Do you think it would be a problem to use polo wraps instead of shipping boots?

Question

I'm going on an 8 hour trip with my 3 horses. The problem is I only have one pair of shipping boots, and no standing bandages. Therefore, 2 of my horses will have to go either bootless or with polo wraps. Does anyone know of any problems that would arise if I polo wrapped them for the journey?

Answer 1

Polos are not appropriate or safe for wrapping a horse that will be standing for an eight hour trip. They should only be used when a horse is being exercised. Even then, if they are not wrapped evenly, tendon injuries may result. They offer virtually no support to tendons, and little protection from blunt force injury, so there is no benefit to balance against the risks anyway.

Thick padding should be against the legs and wrapped over that with standing wraps which are of a different tensile strength than polos, both of which reduce the risk of producing bandage bows. Polos can too easily become bunched, wet, loosened, or uneven and cause serious consequences.

Going with no protection poses less risk than using polos, so if you can't provide appropriate standing wraps or shipping boots, then the legs should be left bare. I would have all shoes pulled before the haul to reduce the risk of injuries.



If you can find accommodations to stop along the way and safely remove the horses from the trailer to move them around to exercise their legs, clean out the trailer floor and assure it is not wet and slippery, that would be best. I don't recommend doing that unless you have contacted stables or other facilities with fenced areas available in advance and arranged to be able to secure the horses when they are unloaded. I've seen and heard some horror stories develop on long hauls when horses panic or escape at rest stops, or refuse to re-enter the trailer, and so forth, so keep that in mind.



Don't use breakaway halters for the trip. Use sturdy halters with either no ties or breakaway ties, and have a sturdy lead handy for each one so that if an accident happens or for any reason you need to quickly unload the horses you can just attach the lead, release the breakaway tie, and keep them under control when you unload them. Breakaway halters are worthless in an emergency.



Long hauls have been clearly linked to development of conditions like colics, laminitis and gastric ulcers. Having grass hay they are used to from home available in safe hay bags or mangers to continually chomp on can reduce stress and avoid metabolic issues that may prompt these disorders. Don't allow them to graze roadside grasses which can be contaminated, and if possible bring water from home to offer along the way.



Good luck on the trip.

Answer 2

.....you have more horses than you do wraps? What's wrong with you? If you had three little kids would you only buy two car seats for them? Standing wraps aren't expensive, you know. Buy another set....unless of course you want your third horse to slice its legs to pieces because polos won't provide adequate protection.



Are you kidding. Wild horses were WILD. They live hard lives and died younger than our domesticated pansies would. They also don't ride in trailers (aka big metal boxes) in the wild. Giving childbirth in the 1500s was much riskier than it is now, so does that mean when you have a baby you'd rather just do it in your house with your neighbor helping instead of going to the doctor? Because "people survived back then?" You'd rather risk your horse's safety than buy a set of shipping wraps? Do you even KNOW what shipping wraps look like? They're big. Pillowy. Fluffy, Thick. Cover a lot more area than little polos.

Answer 3

It wouldn't be a problem, but obviously there isn't nearly as much protection from polos compaired to shipping boots or standing wraps. For this trip polos are better then nothing, but buy two other pairs of boots for next time.

Answer 4

Polo wraps aren't designed to be used as standing bandages or as replacements for shipping boots. They are intended to provide support to a horse's legs during hard riding, and in the case of actual polo horses, to protect the legs against injuries from flying balls or from mallet hits. When we trailer our horses ( we have a stock trailer which has no partitions and can accomodate 5 horses) we usually don't use boots or bandages of any kind. The horses are loaded on the trailer nose to tail, with the largest horse in the front end. Anybody who is new or who is known to be a kicker gets loaded last, at the back. We just got back from a major road trip this past Monday, and the horses were in the trailer for 5 hours each way. That's not as long as the one you are planning, but the logistics are still the same.



If you wrap the horses' legs using polos, be warned that you are creating the potential for tendon and ligament injuries in them. You also need to realize that doing this can cause problems with stocking up, especially during long road trips. I would do what we do and go without wraps. You may not agree with that, but it does work for us. None of our horses have ever had any problems with injuries related to trailering, and we've been going without wraps for years. I would hope that you are planning to stop for lunch, bathroom breaks, etc., at some point during your trip- and if you do decide to wrap, that you will make a point of checking the wraps to be sure they aren't bunched up and aren't causing problems. Good luck with your trip.



PS: For those of you who gave me TD's, none of our horses were hurt during the trip we just came back from. They all got off the trailer sound, and are just fine. I don't understand what the big deal with this is. Wraps are fine if you use a trailer that has partitions, or is extremely narrow. Ours isn't. The horses have lots of room to spread out. It has mats on the floor, and we bed it with shavings during long trips to give the horses extra traction, especially if we know it's likely to rain. But wrapping is something we don't do. I might also mention that almost none of the other players or grooms at the polo tournament we were at last weekend wrapped their horses either. I saw LOTS of horses get off trailers without wraps, and none of them were lame or injured. Some of the players came from as far away as MA and even Canada ( there was one team that was from an area near Montreal) as well as from down near where we live.Those horses would have been on the trailer far longer than ours were, and they weren't wrapped. So again, I don't get why people are so paranoid about this.

Answer 5

I use polo wraps on my mare when we go on 5 hour trips she seems to still be the same and have no pain. She still runs the same at our rodeo's but when I get to the arena's I walk her around and take the wraps off of her and put her in her stall and give her lots of hay food and water. (:



Make sure to stop every couple hours and walk the horses so that there not stuck in one position for 8 hours. I walk my horse when we trailer her about every 4 hours.