Functional or Fashionable: White bell boots?

[mvp]

You haute couture dressage types, can you explain the advent of white bell boots?

It looks like they are worn to visually lengthen the front leg and to invite the viewer to see a whole lot of extension.

But why are these good-moving, well-ridden horses in need of bell boots in the first place? Aren’t they the least likely beasts to be over-reaching?

I say this as someone who was told (read: yelled at) as a kid about a horse who had lifted his front end properly not catching his own front heel with a back toe because he got those front feet out of the way and was light on that pair of limbs.

In other words, if I was riding a horse who was clipping himself, I had allowed him to drop the front end of his rib cage and/or all his front feet to spend too much time during the weight-bearing stage of the stride. They were getting clipped because they were on the ground for too long supporting his weight because he wasn’t holding himself “uphill” and supporting more of his weight on the hind limbs.

I don’t mean to be critical. I just want a clue. Thanks!

[BigMama1]

Most dressage riders I know use the bell boots for injury prevention. Not because the horse regularly clips itself, but when encouraging them to really reach under with the hind, a clip is always a possibility and just one mis-step could cause injury.

As for white vs black, I see both in schooling, but often black. White seems to be the colour of choice for prize presentations and clinics where yes, it looks nice with the white polos / boots and creates the look 4 even legs.

[Highflyer]

White for warmup so they’re more noticeable and you remember to remove them, is the theory I’ve heard.

[Hilary]

Bell boots used to always be white. Then black and other colors (Purple sparkles!?) starting coming onto the market, but bell boots used to come in one color and were used to prevent over-reach injuries.

Now I prefer black because white starts to look dingy in about 4 minutes.

[emipou]

I love all white on my all black girl because it a) looks much cleaner, and b) is much easier for my instructor and video to see her leg placement against the background.

[fordtraktor]

Am I the only one who uses them for practical reasons? I.e. So I can find them in the field when my TB pulls one off?

I have black ones for shows but trying to find a black boot in high grass is impossible.

[ladyj79]

I use them to visually shorten the time it takes me to find them in the field haha

[beowulf]

[QUOTE=fordtraktor;8890357]
Am I the only one who uses them for practical reasons? I.e. So I can find them in the field when my TB pulls one off?

I have black ones for shows but trying to find a black boot in high grass is impossible.[/QUOTE]

Same… except I get yellow usually - those are VERY visible in our field and in the mud, where there are rocks that could pass as a ‘dirty’ white bellboot.

Personally I hate the fad of seeing them in sale ads when the horse’s limbs are a dark color. They are one of the very few things I think are clashy/tacky. I grew up being told you match the bells to the hoof; black for black legs/hoof, brown for white/chestnut, and white if you have a seriously white limb… Even then…

It’s one thing to use them for practical reasons and I do not judge for that; but I have a hard time watching videos/warm ups of for-sale horses where the dark bay with no white is wearing white bellboots. To me it detracts from the horse and it draws the audience’s eyes to the front which is IMHO not where the eye should go – it’s too distracting and you should be looking at the hind end anyway.

[yaya]

[QUOTE=fordtraktor;8890357]
Am I the only one who uses them for practical reasons? I.e. So I can find them in the field when my TB pulls one off?

I have black ones for shows but trying to find a black boot in high grass is impossible.[/QUOTE]

Same here, with the additional reason that it’s hot here, and white won’t absorb the heat/sun like black. Don’t want to fry his hooves!

[yaya]

What about the trend of putting bell boots on all 4 legs?

[coloredhorse]

[QUOTE=fordtraktor;8890357]
Am I the only one who uses them for practical reasons? I.e. So I can find them in the field when my TB pulls one off?

I have black ones for shows but trying to find a black boot in high grass is impossible.[/QUOTE]

No, not at all alone! I prefer white bell boots (or hot pink on one occasion) for that very reason.

[Silverbridge]

Bell boots do not protect from dings that occur only from an overreach, hind foot to front foot.

They also protect from left to right, right to left, in lateral movements under saddle. And the same in the turnout, when a horse for example steps on one front foot with the other front foot, and can pull a shoe doing that.

[rothmpp]

Yep, my horse does not regularly overreach, but I’d rather err on the side of caution - one pulled shoe or clipped coronary band could mean weeks of a lame horse.

I use black - but totally get the idea of weird colors in turnout for ease of locating in the grass. Anyone who has ever spent hours looking for a lost shoe in turnout knows the pain…

My personal pet peeve has come from looking at sales videos lately. The all four legs wrapped in white bugs me a little. I want to know if my next potential show horse has uneven socks or markings on his legs. It can make them look… a bit off… in the show ring - but you can’t tell if they are evenly wrapped in the sales video.

[eternalbeginner]

Now that I’m watching a lot of sale videos I see many horses with these white overreach boots, they seem to be put loosely on purpose so they move forward in the trot in order to show off the extension of forelegs. Or so I thought.

White overreach boots look nice on show days with white polo bandages, I’ve seen that before and it is Ok I think.

[SendenHorse]

It’s easier to see dark legs on videos with white bell boots and white polos. I used to use white and light colors on my dark bay for this reason, more so than for fashion or protection

I think white bell boots look weird so I use black myself for protection against knocks. Black is a more normal hoof color.

[Dutchmare433]

[QUOTE=fordtraktor;8890357]
Am I the only one who uses them for practical reasons? I.e. So I can find them in the field when my TB pulls one off?

I have black ones for shows but trying to find a black boot in high grass is impossible.[/QUOTE]

I use safety cone orange if at all possible for turnout. Try to lose THAT in a field, horse, just try. I do not use that color for riding and definitely not for showing.

[netg]

I don’t use any kind of boots/wraps on my horses, but I really like the look of white, purely for fashion reasons. With horses who have yet to incur a single nick from riding work on their legs but have sensitive skin which rubs, and in a super hot climate, I choose to stay away.

But horses would suffocate themselves if we used bubble wrap. Any decision you make can be the wrong one in hindsight with their self-injuring ways, because they’ll do it and you won’t know how many times your personal decisions prevented injuries…

[Dutchmare433]

[QUOTE=yaya;8890485]
What about the trend of putting bell boots on all 4 legs?[/QUOTE]

I’ve only seen this at awards ceremonies where things can get a bit hairy pretty quick, and I think that’s mostly just trying everything possible to protect expensive horsey.

[J-Lu]

I don’t ride with bell boots but I turn my horse out regularly with bell boots. He’s short-coupled with long legs and an overstep, and he can regularly pull his front shoe with his hind foot. He is shod to minimize this.

Many well-bred horses have a significant overstep and can easily pull a shoe by stepping on it with another hoof. Many well-bred horses are athletic and can do all sorts of things with their bodies if they feel they need to. It is tradition to ride dressage horses in clinics or award ceremonies with white wraps or boots and sometimes bell boots, just like it’s tradition to ride with a white pad. The idea is that if the horse spooks, there is some level of protection on the legs/bulbs. The color is tradition. If you’ve ever seen a European awards ceremony, you’d know how chaotic the atmosphere can be. Even in America, crowds clapping, multiple horses in the arena, music on the loudspeaker can create stimulus for horses.

FWIW, I use centaur boots for turnout, and generally match the color to the season. Luckily, their lime green, baby blue, orange, red, can all be seen from outer space. Oh, and the reason I don’t have them on all four feet is that my farrier has solved the problem of my horse stepping on his hind feet via beveling the shoes and using clip shoes. So I really just need the protection in front. He WILL pull a front shoe with a hind foot, especially if he’s upset and running around in the pasture.