Do you ship your horse barelegged, with shipping boots, or wraps? If you use shipping boots what brand do you use? Would you use them over long distance semi trips? TIA
I recently had my horse have a bucking fit in my trailer and got a hind leg stuck over the back ramp. THANKFULLY he was wearing shipping boots, and I’m convinced that is the only reason he didn’t injure himself worse in the incident.
I currently have the Lende Pro shipping boots, but have heard good things about the Dover brand ones.
With that said, I know a lot of people who ship their horses sans boots all the time, especially for cross country trips. Personally though, after the bucking fit, my horse will ALWAYS have something on his legs anytime he steps on a trailer!
I had a horse climb into the manger and back down, with only a scrape on his poll. Fully believe he would have been in a whole world of hurt but for the shipping boots, and now always have them on when traveling locally. I have a few sets, but they’re all the big, stiff type that cover the knee and hocks and down to the ground.
For hauling on a big rig long distance, though, they go bare. Less risk (bigger space) and greater chance of something going wrong with the boots because of the long haul time.
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I never use shipping boots. My average haul is about 6-7 hours, and the longest I’ve done is 16 hours. I had more issues from using either wraps or shipping boots, and quit using them about 20 years ago.
I sold a horse last year and she shipped cross country. The commercial hauler would not allow any type of wraps or boots.
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Don’t use shipping boots never have. Horses do fine never been injured in trailer.
For short trips (up to half an hour) I use shipping boots. For longer trips I do bell boots and standing wraps. But I’ve never done a trip longer than 4 hours, I’ve heard the general recommendation is bare legs for long distance.
I use the Dover shipping boots that I got at discounts when ordering other things from Dover. They are just as good as the expensive shipping boots I previously had. My horses know when boots go on, we’re going to a show or some place fun.
I generally ship nekkid- although I will put my mare’s easy boots on before I trailer out because it’s easier that way. If I have one I’m worried about, I might through DSBs or Woof Boots on them
For short trips under 3 hours, I usually will have their homemade shipping boots on their legs or else their BOT quick wraps. I usually don’t go farther than 3 hours from home.
But if/when I would do a long distance haul, I would not put anything on the legs. Anything on the legs will trap some sort of heat, and that isn’t good for long periods.
Depends on the horse. My mares are my reasonable, rational ones, and so they ship naked everywhere. On occasion I’ll throw on a pair of bell boots to protect shoes. My geldings are less reasonable and rational and so I put shipping boots on them (I have a couple of different brands, but they all look pretty much the same where they go up over the knees/hocks and have velcro across the front). My TB is kind of a pill about unloading, and so he’s in the boots almost entirely so that he doesn’t scrape himself exiting the trailer. One of my other geldings climbed over a divider once a while back, and so he’s in shipping boots in case he makes another dumb move (though, to be fair to him, I removed his traveling companion of 30 hours at a barn 20 minutes from our final destination - I should have unloaded him too and then reloaded him - just one of those cases of hindsight being 20/20). And I sometimes ship in my BOT quick wraps - though that’s usually coming home from a show where the horse has worked pretty hard. And also never in the summer heat.
For short hauls, like a trip to a lesson or clinic, I ship in DSBs and bell boots. For longer hauls I’ll do standing wraps or shipping boots in front, nothing behind, I’ve seen too many horses start to lose their shipping boots behind then start to panic and kick. Commercial haulers hate hind shipping boots for that reason too.
I have a horse who can paw himself out of front shipping boots in about an hour. He just gets bell boots for long trips :yes:
For all trips, I use bell boots (horse lives in them) and fleece lined Dover plastic leg wraps. I’ve hauled cross country several times and pretty much no shipper will take a horse in shipping boots. They come undone easily (horses dislike when they slip off) and horses sweat in them. Plus, shippers don’t want to keep track of them. I think it depends on your horse for short distance hauling.
