I want to know all about Ice Vibe boots and your opinion on them!
Are they worth the money? Do you see any difference when using them? Are they easy to use and tolerated well by the horses? etc…
I bought them and used the religiously for about 6 weeks during a rehab period on my boy. Nothing much phases him and I can’t imagine many horses being bothered by the slight vibration. They aren’t noisy and they aren’t shaking violently. I didn’t love they way they fit as far as boots go, but pony didn’t wear them much more than 15 minutes when I was untacking and grooming. He cannot be trusted in a stall with leg gear on. I think he may have eaten them. As far as the cold goes - that is where I felt they lacked in performance. I know we shouldn’t over cool and freeze our horses legs but these gel wraps never felt really cold and after 10 minutes on the horse, they were at least body temp if not a bit hotter. To me, that defeats the purpose if their legs are going to get hot from the ICE vibe wraps. Would I buy them again? Probably if I had the spare money… but who has spare money with horses?!? My barn mate has a low tech, velcro on set of boots with what feels like ice cubes in long tubes along the boot. To me, those stay cooler longer and start out much colder than the chemical material that is in ice vibe boots.
I agree with @Lizrd I used the knee version for a horse that had some issues, but the ice pack is so small that it gets warm very quickly. I doubled up the inserts, since I was only using it on one knee to get it to stay cold longer.
I had much a better cold therapy experience with a kind of gell pack where the sheet was probably 18"x18" with a velcro closure. I have no idea where it came from - it belonged to my trainer and just lived in the freezer in the feed room.
I didn’t hate the Ice Vibe boots, but thought they were pretty expensive for what you got.
I don’t have the ice vibe boots, I have another pair, and I found that if my horse’s leg are slightly damp the boots get much colder and his legs & boots stay cold for a very long time. When his legs are dry, the boots don’t do anything and his legs don’t feel even remotely cold. I can’t remember where I read it or what it was, but something about how the water helps reduce something (air?) between the legs and the boots.
I tried them rehabbing a couple bowed tendons and they just didn’t get or stay cold enough. Went back to 9 pocket ice boots. There’s just not enough COLD stored in those little ice packs to really do much ICING.
Yes, you need to have their leg damp or wet and you will see a HUGE difference in the cold. I actually get concerned my horse is TOO cold and pull them off early when her leg is wet. However, even with a dry leg I find my mare’s leg cool after wearing the boot. Of course it depends on the outside temperature–we had a brutally hot summer–so the packs didn’t last as long on stupid hot days. But that’s not a fault of the Ice Vibe boots, that’s the damn weather!
I have the Ice Vibe hock boots and they are far and away the best ice hock boot out there. I spent money on Ice Horse and other products and the damn things didn’t stay on the horse. I would leave her unattended in her stall for five seconds and the boot would be around her ankle. Ice Vibes stay put, and the ice packs are much better quality than any other ice pack I have bought with a boot. I had to throw out a very expensive ice pack that came with my Ice Horse hock boot because several of the pockets burst and leaked. The Ice Vibe packs are tough, which I really like. I’ve used the ice packs on myself too and liked them, so I considered it money well spent!
I agree with a damp leg if you are using them for ice. I think the fit sucks for icing unless the horse is pretty fine boned. I have the XL ones and they are still too small with the inserts. I like the Equifit compression boots 100% better for icing. Much better fit and the pack doesn’t get warm as fast. But I primarily got the Ice Vibe for vibration without the ice, having borrowed them first and buying on sale. I would use the vibration settings while tacking up or at the end of the day if wind puffs were a little bigger than I liked. I wanted to increase circulation, and for that they seem ok.
@IPEsq how do the Equifit compression boots hold up? I have looked at those as well, but I am on the fence as to which one would be more worth it to buy. I know that Ice Vibe has vibration while the Equifits do not, but I’m not sure if just the vibration would really set them apart.
So far so good. I did have an issue where my horse chewed one of the valves, but Equifit gave me a replacement. Apparently you can order them but I couldn’t find the parts on their site so I visited the booth at World Cup in Omaha and they had some there.
The ice packs in the Ice Vibe are made of a pretty flimsy material in comparison to the Equifit ones. The outer boot of the Equifit boot is basically SMB type material. So except for the valve pieces, there is not much about them that is delicate. They fit better so I am less worried about them shifting around / falling off.
I havent tried removing the vibe plates while icing with the Ice Vibe. That might make them fit better. although the ice packs themselves have Velcro to close it around the leg, they aren’t big enough to close on my horse. He is a big guy but I think his legs are pretty average circumference for a taller WB.
