When should I cool and when should I warm the horse's legs?

We are often asked when it is appropriate to cool the horse's legs and when to wrap and warm instead. Many people feel insecure and you wind up or cool down a bit depending on what feels good at the moment. We decided to ask Professor Eva Skiöldebrand how she sees the matter. When should you actually cool the horse's legs and when should you warm them by wrapping them instead?

Cold

Inflammation and overexertion always create heat and you want to get rid of it. To remove heat, you need cooling. An overstrained joint often becomes inflamed. The bile is a sign of overexertion and it needs cooling to contract faster and avoid the risk of developing into a flare-up of inflammation. If your horse has suffered an overexertion gall or a blow that causes heat and swelling, you should cool the leg with cold water to stop the inflammatory process.

Bile and heat in the leg are signs of inflammation and then you should cool it

Heat

The healthy horse, on the other hand, wants warmth to increase blood flow in the joint. One then chooses to wrap the legs during the night, for example, to support the circulation of healthy and healthy synovial fluid. The increased circulation caused by the heat helps the healthy joint to channel nutrients into the joint.

A healthy horse without swelling or other signs of inflammation wants heat to increase blood flow

Steps

Those of you who follow us know how often and how much we talk about walking and the importance of walking a lot. This low-intensity gait is our best tool for caring for the horse's legs. The circulation that occurs in the synovial fluid when the horse walks means that waste products, which can form inflammation if they remain in the joint after exertion, are sluiced out immediately after the riding session. This is an effective way to avoid the horse getting inflamed galls. The step also increases blood flow in the joint of the healthy horse and nutrients are transported into the joint, which in this way maintains the protective and high quality of the synovial fluid.

If you walk for at least 15 minutes after the riding session, you don't really need to cool or warm your legs.
The step takes care of the recovery process completely naturally.

Eva believes that walking is so effective when it comes to taking care of the horse's joints that if you walk enough you don't need to cool or wrap the legs. Walking is therefore essential for good joint health. We therefore continue to spread the important hashtag #skrittamer.

Overexertion problems and joint inflammation often occur because we walk off for too short a time and then let the horses go into the box. The slag products remain in the joint and there is a risk that an inflammation will be triggered.

We summarize

A healthy horse can be wrapped to help increase blood flow and circulation in the leg.

An overexerted horse or a horse that has suffered a blow or injury needs cooling in direct relation to its occurrence. This is to get inflammation and swelling to recede.

By walking long enough after exertion, the body itself takes care of waste management and circulation. You then neither need to cool nor wrap your horse's legs.

Conquer 200Pro is a dietary supplement given preventively to maintain high levels of healthy synovial fluid.