Dressed To Travel
Let's talk shipping wear for your horse.
I wrap for every. Single. Trip. Even if that trip is the 15 minute drive to my trainer's barn. Shipping wraps on all 4 legs, every time. I trust my own wrapping skills way more than I trust shipping boots to stay where I put them, so I wrap. Plus on longer trips the wraps provide beneficial compression that shipping boots don't.
Is this overkill? Sometimes I think it might be overkill. But GOD FORBID something happens and I get in an accident, I'd MUCH rather have my pony be wrapped up tight than his naked legs get sliced open.
And while I've made short hauls with his saddle on, it's definitely NOT my preference. Again, if something terrible were to happen that's one more thing for him to get caught on. Also my saddle was freakin' expensive and I would rather not have to replace it because it got damaged in the trailer, accident or no accident.
Bell boots only. He won't get in the trailer with boots on (I'm not joking, he is ridiculous) and seems to kick more and get hotter when he's wrapped. Of course, he generally isn't a fan of anything on his legs at all, even boots. Since he's a good traveler I'm ok to make him happy and leave him bare, except for the bells.
ReplyDeleteDarwin goes naked. I've tried both shipping boots and wrapping on multiple occasions. He's convinced anything on his legs is going to kill him and he'll dance on the trailer for the entire trip. But then again, he's a special case. Very, very special.
ReplyDeleteTris is a good traveler, so I leave him naked. I've just never felt the need to cover his legs - he doesn't move around much, and he paws so that I think he would unravel wraps or shift shipping boots. He's barefoot, so doesn't necessarily need bell boots. Sometimes he gets a head bumper, if he's been particularly "up" lately - he's been known to rear, especially in connection with the trailer.
ReplyDeletefor the first few months of hauling to lessons i was religious about bell boots, then kinda started slacking. then got good again when we added a second horse to the equation... then slacked again. oops. (tho she usually wears splint boots since i ride in them too).
ReplyDeletemostly now it's just bell boots if we're going farther than 30min+ - like when we come ride with you!!! - and then standing wraps on the ride home from an event if i poulticed her. if it's really hot i might skip that tho. she wears the saddle if it's raining and we won't have shelter for tacking up, or if we're running late lol.
We're nekkid travelers too. Not sure I have any real reason why. It's just what we do.
ReplyDeleteOmg. Okay. Well... I've always been a religious wrap/booter. I couldn't afford boots, and liked wraps better. Till I tried boots. The Dover pro boots are great, and you can often find them on clearance for $50 or so.
ReplyDeleteWhy do I like boots better now? Well, namely it's the strength of the nylon exterior and the depth of foam. It's also how they fit looser than wraps, allowing slightly more airflow.
Now. I know some of you don't ship in anything because "wraps/boots are too hot" bull shit. Wrap your horse. The incidence of tendon injury from standing in a hot trailer is practically nonexistent. The instance of catastrophic and PREVENTABLE injury due to accident in or with your trailer much more common. Use sense. Your horse doesn't want to be in a trailer, so it's up to you to be as careful with his legs/life as possible.
Trust me. After my accident in December, I've never been happier to outfit my horse for war every time he travels, and was never luckier that I did. Guinness would not have walked away from that accident without those boots. They took a massive beating, so he could keep living.
Need more proof. Reread my post, and LOOK at the pictures. http://guineaforaguinness.blogspot.com/2014/12/yesterday-was-true-horror-long.html?m=1
Oh, and to answer your question sans rant ;) Pig wears:
Delete- shipping boots (Over the knee/hock kind)
- A cooler if it's cold. He's a nervous sweat-er.
- a helmet if the trailer is normal horse height or lower. Idiot likes to rear and bash his head.
- halter fleecies if his trip is more than 6 hours.
- a leadeope. I'm bad. I tie it around his neck for the whole ride. I'll be honest. It's served me okay in an emergency.
Oh. And I also don't haul without a big knife in the truck with me. You never know what you'll have to cut in the case of an accident. I also suggest having tow cable with you. It was indispensable.
DeleteI never go anywhere without wraps either, even if it's just a ten minute trip down the road. Trailer accidents and leg injuries freak me out way too much.
ReplyDeleteI don't have anything against boots, but I'd never switch to them over my wraps. Like you said, the compression after a hard work (which is usually what's going down when we trailer somewhere) is worth it to me more than the chance of my horse's legs getting hot.
Also! I never ship in anything other than a leather halter. Everrrr.
DeleteYeah, me either. Leather and I use a velcro release tie -- which performed AMAZINGLY in the accident. I was able to just rip it off, and have a mini leadrope on Pig's halter.
DeleteI don't trailer a lot but quick trips just get bells. Anything longer gets halter fleeces and wraps.
ReplyDeleteThis is so helpful! I've never done much trailering but as I'm planning on starting this summer I've been trying to figure out what I'll do. There are so many people talking about heat but I've never herd of a serious injury that happened from heat whereas I have related to not wrapping
ReplyDeleteI tend to do shipping boots. I use to do regular boots with my other ponies, until I could snag a nice pair of Amigo shipping boots. Bacon weaves in the trailer sometimes (or a lot depending on the day) and her boots stay in place. Plus with her weaving, I am sure she is more likely to ding herself. She also gets to wear her fleece halter too!
ReplyDeleteOn my own horses, I do shipping boots every time, even if I'm just trailering down the street. TC isn't mine yet and he also tries to kick boots off of his legs, so he goes naked. I also tend to throw him in there with the saddle if I'm planning on unloading and tacking up right away, mostly because he's kind of a dingbat to tack up and if I'm in a hurry, it makes it easier. It make me paranoid every time though, ugh, I love that saddle!
ReplyDeleteDigby goes naked for short trips if it's mostly back roads that I'm familiar with but I always wrap him for longer ones. I've never used boots on Digby, although I've used them on friends/clients horses. I think shipping boots are easier (hello velcro straps) and hard to mess up so good for those who are wrap challenged but I prefer wraps myself. Probably because I'm cheap and I already own wraps and boots are $$$.
ReplyDeletePaloma typically goes bell boots only. Boots for longer than 20 minute hauls. She doesn't kick and she is crammed into the trailer like canned tuna with bumper pads. She 'aint movin' lol.
ReplyDelete