Protecting a Dressage Horse's Legs

In dressage, polo wraps are used on a horse's legs for protection, and these wraps need to be applied correctly and with even pressure so they don't injure the horse's tendons. Learn about using bell boots and dressage boots to protect a horse's feet with helpful advice in this video on horse training and dressage.

In the sport of dressage, we like to protect our horses legs to the best of our ability. In any discipline, you want to protect your horse's legs. So in dressage, it's just the same as jumping or eventing. In dressage dressage we like to use polo wraps, which in this case I already have three on Amicelli and I will describe how you put on a polo wrap. It's very important that the person applying the bandage knows exactly how to do it and has been taught properly because you can do a lot of damage if you do not apply the bandage properly. There are a lot of tendons running through the horses legs here. If you put the bandage on too tightly or too loosely it can fall off. If it's too tight you can damage the tendon by pulling it. So you definitely want to be instructed how to apply the bandage with even pressure, going down the horses leg in even strides and a light pressure, not too tight not too loose and an even pressure, very important, and that the bandage is equally spaced from the fetlock, between the fetlock and the knee, not to high, not too low and that it comes up nicely and Velcro close like this. So if you're not sure how to bandage your horse, you definitely want to have someone show you how to do that or have someone do it for you. It's also very important that one person applies all of the bandages themselves because of course everyone will apply it with different pressure. We also like to use bell boots which in this case he has on here. It protects the foot, it protects the lower part of the pastern down here so if he would stride forward or step on himself it would help him stay protected. Another easy way, I'm going to take the polo off now, is if you do not know how to apply a polo wrap, another great tool is the dressage boot. So I really like dressage boots, I prefer to use them in everyday training. If I have someone tacking up a horse for me that is not quite aware of how to put on a boot or a bandage, it's great. So you want to apply the same thing, even pressure. Make sure that your Velcro is going to going facing the back of the horse. And again it's placed in the same position as a bandage would and it's a little bit sturdier than a polo.