Should horse boots be considered as safety equipment?
You must have heard of the phrase ‘no hoof, no horse’? Well, this could ring true for a number of other things too, such as their lower legs – one of the most common areas to be damaged or suffer from injury.
As riders, we protect our most vital areas (head and torso) with riding hats, body protectors and more recently air jackets. Rider protective equipment is subjected to extensive testing to meet standards and regulations.
We believe that protective boots for your horse’s legs should undergo a similar testing process, which is why we send our Tri-Zone Boots to be tested by an independent laboratory, before they go near a horses’ leg.
So what features should you be looking for in a pair of boots?
The primary function of a boot is protection. There is little evidence to suggest that boots can provide support, although boots are commonly sought out for this use too. The problem is, you can’t tell how protective a boot is, just by simply looking at it.
The only way to tell if a boot is protective enough is for it to be tested under controlled conditions, to forces that we can replicate (such as when a horse hits a fence, over reaches or strikes itself with another limb). There are some other factors to be considered too, which can potentially hinder performance or increase the risk of injury.
So what other features should be looked at?
