I think about that.

A dressage saddle aligns rider knee closer to hip-hill vertical line, and this alignment concentrates rider weight on the pelvic seat bones, which are triggers for engagement and collection. A horse may not collect instantly from just this seat-weight distribution, but over long periods of time (more than 40 minutes, and on uneven terrain) it might begin feeling overburdened in back in spots under saddle/seat bones. All-purpose, endurance, and jump saddles allow for rider knees to be more in front of the hip joints, thus allowing entire thighs from knee to seat bone to serve as distributed weight carriers. Riders have advantage of balancing upper body weight over broader and longer weight base, front-to-back, left-to-right, and be more mobile with upper body balance. Thus, not concentrating weight placement on one narrow spot, but using all that surface under named area, and horse's body is less tired/compromised. Another benefit of riding long-distance or on uneven terrain in non-dressage saddle, is that other saddles are flatter in the tree, and have small thigh blocks, those other saddles do not carry danger of creating a paper-clip-like or nut-crecker-like cramp from rider knee into seat bones leaning into tall back of saddle. If you ask me, I always have two saddles. One dressage saddle for collected work, and another all-purpose saddle for hills, trails, light cavaletti jumping. Having said that, I absolutely feel comfortable going on a 40 min trail ride with dressage saddle mostly in walk, with 5-10 min in posting trot included in it, and maybe 1 min canter up a slope. But I do this rarely, when I have to change plans suddenly to derail from collected work in an arena, or for a short 15 min cooling off phase after dressage work. If I plan trails/hills/cavaletti jumping right away, I use my all-purpose saddle, and my horse is very grateful for that. Pictured is my dressage horse with all-purpose saddle on vs dressage saddle on. You can see right away the forward knee design difference. I hope this helps!

Infix.
It came to my attention that trainers sometimes like to use infix while talking to riders. Two of my favorite examples of infixes:
'fan-flaming-tastic' - to encourage anything
'abso-hanging-lutely' - to encourage loosely hanging down leg for a dressage rider
'good e-bloody-nough' - stop yanking that horse on a mouth
Do you use infixes ever, in sport our elsewhere in live situations, and what are they?

Part 2 on the jump/light seat.

Forward Seat in Color 2 - by Captain Vladimir Littauer Forward Seat is a two-part film made by Captain Vladimir Littauer for instructional purposes. Roots of March 1, 1947. Roots of Modern Riding at Sweet Briar C...

Detailed description and videos of a jump/light seat by Captain Vladimir Litauer. Part 1.

Forward Seat in Color 1 - by Captain Vladimir Littauer Forward Seat is a two-part film made by Captain Vladimir Littauer for instructional purposes. Roots of Released on March 1, 1947. Roots of Modern Riding at S...

If closed throatlatches in dressage horses cause extreme low level of oxygen in horses, can that be measured during training and competition with a pulse oxymeter similar to what humans use? An interesting article on anoxia in dressage horses. At the same time FEI has been gradually removing all "nose in front of vertical" requirement from its rules over the years. Read and watch here: https://youtu.be/zO8_F5bQMPw?si=EjZzfXrT2thb8Vq0

What a lovely presentation!

How many of these things can your horse do? Maybe even some more?

Elmloher Reitertage 2023: Die grandiose Vorstellung von Showreiterin Lisa Röckener Auf den Elmloher Reitertagen 2023 hat Showreiterin und Influencerin Lisa Röckener die Massen begeistert. Eine Show, die den Pferdesport in einer anderen Weis...

Lack of farriers is a growing problem in many countries. Many riders amd horse owners revert to learning to trim and even shoe themselves. How do we approach this?

Here is my experience, when i needed to begin trimming my horse myself. I had some small background. Years ago, my eventing trainer Yakov Schedrovitsky had a habit to educate every rider in his group how to trim, so not be dependent on calling a farrier between the trims. So i got some of that early on.

