What do you do for leg care after an endurance ride ?

It seems like everyone has a different method for post ride leg care for endurance. From what I can tell, the main treatments are :

  • poultice ( sore no more, ice tight, etc )
  • some form of compression wrap
  • ice/other form of cooling
    -nothing
  • all/some of the above
    -magikial fairy dust :smiley:

What do you use? Do you alter this based on how fast of a ride, distance, how hard the ground was, 1-day vs mulitday, etc ?

I never did anything, didnt feel like it provided any benefit for the work involved. I almost never had anyone to help after a ride and it was all I could do to untack, put things away, blanket, feed, water, etc. I did buy ice boots once and used them but it was a lot of work and I didnt think it was worth it. One thing I always did was walk my horse for about 5 minutes every hour after the ride, til I went to bed, and upon waking, and usually I would wake up in the midddle of the night and walk him then too. I never had any problems with stocking up or swelling.

Clean and check the legs, good rub down with Sore No More liniment. If it was a ride with a lot of hard road/rock riding then add a clay poultice , done up correctly with brown paper and standing wraps. But just the SNM alone is pretty good at keeping legs cool and tight and sometimes it’s all you have energy left to do.

Now that I am in recovery from shoulder surgery I am using SNM on my shoulder. It never feels like anything other than water when you put it on, no tingle, no strong smell. But man oh man it relieves the pain and ache caused by the physical therapy sessions!

chicamuxen

If we’re at a place where we have a pen big enough for our horses to move around, (I help a ride manager put on rides, so she usually has big pens for her horses), I don’t normally do anything for them. Horses will generally move around enough at night to keep their circulation going and keep them from stocking up.

If we are at a ride where they’re tied up at the trailer, I like to put standing bandages on them after a ride, particularly with mud underneath. it’s a habit I learned as a groom on the racetrack :slight_smile: . Saratoga is right, walking the horses, often, is a very good thing, if they are tied to the trailer. Every couple of hours is great, and if you don’t feel like getting up in the middle of the night to do it, take them on a walk as soon as you get up, well before you tack them up for the next day’s ride, then warm them up well before you start!

I use ice only if there is a lot of hard road but otherwise I use a clay poultice. I mostly do this to double check for dry spots. If there is a dry spot by the time we trailer home, than I know I have an issue trying to happen and to keep an eye on that spot.

Once home, they get a recovery massage and turned out so they can keep moving to help recovery.

Generally nothing. Just a quick check to see that there is no swelling - which would mean a fast visit to the ride vet for a look-see, or overnight stocking-up - which a nice walk will de-swell - and then leave them alone.

Doesn’t matter if it is a 1 day 50, a 2 day 100, top ten, or turtle (which only happens when I mentor someone). I do keep my guy in a big electric pen with small hay piles scattered around so he has plenty of room, and reason, to move about - which is the best remedy for hard working legs.

I love Sore No More, but only use that on the big muscles. Not on the legs.

There is an article on when to use what. I have not used anything, but have considered icing the legs. Here is the article

We event training level so after XC we walk the horse out for a good cool down and to get the resp and heart rate close to normal.
Then if it’s summer I hose the leg joints for a few minutes with cold water at the wash rack. Dry the legs with a towel and massage Abraxas hydra-luxe arnica liniment into the lower leg joints. We quit using snm years ago when they started diluting it. Better stuff available now.