How to do standing wraps 

 

Almost every single horse owner will need to wrap legs for one reason or another at some point. Common reasons to wrap include a soft tissue injury to the lower leg, poultice application after a workout, “support” for a veterinary reason, and stocking up overnight.  If you have never wrapped a leg before, please have your veterinarian or trainer show you how before you try this on your own. There can be complications from wrapping legs incorrectly or from using the wrong bandages.

 

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A basic guide for standing wraps 

 

• Use thick quilts if you can. These are very forgiving and good to practice with.

 

• Instead of needing another set of hands to catch the outer stable bandages rolling away, put the stable bandage inside the quilts before you even start. They roll on as a unit.

 

Roll them together.

All tucked in.

 

• Know what size stable bandage you need. Stable bandages are the outer, skinny wraps that come in zillions of colors. They come in pony, horse, and extra-long for most brands. Usually, you want to cover the canon bone, top to bottom. You may cover a bit of the fetlock in the process.

 

• If you find that you are doing a zillion passes over your horse’s legs with the outer bandage, just cut it shorter. No problem.

 

• Remember that all wraps – quilts, polo wraps, bandage wraps, ice boots, you name it – could follow this general rule: Wrap from the inside of the leg and go around the front. There is much debate on if this rule of thumb is the definitive only way to do things, but the point is to wrap legs consistently.

 

Painters tape can help secure the velcro. It will break if it needs to, avoid using duct tape.

 

• If your horse wants to chew them off, add some anti-cribbing paste or foul-tasting spray to prevent chewing. Remember that most contain capsaicin, which will test positive at shows. Check the label!

 

• Don’t leave standing wraps on for more than about 12 hours without unwrapping them to see how things are going in there.

 

These wraps were on for long-distance travel that included a trailer ride, a plane ride, and another trailer ride.

 

• If you use a poultice, add a layer of paper towel, newspaper, or feed bag lining around the poultice before you wrap. If you are using a sweat, wrap it with plastic wrap.

 

• The outside stable bandage with the velcro should end at the top of your quilt. It should also be evenly distributed from top to bottom. If you have five loops around the leg from bottom to top, and then 10 loops in the same place at the top, try again.

 

• Feel the finished bandage to ensure it feels even along the whole leg.

 

for the pros and cons of quilts vs no-bows, read this

 

 

Quilts vs. no-bows – the wrapping technique is the same.

 

 

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