Decades later… need to trim my own horse. Watched a farrier do that, made notes. Lots of YouTube videos. Joined this group after already trimming myself for over a year. The secret to it is - do a slightest touchup often, once every 3-4 days, so that is only for bevel and balancing (front-hill, side-side). It is much easier to do 2-6 brush strokes per hoof with a rasp frequently rather then letting it go for 3-4 weeks, then you may need knife, clippers, and much greater knowlegebase and skills. Female trimmers are usually better, cause weaker in arms and make less harm, also hand style is good right away, cause women and girls have frequent relationship with own nails ( technique is very similar). I taught other horse owners to trim, because farrier jobs are economically disappearing. Thinking that eventually this job will get split between horse owners and riders doing basic simple things, and vets (well, vet clinics) will be offering special stuff.

Curious, how many of owners and riders switched to trimming themselves in the last, say, 3 years, and how many are thinking about trimming themselves?

Non-horse people in management jobs for equine organization are a frequent conflict due to core function (equestrianism) innocence or incompetence. Seems like equine clubs are going through phases: blooming with equine management at the top and then griming with others. Empathetic to the petition appeal below for sure. However, there are examples of corporate people with deep equine training experience who are phenomenal leaders for equine organizations. I'd be curious to learn more about the nature of the conflict.

Most of you will have heard of the latest upheaval at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Chief Rider Andreas Hausberger who served for 40 years at the School was suspended from his job for criticising the leadership of the current director Alfred Hudler.

This is the latest event in a long series of conflicts between the chief riders of the school and the business leadership stretching back more than 15 years and at least three different directors. The core issue seems to be that the last three directors came from a corporate business background, not a dressage background, and tried to run the Spanish Riding School like a hotel (Elisabeth Gürtler) or a brewery (Alfred Hudler) with the bottom line as the top priority.

The inevitable consequence of a profit oriented leadership style is that corners are cut in the training, horses have to be pushed up the levels faster than they can handle, and they have to perform more often than is healthy in order to maximise profits. The well-being of the horses is compromised, lamenesses become a regular occurrence, and the quality of the training deteriorates.

Whenever chief riders stood up to the leadership and pointed out the harmful consequences of their management, they were fired, rather than trying to find solutions to the problems they brought to the attention of the director.

In a corporate environment, having a young dynamic team may be an advantage, but in a classical riding school decades’ worth of practical training experience with hundreds of horses can’t be replaced by anything, not even youthful enthusiasm. And while it may be relatively easy to replace a chef at a restaurant or a brew master in a brewery, replacing a chief rider of the Spanish Riding School takes 30 or 40 years because they have to be made from scratch - under the supervision of the previous generation of chief riders. Once this chain of transmission is interrupted, it cannot be repaired.

If you count Arthur Kottas as the first chief rider to leave the school after the privatisation, the school has lost a total of six (!) chief riders (Klaus Krzisch, Johann Riegler, Wolfgang Eder, Herwig Radnetter, and now Andreas Hausberger) in 25 years. Each one of them has 40+ years of practical experience in riding and training horses. That adds up to more than 240 years of combined experience. This is a loss that is impossible to replace.

The Spanish Riding School has existed for well over 400 years and used to uphold the highest standards of classical European equestrian art. The secret to its success was the unbroken succession of teachers who trained horses to the highest levels and then used these horses as four-legged teachers to pass their knowledge on to the next generation of two-legged students. This resulted in the accumulation of a vast body of practical knowledge. The instruction always took place in person, one teacher, one horse, one student at a time. Very little was written down, which makes the tradition vulnerable to disruption if only one generation doesn’t take care to preserve and transmit this knowledge to the next generation. All this incredible training knowledge can disappear very quickly if the chain of transmission from teacher to horse to student is interrupted. Thanks to the corporate leadership of the last 15-20 years, we may have reached this point today.

If the highest priority of a cultural institution like the Spanish Riding School is the well-being of the horses and the quality of the training, then ticket sales and merchandise will not be able to generate enough income to cover the expenses. Trying to increase sales by holding more performances and training horses faster destroys the health of the horses and the integrity of the training, as three consecutive corporate directors have amply demonstrated. So the gap in the budget needs to be filled in other ways. Either the Austrian state has to step in and subsidise its cultural heritage, or private sponsors can help to finance the school, similarly to the way opera houses in the United States are supported by countless small and large sponsors.

