Eq riders, rather than hunters, but still, many rails dropped. So looks like that’s a thing for sure. 
https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/2019-aspca-maclay-championship-commentary
I’m curious if anyone on this thread has treated their own wounds with rubbing alcohol? The sting sucks but dissipates completely within 30 seconds.
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I won’t speak for anyone else, but I can state unequivocally, that the scratches on my horse’s white hind legs do not come from constantly being scrubbed.
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Of course it’s a thing; all horses hit rails. But for a derby hunter to do it so consistently that they feel the need to spray it with alcohol before it goes in the ring… It’s just weird. That issue would be better corrected at home with poling, etc. (NOT advocating for it; just stating a fact). Plus, the horse would be hitting with it’s hoof, not the leg (hopefully), so the horse likely wouldn’t feel any additional pain anyway.
I am of the opinion that this was probably innocuous. Like many people have said, alcohol on a wound stings for a hot second, and then the sting goes away. It doesn’t make the wound more sensitive for a long time. As for clipping at shows…Someone at my barn did it at our last A show because it needed to be done. No nefarious reason.
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But she didn’t say that. She says they were trying to prevent scratches.
I have an alcohol/water mix in a spray bottle for my chrome horse to get the stains off or mud or whatever gravitates to her bling (thank god new on is black )
Serious question- is it illegal to spray alcohol on legs or is it the perception of “soring” as someone else stated? My horse doesn’t even flinch…
That is an ineffective method of doing so. I n fact, the effect of repeated applications of isopropyl probably does sufficient damage to natural barriers to increase the susceptibility to entry of microorganisms.
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I don’t think you can draw any nefarious conclusions here. Honestly, rubbing alcohol stings for maybe 30 seconds when I use it to clean a break in the skin (scratch, cut etc). I can’t see this having an effect all the way into the ring and through an entire jump course. Did this horse have white legs by any chance? It can be used to clean them as others have stated. Horses get dusty and dirty in the warm up ring and you want them looking sharp when they go into their classes.
To the issue of using alcohol to make a horse more careful - plenty of people use a wire brush to create small punctures in a horses legs that are then sprayed with alcohol to remind the horse to be careful. A quick reapplication if alcohol at the ring prior to their trip will keep the horse careful.
I have never done this to a horse, but I have seen it done and you would be shocked at the persons doing it.
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There is nothing wrong with cleaning your hunter’s legs with alcohol. I find it far more interesting that people think it is nefarious.
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I’m with you. I’m battling a case of scratches on my horses white legs (RF & LH). They haven’t been washed or clipped since August. The black legs are totally fine.
I think unpigmented skin is just more sensitive.
As to the topic. I wouldn’t suspect anything nefarious. The horse “not liking it” doesn’t mean anything either. I had one that though hoof oil was molten lava. And another who has danced around for fly spray for all 16 years of his life.
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Are you folks really that young and naive? I did the alcohol wire brush routine in early 1980s for my jumpers. I was young and stupid and followed whatever my trainer told me to do.
Alcohol is pointless in preventing skin infection, e.g. scratches. Veterinary clinical research shows that alcohol does little in preventing any sort of infection. Alcohol swabs for injections are also described as “client appreciation patches” as that is about the only person who gets any relief when used.
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Cheating methods have advanced since the '80s.
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Yep…this… I have a horse with 4 high white socks, bluing shampoo and rubbing alcohol are my best friends at shows! What I do find sad, just the act of cleaning our horses now gets people apparently “talking and whispering “…sigh…
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I’m finding it both fascinating and terribly sad how many people are immediately declaring that the people were harming the horse despite the fact that their only information is 1. Coming from an anonymous second hand source and 2. Lacking in any detail that would allow us to objectively determine what their intent was. Y’all, do we even know for certain what was in the bottle? Nope.
Some of you are viciously judgemental against a person YOU DIDN’T EVEN SEE.
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Bahahahahaha, I own a multi regional champion Arabian… He still loathes getting sprayed. God help you if you try to fly spray his legs… Groomed Arabians for YEARS, and yes, rubbing alcohol is used as a stain remover. At a bigger show, for turnout purposes, you might see this right before a class since colored grooming products are prohibited and that includes chalk/Shapley’s Touch-Up spray and you don’t want dingy chrome. His legs are shaved close as well for the sake of turnout.
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How young were you that you didn’t realize that alcohol evaporates so quickly that the pain would never last long enough to make a difference in a jumper class, and you blindly followed your trainer’s directions instead of questioning them (or simply ignoring them)? Had you never put alcohol on a wound of your own that you could have known that?
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Not only does it evaporate so quickly, but do you really think a groom is doing this in front of people? Really? People do stupid, awful things to horses, and yeah sometimes people are rough while riding them in the warm-up, but they don’t pole them for the world to see. So, most likely, they were touching up the white.
The GGT footing makes white hind legs YELLOW and it is ugly and noticeable.
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Just today I used rubbing alcohol to clean up my horse after my lesson because I did not want to hose him. I even used it on his white sock which I just clipped the day before. I have used it at shows in front of actual people to get sweat marks off before the jog. I have also found it works great on scratches to soften up the scabs. My horse has never ever reacted to it. Rubbing alcohol is a lifesaver for gray horses to get poop stains off. This is one of the silliest threads ever.
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Yes, they were doing this in front of people, probably about 10 to 15 watching. Started with the thought maybe it doesn’t like to be sprayed. A couple people really started watching when the front leg needed to be picked up to allow this to continue. It was still trying to pick up the hind when the front was held up. Horse was dancing around in pain, not annoyed because it was getting sprayed. There is a difference.
All 4 legs were white and blindingly beautifully white before the “cleaning” started. No dust, no yellow, no footing on them. Interestingly the front legs were not wiped, only the hind legs. Did I mention you could see the clipper track marks (painful looking scabs) from 15 feet away?
I looked up who the trainer was. Not local to me but you better believe anyone considering sending their horse there will be told what we saw. They can then make their choice on how they would like to proceed.
(oh, and pretty sure it pulled a rail in the class… a couple did and I think this was one of them)
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