What is the best protective and ventilated horse boot?
Horse boots, designed to protect the horse’s legs during exercise or injury recovery, use various scientific principles to provide protection. Here’s a breakdown of how they work to help protect the legs from brushing injuries and impact injuries:
1. Impact Absorption
- Science Principle: Kinetic Energy Absorption
Horse boots are made of materials like neoprene, gel, EVA foam, or the tough outer shells seen in tendon boots tend to be made out of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), which help absorb and dissipate the kinetic energy of an impact. When a horse strikes its leg on a hard surface or another limb, the boots compress and reduce the force transferred to the leg.
Data: Research done shows that a combined outer hard shell plus an internal foam lining with spacer mesh, as you find in some tendon boots, will have greater effect at absorbing impact, rather than a soft neoprene based brushing boot. Hard shell horse boots will be better at preventing injuries to the tendon, brushing injuries or general bruising to the horse’s lower leg.
Test: How flexible is the horse boot, can you bend the spine of the back of the horse boot easily? If you can, then how much protection will the boot give from a horse hoof hitting it at speed? Think about riding hats, all have a hard protective outer shell and a padded lining to give maximum protection.
2. Tendon Support
- Science Principle: Biomechanical Stability
Tendon boots or brushing boots are not designed to support the flexor tendons and ligaments in the lower limbs of the horse. When the horse is in motion, the tendons undergo significant stress due to the stretching created by 500kg of horse loading a 1cm diameter tendon. No protective horse boot can reduce excessive movement to keep the tendons and ligaments aligned, decreasing the risk of strain or tearing.
3. Heat Management
- Science Principle: Thermodynamics and Heat Dissipation
During exercise, horses generate heat in their muscles and tendons, and poorly ventilated horse boots can trap this heat, increasing the risk of tissue damage. Modern airflow horse boots use breathable materials and advanced design to manage heat buildup.
Data: Research shows that horses can reach tendon temperatures over 45°C (113°F) during intense work, and sustained high temperatures can lead to cellular damage. Boots designed with ventilation holes or mesh linings can lower temperatures by 5-10°C, keeping tendons cooler and reducing injury risks.
Test: Those horse boots that state they are a vented horse boot, a breathable horse boot or an air flow horse boot. An easy test is to lift the horse boot up to the light and try and look through it. If you cannot see through a vented horse boot then how will air travel through the horse boot?
4. Shock Distribution
- Science Principle: Force Distribution
Protective boots help to distribute shock over a larger surface area, which reduces the point pressure on a horse’s leg during impacts. By spreading the force, boots reduce the risk of localized injuries such as bruising or bone chips.
Data: Gel-filled horse boots or specialised impact resistant foams can reduce pressure on a horse’s legs by a significant amount, ensuring that forces are evenly distributed.
5. Abrasion Prevention
- Science Principle: Mechanical Protection
The outer material of horse boots, often made from hard plastic substances, acts as a physical barrier against abrasions or cuts that might occur during exercise or trail riding. This layer provides high tensile strength, reducing damage from collisions with objects or other legs.
Data: Materials like TPU have a high abrasion resistance rating, withstanding up to 5000 cycles of friction without breaking down, providing long-lasting protection. These materials can be found in tendon boots which are different from a neoprene based soft shell brushing boot.
6. Anti-Twisting and Positioning Features
- Science Principle: Ergonomic Design and Friction Coefficient
Tendon Boots are ergonomically shaped to contour to the horse’s leg, preventing twisting or slipping. These tendon boots usually are waisted to mold to the back of the horse’s leg which is different to the standard brushing boot or cross-country horse boot. Most inner materials are made of soft anti-rub materials. Look for the non-neoprene based linings that will not hold as much water and sweat which may cause rubbing.
Data: Properly fitted boots with water and sweat wicking linings can decrease movement, ensuring the boot remains protective throughout physical activity and has less chance of rubbing.
Conclusion
Horse boots protect by absorbing and distributing impact energy, managing heat, and preventing abrasions. Their effectiveness is rooted in the materials used (like impact resistant foam and TPU) and principles of biomechanics, energy absorption, and heat dissipation.
One of the best hybrid horse boots on the market, which are both an airflow horse boot and a protective tendon horse boot are the Exoskeleton by Cryochaps. They have been tested against similar vented tendon boots like Le Mieux, Veredus, Kentucky, KM elite, Zandona and came out top in protection, results below, and had the most air flow through the boot, keeping the legs cooler than the rest of the pack.