In the meantime, there is a petition you can sign that demands a change in the way the Spanish Riding School is managed.

https://www.change.org/p/stopp-der-zerst%C3%B6rung-des-weltkulturerbes-spanische-hofreitschule?recruiter=false&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=share_for_starters_page&recruited_by_id=c5a868c0-c17b-11ed-a16c-d75057b1d2eb&share_bandit_exp=initial-35668032-en-US&utm_content=fht-35668032-de-de%3A0

Or you can write a letter to the director of the school, Dr. Alfred Hudler:
Email: [email protected]

Another great way to make a picture with a horse.

Credit to https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=137538974663849&set=pob.100052232423364

This is how you make group photo with a horse :)

Credit: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=5726571160741019&set=pcb.5726571660740969

Feeling trapped. What are we doing? There are thousands of equestrian stables in New England and may other parts in the US, and only a handful of them have decent 1-2 acre grass turnout per horse head and a decent springy arena footing. Most that have land and very nice grass pastures do not have modern springy surface training arenas. The ones that do have training arena, do not have land, or overpopulate land they have with 3x - 5x horses than what that land can safely hold.

Developers are buying out land, equestrian properties good for 5 horses board 20-30 horses divided in to 30*50 feet dirt parcels. Many stables have not seen investments in decades.

0.001% of stables offer possibility of training with natural living for the equines.

Question on top of my mind is - why are we (humans) are procreating in such quantities, and what is the purpose of equine breeding then for sport, if we do not have land for them for living with dignity?

The best stall matts my horse stood on. Legs do not stock up overnight on these mats for him.

Many heard of using thoracic sling (the purple muscle structure in the chest) to engage for correct collection. But have we heard of stretching the shoulder sling (the green muscle structure around shoulder blades) to stretch withers upwards for correct collection? Apparently, these two muscle groups work together in unison to produce the swinging collected movement we all so much like in dressage horses.

Who would think a full size halter can have another use.

Allowing foals to run loose while moving their mothers to and from pasture or breeding stocks can be treacherous.
Try this easy and no purchases necessary (everybody has a halter hanging around). Stops them from running off, laying down or flipping over. Later, we add a foal halter. Then, no longer need the halter/harness.
My friend Carri Foster Genz taught me this years and years ago.

Summary of 2023 USDF dressage tests changes. Canada adopts these tests from January 1, 2023, too!

What's New in the New Dressage Tests? The USDF tests change on January 1st in Canada, so there is plenty to practice in the off-season to be ready for the 2023 shows.

static1.squarespace.com

[video] Seat Bone Control In Walk - https://dressagetraining.tv/seat-bone-control-walk/

Some riders move around too much in walk, which gives them little control over tempo or the length of the horse's stride. In this 2 minute video in the above link I talk about seat bone control and show a little exercise which prepares the rider for developing better control of tempo and better control of their seat. The final exercise is a precursor to learning how to halt directly from stopping the seat bones.

With the attire rules busted wide open, we wondered what dressage competitors are doing with their newfound freedom. Enjoy this “look book” and get inspired in this reprint from the May/June 2022 issue of USDF Connection magazine by Jennifer O. Bryant.
https://yourdressage.org/2022/08/23/fashion-forward/

Pictured: Farao Santana’s striking coat color is set off by rider Bethany Buchanan’s dark palette: jacket with understated bling accents, gloves, and breeches (Photo by SusanJStickle.com Equestrian Photography & Design Services)

Equestrians from South Africa elaborate on a stretchy circle in tests or any determined stretch in training. Very thorough examination or outlines, great for judges, trainers, riders to know. Which outline produces most swing in back and cadence in gates?

Stretching the Frame on the Circle

Read more: https://www.xenophonec.com/single-post/stretching-the-frame-on-a-circle

Image:

A-F

A - The horse shows stretch both out and down with his nose in front of the vertical. The question would be does this represent the horse releasing his back, or is he stiff? That can't be answered without a moving horse.

