I have spent a lot of time watching the schooling ring for the grand prix classes and noticed that many of the horses have their hind leg galloping boots changed after warmups, before they enter the show ring. What is the purpose of this practice?
Theyâre swapping out a normal hind boot for a pinch boot/Doda boot/âencouragementâ boot. They apply pressure to the hind leg to encourage snappy, dramatic hind end action. The horses get used to the sensation if you school in them, so people switch them right before they go into the ring.
My rider (and others) generally warms up sans hind boots and then we put on pretty normal hind boots (not pinch/doda boots) right before he goes into the ring. Mainly because we want the horse to feel it if they hit a pole in the warm up to encourage more carefulness in the ring.
Many people will use normal hind boots though, and then switch to the special boots.
Actually the only time we used pinch boots was when I was left in Holland to show sales horses while my rider was back home. We never use these boots, but my rider insisted I show the horse in the boots. And the client was not happy at all to see the horse in these boots because she looked not at all like she looked in the video, less comfortable, more mechanical.
Fun fact, âDodaâ boots gained lots and lots of popularity when they came out. In fact, they gained more popularity than Doda himself, which is to say quite a few people knew Doda boots who had no clue who Doda was hahahaha which if you know Doda is hilarious.
I had to look up boots like that. Is it the shape or the straps that cause a pinch? I have used hind boots that I bought that are shaped to go around the hind joint like that but I didnât know they were considered to be pinching.
Why are those boots allowed in competition???
5 Likes
Agreed
2 Likes
UmâŠwhat exactly do you think the boots do that requires banning??? Is it cause pinch sounds mean?
really? Seriously?
I can understand the postersâ queries - there have been cases of boots with âspikesâ in them that have caused the boots to be inspected and banned.
Yes but all boots in the grand prix are examined by stewards. You can also put horrible things in any boot. Like shards of jagged plastic for instance.
I think perhaps people donât understand that these boots were developed in part as an alternative to the ridiculous large and heavy weighted hind boots you can still see in use today. And also to insane overtightening of straps needed to provide pressure that these shaped boots do without overtightening.
Just to add, none of these special or weighted boots are allowed in young horse classes
2 Likes
They are banned in young horse classes, a couple of big riders ran into trouble with that rule a few years back.
They work via a combo of the shape of the boot cupping the back of the fetlock and the pressure - some brands have non-elastic straps that you can make quite tight.
Whether that pressure just makes the horse more aware of their hind end or actually causes discomfort isnât really known, but I suspect some of those self-confident, opinionated Grand Prix horses would have a much bigger issue with them if they really hurt.
Any kind of item inside any boot is banned - the boots we are discussing are smooth inside, if you run your hand in them they feel just like the inside of any other hind boot. There are some on the market that come with little blocks, almost like a pair of dice, that you can insert for added âpressure,â which is certainly not FEI legal.
I donât think encouragement boots are particularly sportsmanlike, but I also donât think they are inhumane (at least the ones without blocks). Thereâs certainly an argument to be made that by using physical pressure to encourage a certain action and discourage another, they arenât much different from a martingale, or even a pair of spurs.
1 Like
So are any boots that go around the back fetlock considered encouragement boots? What does a âplain hind jumping bootâ look like? I thought thatâs what I was buying and no one has ever said anything.
The first type is what we generally use for schooling and the young horses.
Some of our older horses go in the second type
We have a couple who simply donât tolerate hind boots, so they donât wear them.
The difference between these âplainâ boots and doda boots is if you watch the video you can see that the doda boots have raised portions on each side that kind of fit into the tendon area more than a flat surface would, putting more pressure there.
Youâll see the horses walk off raising their hind legs quite high when you put them on. Of course, I find most horses do the same thing when I put shipping boots on them haha
1 Like
It is both. Before the FEI stepped up their boot check procedure, it was possible to fix the straps extremely tight. Now, ideally, not so much. The backside of the boot interferes with the free flexion of the fetlock joint, so the horse has to hoik (is that a word?) its hocks up higher and farther back to finish the jumping effort. This extra effort can overload the front end upon landing and also can cause back/sacroiliac issues. Sometimes it can cause the horse to jump more up than across, so the rider had better have a strong and secure leg to support it over the oxers. Iâd be happy to see them go away. Weâd have less of those 25-horse jump-offs and the course designers would not have to be so wicked to get a result.
