How to Bandage Your Horse's Legs

Описание: How to Bandage Your Horse’s Legs

Hello and Welcome to another in the Video Series Training Tips Tuesday. For this Video we show you How To Bandage Your Horse’s Legs, staring with Stable Bandages.

Why do we need to Bandage our Horse?

Well we bandage for Protection, as when travelling our horses for shows. We bandage to give support, this is especially important for a horse that is standing in due to an injury. We bandage to keep a poultice in place on an injured limb. We bandage to promote circulation, this is especially true with older horses that get swelling in their legs when they are stabled at night, bandaging in these cases, helps promote the circulation of the lower legs, reducing inflammation. We also bandage the horse’s legs to offer support and protection during exercise, however, we are just covering stable bandaging in this video.

What You Will Need.

You will need some stable bandages, and some fibregee or gamgee. In this video we use Fibregee. Stable bandages tend to have a nice loose Knit, this helps to reduce the risk of bandaging the horse too tightly along with the use of the fibregee.

How to Begin.

Remember to bandage the horse’s legs from front to back, toward the inside of the horse, i.e. for the left side or near side of the horse you bandage anti clockwise and for the right side or the off side of the horse you bandage clockwise.

Begin on the front leg, wrap your fibregee around the horse’s leg below the knee. Start bandaging just below the knee. I like to leave a little piece of bandage out at the start, which I then turn down to the outside of the horse’s leg when I complete my first turn of the bandage, this helps to prevent the bandage unravelling. Only pull around the front of the cannon bone, and then just roll the bandage around the back of the limb, this helps to keep the pressure nice and even while not putting too much pressure on the tendons. When you get to the fetlock joint, remember to continue down under the joint with the bandage to offer the joint support. Once that is done, continue the bandage back to where you began and finish just under the knee on the front leg.

For the hind leg, you begin by wrapping your fibregee around the leg below the hock. Start your bandage just below the hock. I leave the piece of bandage out at the top again, it is smaller in the back leg, as I find the bandages are often not long enough if I leave a long piece out. I fold this piece of bandage down to the outside of the limb, once I have completed my first turn of the bandage. I then continue the bandage down the leg, pulling from the cannon bone and just rolling the bandage around the back of limbs to ensure even pressure. I make sure to wrap the bandage below the Fetlock joint for support before continuing back up the limb. I finish the bandage where I began, just below the hock, for the hind limb.

Remember bandages should not be applied too tight, as this will impair the circulation of the horse. Always use Fibregee or Gamgee to protect the limb, and use a good loose knit stable bandage for travelling or stable bandages. Remember to check the tension of the bandage when you are finished, if you are worried it is too tight, take it off and bandage again. A slightly loose bandage is better than one that’s too tight.

Practice makes perfect with bandaging; you will get better at it the more you do. Happy Bandaging and we will see you in the next video.

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