B - The horse is definitely stiff in the back while showing an outward and upward stretch.

C - The horse has dropped his neck and curled up in C, showing no inclination to stretch outward toward the contact.

D - The horse shows some outward stretch but lacks the downward inclination.

E - Showing both an out ward and downward inclination, with his nose slightly behind the vertical. However, if the neck was elevated, the nose would come in front of the vertical, so this is still okay.

Compare it to D. In a moving horse, this type of stretch would most likely show suppleness in the back.

F - The horse is showing an incorrect contact, with the middle part of the neck being the highest point, the poll very low, and the nose behind the vertical. It is doubtful that, were this a live situation, the horse would show any suppleness over the back.

If you truly want to be the best you can be, you'll always find a path for improvement. Regardless of injury, illness, weather, work, all the excuses, there is always opportunity.

What do you do to improve without your horse?

THAT is what I keep trying to explain to people. Short back lift saddles are very hard on both rider and horse backs. Ok if a rider is a beginner and needs a secure feel for a couple of weeks, but imagine a horse is backed with such saddle for a year. I see a correlation between these saddles and massage and chiro therapists visits for both horse and rider long term.

Some differences between a “back seat” style saddle (top) and a “traditional seat” style saddle (below).

Note the length of overall pressure, placement of the rider’s weight on the horse’s back, openness of seat.

COOLING HOT HORSES - THE STATE OF THE ART

*** PLEASE SHARE ***

Since Atlanta 1996 we have known that using continuous application of cold water without scraping is the most effective way to cool down horses that are moderately to severely hyperthermic (re**al temperature in excess of ~40°C/104°F), especially in hot or hot/humid conditions.

The sources for this evidence are:

PEER-REVIEWED PUBLISHED PAPERS
1) Williamson, L.S., White, S., Maykuth, P., Andrews, F., Sommerdahl, C. and Green, E. Comparison between two post exercise cooling methods. Equine Vet J., 27(S18), 337-340.
https://beva.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.2042-3306.1995.tb04948.x

2) Marlin, D. J., Scott, C. M., Roberts, C. A., Casas, I., Holah, G., & Schroter, R. C. (1998). Post exercise changes in compartmental body temperature accompanying intermittent cold water cooling in the hyperthermic horse. Equine veterinary journal, 30(1), 28–34.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9458396/

3) Kohn, C.W., Hinchcliff, K.W. and McKeever, K.H. (1999) Evaluation of washing with cold water to facilitate heat dissipation in horses exercised in hot, humid conditions. American Journal of Veterinary Research, 01 Mar 1999, 60(3):299-305. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10188810/

4) Takahashi, Y., Ohmura, H., Mukai, K., Shiose, T., & Takahashi, T. (2020). A Comparison of Five Cooling Methods in Hot and Humid Environments in Thoroughbred Horses. Journal of equine veterinary science, 91, 103130.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32684268/

5) Kang, H., Zsoldos, R.R., Skinner, J.E., Gaughan, J.B. and Guitart, A.S. (2021) Comparison of post-exercise cooling methods in horses. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science 100 (2021) 103485
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jevs.2021.103485

DATA COLLECTED & ANALYSED AT
a) Atlanta 1995 Olympic Test Event
b) Atlanta 1996 Olympics
c) Athens 2003 Olympic Test Event
d) Athens 2004 Olympics
e) Beijing 2007 Olympic Test Event
f) Beijing 2008 Olympics
g) Tryon 2018 World Equestrian Games
h) Tokyo 2019 Olympic Test Event

Cooling hot horses with cold water DOES NOT
1) cause muscle damage
2) cause laminitis
3) induce shock
4) give horses heart attacks
5) prevent them from cooling by constriction of skin blood flow

Water left on horses DOES NOT
1) insulate and prevent heat loss
2) cause them to overheat

It is NOT MORE EFFECTIVE TO
1) start at the feet and work up
2) scrape water off whilst cooling (it causes them to warm up)
3) focus on large blood vessels
4) cover the horse with wet towels

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Why not to use the matchy-matchy popular fleece polos. My horses would always ask me not to put anything on their legs as the weather grows close to 60 degrees or above. When I put polos or boots on, then object by gently pushing my hands away, resisting the wrapping. I tack my horses in a stall, so they are free to tell, they are not bound on cross-ties. On colder days, they do not mind. My current horse Fyren likes Eskadron liners with polos, but does not like polos or boots straight on legs.

