A horse in a program at my school was badly injured when her rider rode her through barbed wire. She got a nasty cut on the back of her front leg around the coronet and pastern area.

Could some sort of leg protection saved her from this accident, and what kind would be best for future trail rides?
l agree Gatsbi, l wanted to punch the girl in the face when l found out what happened! It was definately her fault for trying to show off her riding skills.

What should have saved from this was the rider paying attention to what was on the trail.

wow that rider was certainly carless.
but when im in high with twigs and sticks or bushes.
(so mainly rough trails)
i make sure my horse has splint boots on.

1. That was really stupid.
2. Leg protection might not have actually helped. l do not know of any boots that would cover the pastern and coronet except for shipping boots.

Barbed wire is a danger to horses. Even if the horse had leg protection she still would have got some cuts. Barbed Wire is strong, but the boots of some sort would have minimized the cut & protected the main joints.

Whenever l ride on trails my horse always has Front & Rear boots on for protection. l also put bell boots on him. The boots l use r Splint Boots.
Although, when l just do arena work like barrel racing l use polo wraps. Never use polo wraps on a trail. They r more of a danger than a protector.

The rider was careless. Why did they let her ride the horse then? Oh well, Whats done is done. The horse will heel, but the girl should be banned for riding alone with a horse.

No. Either she just was not paying attention or it was an unavoidable accident, but I'd assume if you were on a trail in a school program, it would have been reasonably wide open so she should have seen it.

If you just wrap all four legs it will protect them better .(That is one reason why some people who jump do it to the front legs in case a horse nicks their front legs on a jump.wraps are not super supportive tho

well it was all the riders fault and l would never let her ride my horse again.
but you could get some bell boots and splint boots that would help if anything like that happened again.
oh good luck with your horse healing.

I've ridden trails for over 30 years. I've never had 'protection' on my horses legs.

It is up to the rider not to take off across unfamiliar ground. Especially if u can not see the ground due to high grass or brush. That is just common sense.

That said.accidents DO happen. l was on a very familiar trail through some high grass. My mare stepped into a ball of barb wire that someone had thrown out & it landed there or bounced there. A trail next to the highway. It was not there 2 days before.It was not shiny & new.and it was not black or rusty. It was just a dull color hidden in the grass. The horse bolted, l got bucked off.

l am a good rider.and a sensible one. Accidents do happen. If the rider was not paying attention to her surroundings.and racing around without know the trail.it is her fault.

l still wo not use protection for MY normal trails. Bell boots & splint boots for rocky areas that could cut the heels or if the legs might be cut by the enviroment. Those wo not work where l go through swampy areas. More harm than good for me.

It sounds like the rider did not know what she or he was doing you all ways need to be aware of your surroundings

Best thing for future trail rides is for the rider to pay attention and not ride her through a a barbed wire fence (idiot girl!). Now that I've vented, onto your question, try sport boots or sometimes they're known as sling boots.
Like this,
http://shedfieldequestrian.co.uk/images/product_images/185409.jpg
http://steergear.net/images/proE/SP200.jpg

From where the cut is it seems the girl did not ride her through a fence. It seems the wire was loose & the horse stepped in it. Such wire can be very hard to see & it only takes a moment for an accident to happen.


As for leg protection, well it depends on where u r riding & the weather conditions. l would not use them in hot humid areas where the horses need to cool down. Much of the horses cooling off comes from pumping warm blood into the legs right under the surface of the skin & allowing that blood to radiate heat out into the air. We ride a lot of trails (nearly 500 miles a year) & many has been the time that l have parked my horse in a water puddle & climbed off & rubbed the legs down with water from the puddle to cool a horse that was acting a little too hot & tired. Of course that is not a problem with this time of year.

Defintely rider error.which is too bad. Horses often reap the ignorance of thier riders & get hurt in the process. l would say that this rider has no business riding unsupervised, & if l were her trainer or parent she would be on restricted ridind acess & would be doing all the barn mucking duties for two months!

With that said.horses should always wear leg protection on trail rides. l personally prefer to use polo wraps because they provide superior support, but medicine boots r just as good. Bell boots r also good because horses can ''over reach'' more when they r climbing up & down trails. Sadly, l do not think any of these things would have prevented the injury.

Boots such as the SMBs might have helped, but the thing is, short of wrapping them in body armour, u just can not protect for every ''what if''. Do not know the situation in ur case, but paying close attention to the area you're riding through would be the first choice. That said, sometimes stuff just happens. We had a client bring a horse in with a severe injury from a similar accident. In their case, a tree was across the trail, they were trying to go around through heavy brush, & never saw the old barb until the horse tangled & went down. These were normally careful, conscientious horse people, & the lady was just devastated about her horse is condition. Thankfully, it had a happy ending. Myself, l have used SMBs in the past & did not much care for them. But that is just my opinion. l just like to watch & be as careful as possible. Even at that, sometimes horses get hurt. We had a horse hospitalized at our clinic for a month because he stepped on a limb. Freak accident, it flipped up & went into his stifle, then as he stepped forward, he rammed it in to the joint capsule. Bad, bad injury. Yet how many times have people walked over a fallen limb & not given it a second thought? Again, a happy ending, but freak accidents can & do happen.

Yeah. l would of punched her thats cruel. Try going to ur tractor supply & getting some leg wraps for it. Clean it daily & put ointment on it daily then put new bandage on it to keep it from getting infected & causing it to lose its leg=/Ya know where im coming from? Itll take a long time, depends how bad. And itll take the time. Really if u want it to get better. l would take the time & do this everyday if u really care. l dislike people who try to show off. My cousin use to ride my horse & would show off. Every time she ride past me she'd smile & look straight ahead like she was showing & she really didnt know how to ride! l mean my horse is western & she treatng it like its show horse! l use to ride english andd l taught her some of the things l knew & she acts like she knos them. We hate each other know she called me a bad rider,and my horse fat & over weight!

l do not like leg protection trail riding.

If, as in this case, the horse stepped in or through barbed wire, the barbs would get caught in the protection & the wire would come with the horse, potentially causing even worse panic & injuries. If he paniced & the wire did not break loose, he could end up on the ground, rider underneath, & break a leg. The wire, moving along the ground, could get wound around his other legs, causing panic, thrashing, & catastrophic injuries. NOT A GOOD IDEA!

l wo not condemn the rider unless l know what happened. Accidents happen; horses do stupid things; u can not always stop them.

on trail rides, l use smb I l boots for protection against stickerbushes that stick out a little. i'm sure combo smb is could have protected the horse to some extent. l heard smb is by professional is choice protect against snake bites so.. l do not think there could have really been anything done to prevent injury- except some common sense and humility!!!