My horse has been diagnosed with a high suspensory injury and some people say cold hose others say ice boots. Any experiences or opinions?
For suspensory injuries, I would prefer cold hosing slightly over ice boots on a wet leg. The problem with ice boots is that the temperature decreases as the ice melts, and they can slip or be placed incorrectly and the horse playing with them.
There have been some studies, when dealing with laminitis, that the most effective way to apply cold therapy to benefit is to soak the leg to mid cannon in a slurry of ice water for 3 x a day for an hour… 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off each time. Ice boots and cold hosing don’t provide the same benefit as standing in the ice water. At least this was the treatment we switched to back at the clinic some years back.
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Which does your vet recommend? I suspect it doesn’t really matter, and probably time and limited activities will matter much more.
My vet said either or for my high suspensory injury. Right now, I prefer the ice boots. I get his leg wet, have figured out how to keep them in place (most of the time, they aren’t always perfect) and then I can clean up my tack and keep an eye on him while he munches some hay.
My only “problem” with cold hosing is potential for skin funk and thrush. Because I’ve been dealing with both, I have been icing and find it’s a lot more time efficient for me. But my horse also tolerates the ice packs fine 
I alternated both with a check ligament injury.
Well, if you live in AZ there is no cold hosing possible in the summer!
Well, fortunately I live in New York and water is not an issue. Just hope I am not still doing this when it’s 20 degrees out!
Has anyone used Ice Vibe boots?
