Putting on boots/wraps in the opposite direction?

[mydogs]

There is a video circulating on FB that interviews a girl who is shown putting on standing wraps & sports medicine type boots on her horse. Except, the wraps went in the opposite direction so the velcros were on the inside of the horse and was pulling from back to front.

Now, my pony club mind is screaming. I was going to give the girl the benefit of the doubt and assume she was nervous or rushed because I know I’ve put on boots wrong while not thinking, but always fixed it before I finished getting all 4 boots on.

Not here to bash the girl, just giving background for those that didn’t see the video. But, she must have been taught this way. Other than not knowing better, is there a reason for putting boots & wraps on in the opposite direction, that maybe I’m not aware of?

[Highflyer]

No, there is no reason. The sports medicine boots I had years ago were literally labelled left/ right to prevent this.

[JB]

You can wrap safely either direction. But I’d never have any fasteners on the inside of the leg - they need to be on the outside where the opposite leg won’t have any chance at hitting it and potentially working it loose.

[sk_pacer]

Wraps in either direction as mentioned above as long as the fastener is on the outside. Boots - buckle towards the rear, meaning the strap end is pointing rearward and always on the outside of the leg

[joiedevie99]

Nope. Velcro on the outside, facing backwards. Always boot or wrap so that you are pulling against the cannon bone, not the tendons, to tighten. When you boot/wrap in that direction, the velcro ends up facing back (as it should).

[Xanthoria]

The reason for fasteners on the outside of the leg, facing backwards is to prevent them coming loose.

(I have never understood the idea that you should not pull right over the tendons, but over the cannon is ok. Bandages and boots just don’t work that way - the front and back are connected. Pull one side, it all tightens.)

[JB]

The idea behind tensioning against the bone, not the tendons, is that by tensioning (pulling) against the back of the leg, you can start to shift ligaments and tendons to the side and out of place. How significant an issue that would be, I can’t say. But it seems like a good enough thought process that I’ll never test it out.

[2DogsFarm]

Being left-handed, I’ve always wrapped (bandages, polos) the “wrong” way.
I do end up with Velcro - or tie strings - on the outside of the leg.

@Xanthoria pulling against the tendons can result in a bandage bow. Front of leg has just muscle & skin, so more pressure/pulling isn’t going to hurt.

[StormyDay]

So I can’t speak as to why the boots were put on incorrectly. But when my horse got splint swellings from hard arena ground during a drought, my vet suggested wrapping the opposite way (tension against cannon bone, bring wrap to the inside of leg, then outside, around the cannon bone again) to put the compression on the splint area. It did help and he hasn’t gotten splints since.

[mydogs]

@2DogsFarm

Being left-handed, I’ve always wrapped (bandages, polos) the “wrong” way.
I do end up with Velcro - or tie strings - on the outside of the leg.

I just rewatched the video and the girl has the hoof pick in the left hand, so that makes sense now.

[purplnurpl]

Honestly, it doesn’t matter.
some boots have double velcro. I don’t buy those because my OCD brain can’t handle it. But is just personal preference.

use pillow wraps.

also, polos have zero support. They are only good for preventing rubs.
So don’t do them so tight that they may cause an issue.

that is all.

[JB]

@2DogsFarm

Front of leg has just muscle & skin, so more pressure/pulling isn’t going to hurt.

The lower legs don’t have any muscle. The long extensor tendon runs more or less down the front of the cannon bones, and while it’s not very common, and definitely not typically as big a deal, you can bow that tendon as well. But it would take really right wrapping, or a very careless lump of material.

[Xanthoria]

@2DogsFarm

Being left-handed, I’ve always wrapped (bandages, polos) the “wrong” way.
I do end up with Velcro - or tie strings - on the outside of the leg.

@Xanthoria pulling against the tendons can result in a bandage bow. Front of leg has just muscle & skin, so more pressure/pulling isn’t going to hurt.

There’s no muscle below the knee or hock. And there the extensor tendons are at the front of the leg.

As as for wrapping being related to handedness, also doesn’t make sense: you wrap in different directions depending what side of the horse you’re working on. Clockwise on their right side, anti clockwise the left. So everyone, left or right handed, has to do it both ways. Unless you are wrapping all 4 legs the same direction?

JB, surely you’d have to get a polo wrap really much too tight to move the tendons around - or even press them sideways? They problem at that stage would really be lack of circulation. Standing wraps have padding underneath so not really affected by directional force.

[JB]

@Xanthoria

There’s no muscle below the knee or hock. And there the extensor tendons are at the front of the leg.

Jinx!

As as for wrapping being related to handedness, also doesn’t make sense: you wrap in different directions depending what side of the horse you’re working on. Clockwise on their right side, anti clockwise the left. So everyone, left or right handed, has to do it both ways. Unless you are wrapping all 4 legs the same direction?

I’m a leftie and wrap front to back on the outside of both sides of the horse, which means the velcro ends up facing the rear. But I know some who wrap opposite ways on each side which makes the velcro end up facing front on one side, and back on the other. As long as it’s tensioned properly, it doesn’t matter much.

JB, surely you’d have to get a polo wrap really much too tight to move the tendons around - or even press them sideways? They problem at that stage would really be lack of circulation. Standing wraps have padding underneath so not really affected by directional force.

It’s amazing how tight I’ve seen some people crank on those polos, because they went from the one extreme of not tight enough and having them slip, to making SURE they weren’t going to slip

[Xanthoria]

hahah, jinx! :lol:

Yeah I’m pretty sure the direction doesn’t matter that much to underlying structures - only doing fast work in tall grass etc could I see velcro being pulled off if the ends faced forwards, vs back. And anyone doing work in tall grass/underbrush would use boots! That said, based on this thread, perhaps assuming people know not to use polos outside the ring is worth mentioning… :eek:

[JB]

Yeah - if they’re going to get wet, don’t use them.So no brush-less trails that take you through a stream, for example :no:

[Scribbler]

And no jumping in polos, I think?

[SonnysMom]

@Scribbler

And no jumping in polos, I think?

Why no jumping in polos? I have not heard that before.

[2DogsFarm]

:o Tripped up by my brain going full steam w/o doublechecking before hitting “Post”.

What I intended was “mostly hair & skin” < still anatomically incorrect. :uhoh:
I was taught you have to really pull hard against the front of the leg to bow a tendon.

Re: “no polos jumping”
??? We always wrapped with polos for Medals class. This was in the late 80s, early 90s.
White for every horse, unless you had a gray - then black was acceptable.

[JB]

:lol: :lol: btdt, brain starts one train of thought and switches before fingers typing it can fix it