Cooling Boots & Gel: Fast Regeneration for Your Horse

Cooling Boots & Gel: Fast Recovery for Horse Legs

A horse's legs do an enormous amount of work. With every jump, in deep riding sand, or during fast turns, the tendons and joints have to cushion the immense body weight. After intensive training, a strenuous competition, or in the event of acute injuries, targeted cooling is the be-all and end-all. With cooling boots and cooling gel, you constrict the blood vessels expanded by exertion, stop micro-bleeding in the tissue, and effectively relieve pain.

Cooling Boots: The Ice-Cold Solution Without a Hose

In the past, you often stood by the horse's leg for minutes with a cold water hose. Today, cooling boots make this job much less complicated and, above all, save resources. They are either equipped with special cooling pads that have previously been in the freezer, or they are activated by simply soaking them in cold water. They can be precisely adjusted to the horse's leg using Velcro fasteners, provide long-lasting cooling, and allow the horse to stand relaxed in the box or eat hay during use.

Cooling Gel: Deep-Acting Freshness from the Tube

A high-quality cooling gel (or cooling paste) works on the basis of evaporative cooling and natural ingredients such as menthol, camphor, arnica, or eucalyptus. It is gently massaged onto the tendons and joints after work. The gel is deeply absorbed, cools the stressed tissue from the inside out, and simultaneously promotes blood circulation in the recovery phase. It does not make the coat sticky and can usually be brushed out easily the next day.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should I leave cooling boots on the horse's leg?
As a rule of thumb: cool the leg intensively, but not for too long. Cooling boots should remain on the leg for a maximum of 20 to 30 minutes. If you cool for too long, the body reacts with a counter-reaction and heats up the tissue extremely, which would be absolutely counterproductive in the case of inflammation or tendon damage.

Can I also smear cooling gel on open abrasions?
No, absolutely not! Cooling gels often contain essential oils, menthol, or alcohol, which would burn severely on open wounds and irritate the tissue. Always apply cooling gel only to uninjured, intact areas of skin over the tendons or muscles.

When do I cool and when do I warm the horse's leg?
Cooling (using gel or boots) is used for acute injuries (in the first 48 hours), sudden swellings, cellulitis, and directly after hard work to slow down the metabolism. Warmth, on the other hand, is used for chronic problems, osteoarthritis, or before training to loosen old tissue and stimulate blood circulation.