Boots and bandages - are we harming our horses as we try to protect them?

Bandaging and booting our horses is becoming more and more popular, especially with the popularity of matchy matchy sets. But are we doing more harm than good? Most people will have come across the articles in magazines and comments from vets saying they are, and yet still they become more and more popular. Why is that? Why do riders still cover their horses in thick fleece bandages or fluffy boots despite the dangers? Tradition I suppose. Wanting to fit in. Or just habit, some will feel like they haven’t finished tacking up if they haven’t put the boots on.

I know this isn’t about dentistry (for which I apologise) but I am a vet first and foremost, and as a dressage rider I am asked why I don’t use bandages all the time. I’ve written about this several times now and no one pays attention, so rather than stating facts and quoting research, I’d like to take you through my journey of discovery, please bear with me. Facts and papers are at the end.

Rewind 12 years and I was in my final year at vet school. Prior to and during vet school I had a horse and we did dressage. I had planned to ODE but this horse pulled every tendon and ligament known to vet kind. He spent more time out of work than in. Each time I would up my game with the latest boots/bandages on the market. From fluffy boots to wraps to sports fetlock boots, fleece bandages to gamgee and cotton to the half fleece/half elastic bandages. I learnt new techniques for better support, figure of 8 bandaging to cradle the fetlock etc etc. I’d been there and done it. My collection was extensive.

Right at the end of vet school I had my rotations. I chose Equine lameness as one of my options. During in this I very vividly remember a wet lab with Dr Renate Weller where she had a skinned horses leg (showing all of the tendons and ligaments) in a machine that mimicked the pressures a horse applies to their limbs. She took us through walk, trot, canter and gallop, loading this leg so we could see the inside workings of the horses leg without the skin. It was fascinating I can tell you, and I very clearly remember thinking about my horse and wondering how on earth we are suppose to support this limb when it undergoes these incredible forces! Half a ton of animal pushing down a tiny spindle of a leg held by tendons barely thicker than my thumb. Craziness!

Fast forward just a few short months and I was a fully qualified vet in the big wide world. I attended my first BEVA Congress and during the break I wandered around the stalls looking at the latest inventions and technologies companies bring to these gatherings. Here I came across a company with the Equestride Boot which caught my eye. Now if you haven’t seen this boot, it’s wonderful and I’ve since used it a few times in rehabbing very severe tendon and ligament injuries with great success. The boot is a carbon fibre boot that stops the fetlock dropping, which stops the tendons and ligaments being fully loaded while they heal. This boot is super strong. You couldn’t ride a horse in it as it is limiting the range of motion so much, but they can move about easily enough at the lower settings to rehab etc. The guy on the stand (I’m afraid I can’t remember his name) showed me their research and in the straight talking Irish way explained the stupidity of expecting a thin piece of material to support a horse. And of course it can’t! Literally no bandage or boot (short of this very expensive carbon fibre rehab boot) is capable of reducing the amount the fetlock drops. Thinking back to Dr Weller’s demonstration, I could very clearly see how ridiculous I had been to ever believe a scrap of material could do anything to reduce or support that pressure.

But the boots/bandages don’t actually cause any harm do they? Surely it’s ok to use them on the off chance they might help and if we look good in the meantime, great! Well, not long after this, research started appearing that got me very worried about my bandage collection. Heat. Anyone that uses bandages and boots will not be surprised to see sweat marks under their bandages/boots after they’ve been removed. They trap a lot of heat. The horses body and legs generate a lot of heat when working. The tendons/ligaments in the leg, along with an increased blood flow generate ALOT of heat. Fleece bandages/boots in particular, hold this heat in the horses leg. Very few boots and virtually no bandages (especially if you use a pad under) allow the legs to breath adequately. This heat is easily enough to kill tendon/ligament cells. Each tendon/ligament is made of thousands and thousands of cells all lined up end on end and side by side in long thin spindles. They stretch and return to their original shape and size like an elastic band, absorbing and redistributing the pressures applied from further up the leg and from the ground impact below. All of these cells must work together as one to do this effectively.

