Leg Wraps and Boots for Horses

If you’re concerned about keeping your horse’s legs and hooves safe and free from injury you might want to use some leg wraps or boots. Your vet might also recommend using leg wraps or boots to act as a support for a horse that has had a previous injury or a leg problem like Laminitis.

Leg wraps and boots for horses function in the same way that braces and supports function for human athletes. There is a dizzying array of leg wraps and boots for horses and all of them come in a huge selection of materials, styles, and colors.

Here is a brief overview of the main types of leg wraps and boots and what they are used for so you can decide for yourself if your horse needs the support of leg wraps or boots:

Shipping wraps

These are used when you’re traveling with your horse over a long distance. Usually, you don’t need to put shipping wraps on a horse if you’re just going to a local show or to a training event within an hour’s drive, but if you’re taking a long drive or the horse is going to be on the trailer for a long time you should use shipping wraps to protect the horse’s legs from any jarring or impact from being in the trailer. Shipping wraps are usually heavily quilted squares wrapped with standing bandages or polo wraps.

Polo wraps

Polo wraps are those brightly colored wraps you see not just on polo ponies but also on eventing horses and show jumpers and other horses that work very hard. Polo wraps are stretchy bandages, similar to Ace bandages for humans but more elastic, that are wrapped tightly around a horse’s lower legs to protect the leg.

Lots of people like to use polo wraps to give their horses a little extra support but you have to know what you’re doing when you use polo wraps. Polo wraps need to always be wrapped correctly and evenly or you could injure your horse’s tendons. Practice rolling polo wraps and putting them on the horse before you start using them.

Also, when you take the polo wraps off and you roll them up until the next time you need them, take the Velcro strap at the end and double it over on itself and then roll the wrap around the Velcro strap. If you don’t do that you will start wrapping the bandage around the horse and when you get to the end you’ll find out that the fastening end is all the way at the other end and you’ll need to unwrap the entire bandage and start over.

Practice makes perfect when it comes to using polo wraps!