How to Protect My Horse's Legs in Cold, Wet Weather....

Louise Butcher • 12 January 2026

 
As the Winter sets in and temperatures drop, the question is what type of leg protection should I use for my horse or pony? 


The Answer is "always use BREATHABLE horse boots for your horse or pony"

 
What happens to horse/pony legs in cold weather?  When it’s cold = constriction of blood vessels . The uppermost layers of your horse or pony’s skin are covered with veins which circulate the blood close to the surface before returning it to the lungs. In hot weather, this is desirable, but when it’s cold heat loss must be minimised. This is achieved by blood being blocked from the veins close to the surface and rerouted into vessels which run deep under the skin, right next to arteries. This means the blood returning to the heart and lungs is warmed by the outgoing (countercurrent) arteries, preventing cold blood from penetrating the body. 

 The Role of Hair in Keeping Warm Pilo-erection is when the horse’s hair stands on its ends.  The purpose of this is to trap air between the horse’s skin and hair, and this regulates the horse’s temperature keeping it even and comfortable on cold days.  Horse’s don’t want to be overly snuggly and warm, they like to have an average temperature around them, but it’s not comfortable for them to be too hot.  Also if they become hot, their body immediately sweats to cool them down and this can create a dramatic and uncomfortable drop in temperature if the atmospheric temperature is cold.  So it’s all about balance. 

Different Leg Protection Fabric Properties:


Fluff/Fur:  Although in its natural form fur is a good thermoregulator, the problems with this material is that it hold dirt and wet.  This can risk bacterial/fungal infections, and if wet will add extra strain to your horse/pony's legs.  Wet skin is also more fragile and rubs are more frequent this time of the year.  As it's difficult to dry fur/fluff in damp cold weather, we risk applying damp leg protection, which can lead to problems.  Also please be mindful if the fur is man made it does not have the same thermoregulating properties as natural fur, it is purely aesthetic.


Neoprene/Foam:  Often this material has holes on horse/pony leg protection.  This does not mean that they reduce leg temperature effectives, as remember, these materials are used in wet suits for example to keep the body warm, they are naturally insulating.  So although they may not increase temperatures as much as a solid piece of this fabric, they still insulate.  This fabric also hold water and can become quite heavy, leading to risk of injury through strain, or even leg protection slipping through their weight.


HUSK Fabric:  As this fabric is porous inside as well as outside, water and air pass straight through.  This leads to a dry environment around the leg, and also the atmospheric temperature is not affected around the leg either.  The legs are kept in the most natural environment possible to do what they do best.  The boots remain light as they do not hold water, and the fabric is totally porous, so incredibly light in the first place, and they dry fast, so no damp leg protection on legs. 


The best we can do is to maximise the amount of air to the skin when exercising using HUSK breathable horse boots and HUSK breathable saddle pads, this will help your horse not to get too hot too fast. HUSK breathable horse wear mimics the pilo-erection of horse hair to trap the air between the skin and the atmosphere to balance the temperature around the horse’s skin, keeping it in a health state. If you are using breathable horse boots , it would be worth not clipping out your horse or pony’s legs. This helps with the thermoregulation process for your horse or pony.

Warm your horse or pony up steadily…..

“Adequate warm up before exercise, training and competition is essential to avoid injury to muscles, ligaments and/or tendons” (2)

…..and to ensure a good amount of time to cool down progressively also.  If you horse has sweated, as you warm up and cool down, maybe a light exercise sheet would help.  Your horse’s/pony’s trunk has a wealth of vascularisation unlike the legs, and will sweat when required to cool your horse or pony down.  Once the hair is wet it sits against the skin and loses its thermoregulating abilities. So if the ambient temperature is really cold and your horse is wet with sweat, it’s a little bit like going out without drying your hair, cold!   This is why people used to use “thatching” when they wanted to dry off their coats.  “Thatching” involved rubbing your horse’s coat with straw or hay to take the thick of the wet off and then stuffing the straw or hay under the rug to keep the air gap which would help the horse’s coat to dry!

 
We will leave it to you to decide based on the information that we have given you today, but remember horses and ponies are not humans! 

 DID YOU KNOW HUSK HAVE LAUNCHED THE NEW GEN 2 AIR BOOTS?

SMOOTHER - SLEEKER - STRONGER



SHOP HUSK BREATHABLE HORSE BOOTS BELOW :   https://www.thehusk.co.uk/shop-full-range/Air-Boots-c186382256

 
& for HUSK Breathable Saddle pads the link is here: https://www.thehusk.co.uk/shop-full-range/Saddle-Pads-c186382011

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