Just a little side step here to explain how tendons/ligaments heal. A tendon/ligament cell can not be replaced like for like. They always heal with scar tissue. This is why reinjury is so much more likely if a tendon/ligament is blown. The fibrous scar tissue doesn’t stretch, it isn’t capable of stretching or absorbing the impact of a horses movement. It will always be a weak spot. In a full blown sprain/strain the whole (or most) of the tendon has been damaged. But this heat injury might just kill a few cells at a time. Those few cells are replaced by fibrous scar tissue, then next time a few more etc etc. Like a rubber band degrading over time the tendon/ligament loses its elasticity and eventually goes snap. Then you’ve fully blown a tendon/ligament. The injury didn’t start to happen at that moment, but that was the final straw. The damage adds up over time, each time thermal necrosis (vet word for cell death) occurs.

So if using boots/bandages can not offer any sort of support, and using them generates heat that slowly damages the tendons/ligaments until they give way. Why use them? Protection. This is the only reason to use boots. To stop the horse brushing, injuring themselves catching a pole or over cross country. But for goodness sake make sure your boots are breathable! If the horse is sweaty under the boot but not above or below, the boot is not breathable enough. And don’t use fleece bandages just because you like the colour. These fleece bandages are the worst at holding heat in the leg, way above the threshold for thermal necrosis to the cells of the tendons and ligaments. If your horse doesn’t need protection, don’t use boots. I haven’t for the last 12 years and *touch wood* I haven’t had a single tendon/ligament injury in any of my horses. I will never go back to boots or especially bandages now. I don’t use them for schooling, lunging, jumping, travelling, turnout, stable, in fact I don’t use them at all. Ever. But I don’t hunt or XC.

I hope you have found my story useful and can make informed decisions on boots and bandaging going forward.

For more information on the Equestride boot and their research into support offered by boots and bandages, visit http://www.equestride.com/ and https://www.equinetendon.com/services/equestride/

The horses leg under the compression machine at the Irish Equine rehabilitation and fitness centre https://fb.watch/cmVMt6-iOJ/ (I highly recommend you watch this incredible video. It clearly shows the amount of force the leg goes through and demonstrates the real purpose of boots)

Other relevant papers-
https://equimanagement.com/.amp/articles/horse-skin-temperature-under-boots-after-exercisehttps://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8f15/0ea480edca142260d01f419f80d2e7e7fb29.pdf
http://www.asbweb.org/conferences/1990s/1998/59/index.html

Edit 1 - I am getting asked about stable wraps very frequently. This post is about riding, the tendons and blood flow create heat which is trapped by bandages/boots during exercise. This doesn’t occur in the stable stood still. If the horse has a strain/sprain resulting in inflammation, then there is an increase in blood flow and there is heat being created. In this situation you should not be bandaging. But if it’s cold and an old horse needs stable wraps to keep the joints warm and improve sluggish blood flow (filled legs) you can use the heat trapping to your advantage. But you need to be careful in summer.

Edit 2 - the other thing I’m being asked about is compression. Compression DOES NOT control inflammation. The inflammation still occurs, but the swelling can not escape the bandages and the increase in internal pressure reduces blood flow, causing ischemic damage. Like laminitis within the hoof. The hoof capsule prevents swelling so the inflammation expands inwards and cuts off the blood supply. This is why laminitis is so painful and difficult to treat. Compression is only useful in the case of leaky vessels, for example reduced blood pressure, reduced movement so the blood isn’t being pumped backup the legs, or osmotic imbalances eg low protein with diarrhoea. In these situations, compression of the legs can encourage blood to return to the vessels and continue circulating.