If they have shoes…I use boots on them…others without shoes, I may still depending on the horse. Mine are good quality breathable boots but reality is I’m not working them long enough (or hard enough) most of the time for heat damage (yes I know the research). I boot my horses to hopefully protect from a random wack (which can happen if the spook or for any other reason). I’ve lost months on horses hitting a splint and other wacky reasons. No…it will not save them from everything but it takes two seconds to put the boots on and not much to scrub them out. I usually can use the same set on multiple horses (not always). And it’s just an easy step to hopefully prevent a stupid injury.
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Boots! Polos! They are the whole “Ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” type of thinking. My gal gets polos and ankle boots for flat, open boots for schooling, and splint boots up front + bell boots for turnout.
Am I being paranoid? Maybe. But growing up, I had a horse who popped a splint while in turnout and was never sound again - banged his leg against god knows what and that was that. I won’t take that chance again when an extra 30 seconds will help prevent it.
Do I think that boots offer more SUPPORT on her tendons and ligaments? No. But they are added protection against bumps and bruises and that’s enough for me.
