I use a mix of rubbing alcohol and Epsom salts then wrap over that after a race, or a show. For general workouts, I will wrap over poultice as well.
I have an arnica spray I make myself (mimicking Sore No More) for under wraps at shows, and for baths. I actually spray it on my horses’ backs in the winter before tacking up, which probably does zero for my young horse but really helps my older guy.
I like poultice under wraps with Magic Cushion packed in the hooves if I’m really worried about any pounding that happened. My jumper goes pretty much only on very nice footing at shows so I rarely have to use it. My older horse events and his lease kid ices and/or poultices and/or wraps as needed after a competition.
It used to be felt that cold water was harmful to horses, particularly after work. Common practice was linement. We automatically wrapped legs. If anybody was cold hosing or icing anything except a hot splint, they didn’t do it in front of anybody.
Then there were some actual studies done on cooling horses done prior to the ATL Olympics that debunked centuries of what turned out to be old wives tales regarding cold water and horses. Now we cold hose, aren’t so quick to slap wraps on without a specific reason and linements are not the barn must haves they once were.
Still run into holdouts but if it has worked for them for years, more power to them. There’s really no right or wrong etched in stone on a lot of these things and many get seduced by flashy ads for products that aren’t really needed.
[QUOTE=BLBSTBLS;8872889]
I use a mix of rubbing alcohol and Epsom salts then wrap over that after a race, or a show. For general workouts, I will wrap over poultice as well.[/QUOTE]
Do you dissolve the epsom salts in the alcohol?
I confess to using Vetrolin for sponging after trail riding not for advertised properties of liniment. I use it because I like the smell and I think it helps cut the sweat when I sponge bath. I never use it when I hose off at the barn. So while I don’t think it does much from a muscle soreness point of view I find it beneficial for another reason.
If I use liniment, it’s something like diluted Vetrolin to cut the sweat on the entire body, and the legs are well dried before wrapping. We used to spritz some of the wintergreen rubbing alcohol before wrapping back when I used to groom, unless the horse’s routine was to use poultice.
I still like a brace in hot humid weather but for the astringent effect, not any soreness relief. It smells good, the tingly feeling refreshes the horse (and human) and I think they cool and recover from working hard in the heat faster.
Been using Witch Hazel for years. About a two cups in 5 gallon bucket of cool water. You can also use Wintergreen rubbing alcohol. Cheap. Doesn’t dry the coat either and you don’t need to wear gloves or worry about it irritating your skin.
I still like doing a liniment body rinse after jumping on a hot day. It seems to help cut thru the sweat and hopefully she feels refreshed…my sponge hand does!
And I only wrap at shows…more because she is stuck in a stall vs. being able to keep moving around as she would in turnout. I use a mix of rubbing alcohol and witch hazel for that.
I had to chuckle at the farm we stabled next to at a show earlier this year…they iced and poulticed every. single. horse. every. day. Most of the horses were doing low stuff. There was one horse that did literally ONE .85m jumper class and still got iced for an hour and then wrapped with poultice. And, of course, they had to block the shared aisle with all these horses in cross-ties for all this nonsense. :mad:
[QUOTE=Raine;8873389]
I had to chuckle at the farm we stabled next to at a show earlier this year…they iced and poulticed every. single. horse. every. day. Most of the horses were doing low stuff. There was one horse that did literally ONE .85m jumper class and still got iced for an hour and then wrapped with poultice. And, of course, they had to block the shared aisle with all these horses in cross-ties for all this nonsense. :mad:[/QUOTE]
You never know the whole story. Maybe that one 0.85 horse has an old injury? I wouldn’t be laughing at people icing and poulticing. I throw ice boots on after I lunge or jump, anything that added extra stress to the legs. Some days we only jump 2’6", other days 3’6", but if I can help reduce the risk of injury I will.
Of course, you could be right, GoodTimes! But they did every single horse every single day. The ice boots alone would not have made me think twice, but the poulticing of every single horse was a bit much. Mostly they annoyed me because we had to share an aisle and they kept horses in cross ties all damn day, which made getting to/from our stalls a pain. Not sure why the horses could not wear the ice boots while eating hay in their stalls. I’m sure they would have been much happier vs. standing on concrete for 1-2 hours.
I even managed to scruff a horse using alcohol under bandages… so I stick to poultice or if needed a sweat like furacin (the latter of which of course can be a health risk to humans…ugh)
Yes – PC mantra - never rub and wrap!
If you want to put something under a wrap, put a poultice.
Count me in as someone else who learned the hard way while the horse paid the price. I would only ever put poultice under standing wraps.
Liniment I do not really use on legs; I will make a mean brace for after XC and the day after, I do think the Sore No More brace makes a difference in tight-backed horses.
I use sore no more every time I ride without wraps. I wrap at shows when they’ve jumped a lot of jumps. Never had a horse blister.
I poultice and wrap or sweat a limb and wrap but never use a liniment and wrap. I will also use rubbing alcohol as a brace under standing wraps and polo wraps alike. It’s a track thing but I like to do it. Many liniments are extremely strong. If they make my hands uncomfortable during application, imagine what your horse thinks. He has no idea what’s going on!
If I’m worried about a horse being sore or worried about legs I will cold horse or ice boot them after a ride.
I wrap (with a light application of bigeloil) after hard jump school days, and show days. I think it depends on the horse and your purpose for wrapping. My horse is 19 and tends to stock up and get stiff from showing and from being in a stall. Given that there are a lot of opinions and ways of doing it, there probably isn’t an absolute right way…
