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 Post subject: Bandagiing a racehorse
PostPosted: Sun Jul 12, 2015 10:33 pm 
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From Jimmy:

Quote:
What is the right way to wrap a race horse. To pull from the front of the leg to the inside, or from the front on the outside, counter-clock,or clockwise? I am writing to you in order to help me to understand the best way to wrap a race horse's legs. There is a good many ways, I am told but I need to know the right one.


My reply:


I have been wrapping horse's legs for decades and have found that everyone has their own style and method. You will read books and you will work for trainers that say their way is the best and should not be deviated from. I say, bull. I have found the main thing one has to be careful of is "tension". The groom must be able to apply a bandage that supports the leg with even-diffuse medium tension. What is this "medium" tension? It is hard to write clearly about. You do not want a bandage so tight that it will restrict the tendons, ligaments or blood flow; nor do you want it so loose that it will also slip and perhaps bind the underlying tissues and structures in a similar restricting way. There is always a happy medium of which every groom or trainer must find and, to write, what that medium is, will never be a successful pursuit for any author.

I will copy a passage from "Care & Training of the Trotter and Pacer". Harness horsemen tend to use bandages far more than their thoroughbred racing cousins and they are masters of that procedure to my way of thinking. The great trainer, Sanders Russell writes:

Quote:
"The way the cotton is wrapped around the leg is not as important as the fact that it be wrapped the same way each time. Cottons set themselves to a leg and may be used a number of times as long as they are clean and doesn’t tear up. The length of time that a groom can use the same cotton often indicates the quality of his work. That is, a good groom, that knows how to roll a cotton and is careful in removing it, will make the cotton last three times as long as the inexperienced or careless groom. The cotton is rolled around the leg, usually with a right to left motion and extends all the way from the coronary band to just below the knee. The cottons for the front leg are usually interchangeable, as are those for the hind legs. The cotton on the hind legs does not usually come down quite as far as on the front legs. Once the cotton is in place, the leg is bandaged. A bandage, which usually comes in 3 yard lengths, runs from around the pastern up to just below the knee or hock. The cotton will protrude slightly at both the top and bottom of the bandage. I recommend that my grooms start the bandage just about the ankle. They make one turn with the bandage holding it in place and from that point on the bandage wraps over itself and holds itself in place. A groom should work down with the bandage first and then come up, ending just below the knee or hock. Each time a turn of the bandage is made, it will cover approximately one-third of the bandage used in the previous turn. On the final turn, the bandage is fastened either by string or with a pin. There is a string on the end of the bandage and if that is used to fasten the bandage, caution should be exercised not to tie it too tightly. My rule is that I should be able to get two fingers between the bandage and the string. The knot itself must be tight but the string cannot be, because a tight bandage string has corded horses and made them unsound. For this reason, some trainers will not permit strings to be used and insist on pins. Extreme care should be used in putting a bandage on a horse. For instance, the joint area of the leg, such as the ankle, can stand a lot more pressure than the tendon. The bandage should be more firm around the ankle than around the tendon. As a matter of fact, it is always a good idea to make certain that there is sufficient cotton around the tendon so that the bandage won't become too tight in the critical area. I have known instances where the circulation was cut off because a leg was bandaged too tight or the string tied too tight. At the same time, a bandage should never be applied loosely to a leg. Usually, the primary reason the bandage is being used is to lend some additional support to one or more of the legs and thus it is vital that the bandage provide that support."


From the thoroughbred trainer, R.W. Collins' "Grooming Horses":

Quote:
"Now, with your cottons made up in pairs right- and left-handed, and with your bandages rolled tightly, smooth side out (in case of flannel material), you are ready to run them on a horse's leg. New cottons are difficult to run on the first few times, and require being rolled on very smoothly and tightly. The near leg is the one on which the left-handed bandage will go. Pick up the cotton which, with the fold at the top, will roll from the inside of the near leg toward the front. If the leg has dried, go over it lightly with a damp sponge. The dry cotton will cling to the dampened hair and can be rolled on more easily. Place the end of the cotton along the inner side of the leg, hold it firmly with the right hand and with the left, roll it toward the front and around the leg, drawing it as snug as possible. As soon as it is anchored, you can pass the roll from one hand to the other as you wind the cotton on and smooth the press it against the leg. Hold the cotton in place with one hand while you start the bandage. Lay the smooth side of the bandage over the cotton, beginning on the inside of the leg, a little above the ankle. Roll it forward and around the leg, using your left hand first. Make a couple of turns to anchor the cotton and the end of the bandage before starting to drop the bandage. Then make one snug wrap around the ankle, let the next one drop just under the fetlock, and anchor it with a turn around the ankle. Repeat the turn, then move gradually up the leg. The ankle wraps must be very snug, or the whole bandage will slip; tightness at the ankle will do no damage. Wind the bandages upward until you reach the top of the cotton, and leave the top turns not quite so snug as the others, so as to allow room for the tendon to gather when the leg is bent. If the last turn comes out about the middle of the outside of the leg, turn the end under slightly, and holding it snug with the left hand, put a safety pin through it and wrap below, and let it come out again with just enough hold to fill the safety pin. The pin should be thrust in perpendicularly, with the point downward. Now stick the second pin into the bottom of the end of the bandage and fasten the same way. Should the last wrap be too long, turn the end under enough to bring the edge to the point where it should be pinned. Standing bandages are run on the other legs in the same way. Be careful, of course, not to let the pin go through the bandage and the cotton and stick the horse. Your first bandages probably will look none too good, but with care, and practice you'll learn to make them smooth. As you roll a bandage, use your free hand to smooth out the wrinkles. If you cannot easily get a finger inside a bandage at the top, it is too tight. IF so, rerun it, as it may damage the tendon. Looseness over the ankle, however, may let the whole bandage slip down when the horse is getting up or down, and is more likely to result in a bowed tendon than tightness higher up."


Ok, to summarize and interject my thoughts. I would never use the old fashion strings that may still be found on some bandages. They are too dangerous. I prefer either the Velcro or regular bandage pins as the safest fastening methods. I always liked folding my own cottons and making my own bandages out of flannel cloth. This is seldom done anymore and it may often be easier to buy already prepared cottons and Velcro stable bandages from the tack shop. The above excerpts were taken from older texts in which the trainers made their own bandages and cottons out of sheet cotton purchased in bales and large flannel cloth bolts. This is seldom done anymore except by the purists. You will find that the consensus of the above trainers is to apply bandages in a counter-clockwise motion on the near or left side of the horse, and a clockwise motion on the off side. Start on the backside of the leg, just above the ankle and wrap the bandage-roll toward the head, than around the front of the leg toward the tail and so on. One should be able to wrap the entire leg with a three yard bandage and come out perfectly. If you cannot, you are doing something slightly wrong. You may be covering too much or too little of the previous wrap. It just takes experience. Start at the upper ankle, work down toward the coronary band, than work back up, hopefully ending with just enough bandage to make one and one-half turns just below the knee or hock—pin or Velcro. In the final analysis, you want bandages that look “painted on”. You want your bandages to be snug and smooth in appearance and you want those bandages to maintain that appearance and function till they come off the next morning. How well a groom applies bandages is the quickest way to gauge how experienced he is in race horse husbandry. It cannot be faked.

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