Best jumping boots for schooling

[AppyMom]

I have recently changed gears with my horse and leaving the “stock horse hunter under saddle world” and moving into hunterland. He is a big floaty mover and it is not rewarded at those shows. Actually I’m also doing dressage with him and that might really be where his talent lies but we shall see. He scored in the low 70’s and won his training level classes first time out, we’ve not shown at a hunter show yet.

I am new to over fences so I’ve convinced my trainer to let me stick with 2’ for my first year out. So we’re not doing anything big and he’s only 7 anyway. He has a tendency to bang himself up a bit. I’ve always schooled in polos but those aren’t going to cut it anymore. I need something that offers him more protection. In the appaloosa show world you only see polos and sometimes those professional choice sport boots (which I hate). So I’m curious which boots are most recommended. Keep in mind I’m not doing jumpers so these are strictly for schooling, I will not be showing in them. I had a little bit of sticker shock when I saw that some of the boots are close to $200 just for fronts. If that’s what I have to pay to protect his legs, then so be it but I just wanted to see if there are any recommendations for some that are maybe a little less expensive. Bonus if it does ok when getting wet. I like to hack out on trails and all our trails include deep water crossings so something that works for that as well would be wonderful. However if I need a separate set of boots for trails I will do so. I’ve been going without leg protection as I’ve only been doing them at a walk, but I’d like to start conditioning him more by doing some trot work out there so he needs something. He’s one who if he gets a nick it usually turns into a big knot that I have to keep wrapping for several months so preventing any nicks saves me a lot of headache.

[largo]

Try some eskadrons, if they fit his legs fine they can offer good impact protection. I haven’t used them in water but washing them they don’t seem to take in much. The price point is pretty good for the 4 boot set.

[PrincessPonies]

I second the eskadrons boots. A set of four is reasonable and they hold up well. If you are just getting into jumping I would think you could get away with just about any boot. I have a set from Horze that are purple. For all four it was about $80, this was five years ago. And they do well in water. Many brands and stores have your basic black boots that are hard on the outside for protection. From the sounds of it that’s all you really need. Even when we were jumping big jumps I never had $200 boots. She never had an issue.

[Highflyer]

I typically use open fronts for jumping in the ring and galloping boots for trail riding/ hacking out, but at 2’ you can just use galloping boots for everything. The Woof ones are a good basic one to start with https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/woof-wear-sport-brushing-boots-4759 and work well for flatwork too. I have several types of hard shell open fronts that are all ok (none in the $200 range) but these are my favorites https://www.statelinetack.com/item/roma-competitor-open-front-fetlock-boot-set/E006477/ I typically don’t use them except to jump because I don’t think they distribute pressure as evenly across the whole leg, so for longer rides I like the full coverage type boot.

[kaya842]

I, personally, never use boots or wraps anymore outside of galloping (and I mean full out OTTB galloping). After reading several studies showing that boots heat up legs and increase/ encourage cell death within the leg, the boots are not worth it. That being said, my horse does not interfere. I will buy another set of boots at some point for “just in case”. When I do, I’ll be looking at Majyk Equipe-type boots: the material must be NON-neoprene as neoprene holds heat and is not very breathable and the boots need to have wide velcro straps to distribute the pressure across the front of the leg (and the tendons within) better and give a better fit.The velcro straps were mentioned at a clinic with Anne Thornbury, she said something along the lines that the tab closures (such as the Equifit boots that I previous owned) do not fit all horses well. They only offer two settings and your horse might be between or outside those settings, meaning the boots will be too tight/ lose which is not a good thing.

https://www.smartpakequine.com/pt/majyk-equipe-infinity-vented-tendon-jump-boot--front-13532