Lately we have received a few questions and comments on the topic of how to cool your horse’s legs.
To point you in the right direction, last year I wrote a comprehensive Research Paper Pre-Print titled Evaluation of the Cooling Efficacy of Different Equine Leg Cooling Methods.
This study compared the effectiveness of different methods for equine leg cooling.
In short, the fastest cooling method is to stand your horse in ice and water.
Cold hosing (with 15°C water) or wearing ice boots that have been placed in the freezer, such as Cryochaps, are also good approaches.
On the other hand, clay, gels, and evaporative cooling boots aren’t worth bothering with in my humble opinion!
However, it’s worth noting that cold hosing and standing your horse in cold water require you to be present all the time. These methods also use lots more water, especially cold hosing.
Ice boots, meanwhile, have the added advantage of providing some degree of compression, which hosing and standing in ice water do not!
So, for me, the first choice to cool a horses’ legs is always a set of large/high-coverage ice boots, such as Cryochaps!
To read more research about equine leg cooling, please follow this link to access the full paper.