1 Like
I would like to see pinch boots go away in the show ring too.
No, I do not think that they âhurtâ the horses (meaning no, I donât object because of the idea or the word âpinchâ), but I do think they are a gimmick and are no different than jumping crazy swedish oxers or poling horses in the warmup. I have used them sparingly at home over low fences when I want a horse to understand something different about how they use their hind end, but I think that using them in the show ring is cheating. How is it different than using shards of plastic in the boots? I mean, I get that it doesnât cause intense pain, but creating a reaction based on discomfort/weird pressure is really not that different. Youâre still using an artificial means of eliciting a greater response than the horse is trained to give. I canât for the life of me understand how these are still legal. I would LOVE it if someone could explain it to me in terms that I understood, because I must be missing something given the popularity and acceptance at shows.
Also, Iâve seen them used on many horses who are ânot quite good enoughâ at the 1.40m+ level in an effort to try to get clear rounds - and often by less-than-stellar trainers. I attribute many wrecks to the boots because youâve got a horse jumping differently in a show environment and riders who donât understand how to change the ride to help.
With all of that being said, I havenât seen the insides of many of the boots Iâve watched get cranked onto legs at the back gate. So I suppose itâs possible that Iâm just assuming that all of the Doda-looking hind boots are the ones with the blocks, but maybe theyâre not? I didnât realize you could buy them without the blocks/rods on the inside. And on a side note, I certainly donât see nearly as much of the hind-boot-cranking-activity in FEI GPs as I do in the regular 1.40m/1.45m non-FEI events.
3 Likes
I am kind of a beeyotch but I always thought that the FEI turned a blind eye to the Doda boots because they were manufactured by the husband of a major benefactor to several glamorous shows. And now practically everyone uses them at the top level for fear of being disadvantaged if they do not. Seriously, does Big Star need a pinch boot? I doubt it.
Equifit makes two different boots in similar shapes to the doda boots (straps and around the back of the leg instead of primarily to the inside) but without the âpressure panelsâ if you will. The inside of the equifit boots are the same foam material as all their other boots. One of my horses just jumped better with the boot around the back of his leg more than regular boots. They were never any tighter than the ones he flatted in, but he was rather large so I personally think they served more as a reminder of âoh right I have hind legsâ than anything else. He didnât jump significantly different (i.e. higher or trying harder) just was a little bit more likely to not have a hind end rail with them on.
As far as showing goes when switching them, at all shows I have been to recently there has been a steward watching in the jumper warm up who would have noticed if the boots were being put on too tightly. And thats at 1.20+, not just major classes. From personal experience I donât perceive them as cheating but more similar to a reminder of their hind legs like ear plugs can be a reminder to focus.
1 Like
Practically everyone does not use them at the top of the sport
it is much more as pnw says, youâre more likely to see it in the 140ish classes because a lot of those are sales horses people are trying to make look more extravagant behind.
Well I am glad to hear that (about the top level). For a while there they were ubiquitous.
Veredus Pro Jump and Equifit AmpTeq do not have blocks. The Equifit RSL are the only ones I know of that come with blocks. I am not super familiar with the Doda brand so cannot comment on those.
I looked at the Doda boots, and just want to make sure I understand correctly. They have long, thin âblocksâ on the inside of the boots, that fit into the tendon groove on the sides of the leg â and those âblocksâ cause a pinch that makes the horse more careful over jumps?
I ask because I got a pair of Tekna Open Front Jumping Boots for my mare because they come in cob (which is a difficult size to find) and I didnât want to spend a lot, since she doesnât show anymore. But if these are causing a pinch and make her âsnappierâ in front, I want to know⊠because I donât need that for her!
