I have a mare who doesn’t usually hit herself. But once or twice when she’s gotten a little leg scrape or such playing in turnout, her body tends to over-react, swell more than any other horse I’ve had . Now that we’re doing more lateral work, I’d to use leg protection but am concerned about boots/polos due to heat. Would neoprene, ballistic or rubber bell boots offer sufficient protection against a random knock by a shod hoof? I’ve often heard people will just use bell boots instead of shipping boots for the same reason. Thoughts??
No. Bell boots protect the hoof/shoe/heel, they won’t really protect the leg that is being hit where a boot would cover.
just use these
Can pair with bells if you use bells to address overreach, etc
Well, if bell boots cover the entire hoof couldn’t one rationalize that the covered hoof couldn’t hurt the opposing leg? Not trying to argue, just trying to think “outside the box”. I’ve seen some BNTs use polos and bell boots on front and hind legs. Obviously they’re not using bells on the hinds to prevent grabs. I’ve used sheepskin boots, equilibriums, and polos on my horse, and they were still sweaty after a schooling in midsummer heat 
Yeah, if your horse hits or brushes his legs, protect his legs with boots.
Bell boots don’t cover enough of the hoof and more importantly, the shoes to give the protection you’re looking for. To some degree, anything is going to heat the legs…you just have to decide which is the lesser of two evils…the heat or the risk of interfering.
1 Like
I and others I have known have used mainly bellboots such as no-turn Professional bell boots for riding in hot weather. I’ve lived in places where regular leg protection is just too hot while riding. Is that the case where you are? Polos offer no protection but some of the very thin rubber wraps do.
I think another thing you can think about is balancing your mare increasingly on her hind end, and increase suppleness and decrease stiffness so that she is not prone to hitting herself much. Also, consider creative use of groundpoles so your horse is really aware of her feet. I know this all sounds so simple to a trained person but there’s really an art to getting your horse with you while increasing lateral straight and bent groundwork to prevent hitting on a horse who is prone to interfering. Sometimes, the horse is just NOT paying attention and going through the motions even if you technically ride correctly. My point is to be creative in your riding so your horse is always thinking and not overfaced or bored.
Thanks for everyone’s thoughtful opinions on this topic. To clarify, my mare does not hit herself. We are now schooling 3rd level and she goes bare-legged unless we jump. During my almost 3 years of owning her, she’s only lightly knocked herself in turnout 2 times. But because she seems to over-react to cuts or dings, I’ve been thinking about protection while schooling. My concerns of heating the legs are for during the summer vs. current temps.
Maybe I should follow the line of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” re: boots. Maybe I’m over-thinking this and worrying for nothing. Guess I can always get a pair of the extra tall neoprene or no turn bell boots. Not like they’re expensive…and see how it goes. Reassuring to hear that someone else has turned to that as a hot weather option (J-Lu)^^
I boot the front legs with Equilibrium Stretch and Flex or fleece-lined splint boots. There was a blog post somewhere a few years ago with a rider that used a temperature probe to measure heat under different boots/wraps. The sheepskin/fleece did the best of the boots/wraps she evaluated.
If you are concerned about heating the legs, you really need to be icing/cold hosing after working (if you are not already). The studies I read suspected that the damage was caused by the tendon/ligament cores remaining hot for hours after work. So I’d think booting for an hour, of which probably only 30-45 minutes the legs are getting hot and sweating, is not as much of a concern as letting the horse go back out or stand in a stall with super hot legs after working.
1 Like
I don’t ride my horses in boots at home unless one has a chronic issue.
But if I’m clear about what you’re asking, it sounds like “won’t the bell boot cover the shoe and therefore buffer any impact when that shoe hits a leg?” Does that sound right?
If that is your question, the answer is an absolute no. Bell boots do not cover any part of the shoe when a horse is moving. They are designed to protect the heel bulb, not the shoe. They would provide zero protection to another leg if that shoe/foot was to hit the other leg.
People who ship in bell boots are typically doing so to prevent a horse from stepping on/removing a shoe. Not “in lieu” of shipping boots. I will often ship my horses naked (except for bell boots) in hot weather on short hauls. But in no way do I think bell boots give similar protection to shipping boots. And on longer hauls I ship in bell boots + shipping boots (or wraps).
If you’re concerned about heat I wouldn’t go the neoprene route. I would stick to materials that are less likely to retain heat, as suggested by theresak.
2 Likes
PNWjumper, yes - you interpreted my question correctly. I think I’ll just skip the whole boot thing (in the summer) since my horse hasn’t struck herself while schooling…yet. Everyone at my barn boots up just to go walk around the farm, so sometimes I feel unnecessary pressure to “do more”. I definitely don’t have any chronic issue. Thanks all!
This was brought up, why would one put hind bell boots on a horse?
^^^ Denali, I decided to Google this. There was quite a bit of info floating out there. Here are some of the reasons bells on the hinds I found:
- Horses who move narrow behind were hitting their fetlocks/coronary bands, etc.
- Horses that pull hind shoes by stepping close behind
- Horses that reached so far underneath that they were scalping the front of the hind leg coronary band against the fronts.
