I was going to post this over in Horse Care, but looking through it, it seems more like Horse Health Care, so I’ll post it here at “home”. 
I want to use ice boots now that spring is here and more consistent work is in the near future. However, they are pretty expensive! They don’t seem like they are all that complicated, so I was wondering if anyone here is crafty enough to have made their own. Any suggestions? Thanks.
Sort of - I made a quickie redneck version years ago when I was trying to ice my geldings high hind suspensory (so basically his hock). I couldn’t find anything at the time that would cover that area. So I took 2 ziplock bags & filled them 1/3 with rubbing alcohol & 2/3 water. They got “slushy”, but never frozen solid. Then I used a polo wrap to wrap them around his hock area. Totally redneck & not something you can leave on them & walk away, but it worked in a pinch.
Exactly what RomeosGirl said. I never created my own ice pack, there are plenty of flexible ice packs available at cvs/Walgreens, etc. Then I just placed the ice pack, wrapped snugly with a polo wrap or ace bandage, and then cleaned some tack near my horse for the time it needed to be iced.
I just use the picnic ice mats available at any drugstore and use a polo wrap or travel boot to hold it on. You can find lots on Amazon too
Ditto - I use shipping boots and put whatever repurposed ice mat/pack I am using in the shipping boots.
otterpops, all still connected
Awesome, guys, thanks!
Bags of peas held on with a wrap.
That’s great. This is what I was thinking about! So, you just created the “wrap” out of material, and added the velcro?
My go too if the horse is a old pro is a muck bucket with ice water. Next best is a half length standing wrap and a gel ice pack with a thin rag between the skin and the icepack to keep it from getting too cold.
I make a ‘pocket’ type thing. I just went to the fabric store and found something that was thin and tough. They sold rolls of Velcro so I bought a bunch of that. I measured my horses legs, cut out the fabric and went to work. The first boot I did lots of silly things like sowing the Velcro on the inside instead of outside. If you have someone with experience sowing it helps, my friend guided me through the first one. https://www.google.ca/amp/s/m.wikihow.com/Sew-a-Fabric-Pouch%3Famp=1
Kind of like this but with Velcro, I sowed the Velcro on before I stitched the sides up
Thanks, that’s helpful. I think I will try to do this. I have some scrap fabric I can use and I already have the velcro. Guess I need to get the ice packs first so I know how they fit.
I purchased a big lot of gel ice packs from a medical supply store (maybe 12"x12", don’t remember), and we just put them under velcro horse protection boots like the ones you can get from Dover or anywhere. Or even Professionals Choice style would probably work. No re-rolling wraps and it’s something most people already have on hand. I found a used set of 4 Equifit compression ice boots so decided to buy them and I did an experiment this week with the old cheap ($4-5) gel packs vs the equifit and the leg was much colder on the gel legs than the equifit legs. That being said, I am not that impressed with how cold they get at all, and am thinking of trying to figure out what I can use with ice and water that my horses will tolerate. The only issue there is if they have bad feet standing in the water apparently is not so good for them.
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