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Question for Reiners

What kind of (front end) boot a reining horse might use when doing sliding stops, spins, etc. Something that obviously would support tendons, ligaments. I have a horse that loves to gallop and slide to a stop in pasture and looking for some ideas. He is not a reining horse.

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Can you be more specific?
Are you wanting to put boots on your horse when he is free in the pasture? (not a good idea)
Or when you are riding?

What kind of riding do you do?

First, any leg protection is more for concussion than for real support.
Tests have shown any support boots offer minimal support.

In those sliding stops horses need support on the back, the front is supposed to be moving freely.

It takes very careful and knowledgeable training to have a horse doing reining type movements safely.
Best learn with a trainer and trainer will know what leg protection is best when.

Many horses can do a real nice reining type stop: :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Boots and wraps cannot provide significant support for soft tissues on a horse - physics. Additionally, heat is the last thing you want on tendons and ligaments, so boots and wraps should never be used for extended periods of time, like turnout.

I use Professionals Choice 2X Cool boots on my ranch/reining/cow horse, but only when we are going to be working on reining maneuvers or cattle. If I’m just doing rail or horsemanship work, I do not put the boots on. The boots go on right before I mount and come off immediately after I dismount, even before I loosen her girth.

Boots and wraps don’t provide support. They simply can’t. We use them to guard against impact.

With that said, I polo wrap mine or I just use a classic equine splint boot. No fancy sport medicine boots.
What I AM fanatical on is bell boots. I’ve seen one too many times a reiner catch the bulb on its front foot with the sliding plate on the rear. It is nasty and painful for them.

I top it all off with a knee boot. There’s various brands and way to do it. I like professional choice knee boots or a classic equine wrap bell boot turned upside down

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Ok, thanks for the advice.
Fortunately, he doesn’t slide to stop under saddle (hunter) like Bluey’s example. but loves the gallop outside and slide to stop just before fence line. Always been exuberant in turnout.

Don’t worry about what your horse does on his own free time. Any type of wrap or boot does not provide “real” support. The companies might claim they do, but go dig out the studies (most studies don’t even exist to back up their claims), and the studies that are out there are simply abysmal if you actually read them. It’s single digit percents, or lower, in “support” that they provide. Which is nothing when you consider the sheer amount of force a 1,000+pount horse puts on a foot.

When I put boots on my horses, it’s for the goal of physical protection. If they happen to hit or overreach, I would rather they take a chunk of boot out of their leg … rather than flesh. I do not use boots with the purpose to “support” because that quick frankly isn’t real.

I don’t have horses that does sliding stops, but for example, when reiners put on skid boots, it’s to prevent the horse from getting a burn on their fetlocks from sliding. It is NOT for support.

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