Front bandages and the racehorse

You’ve wasted time and energy on the downside of a race when you see your choice set foot on the race track, whether it’s in person on television. To his horror, or perplexity, his horse sports bandages on his front legs. Does this mean that you immediately change your choice? Does it mean proceed with caution? Or does it mean nothing at all? One thing is certain: Front bandages mean something, both to Thoroughbred and Standard Breed competitors.

Not a big deal if you’re looking at worn bandages. Tours are often used on the hind legs of sensitive Thoroughbreds on deep sand tracks. The surface can irritate the fetlock, the joint that connects the long bone of the cannon to the shorter, sloping pastern leading to the hoof. The resulting abrasion is called “wear”, hence the name of the bandage. Consisting of a normal elastic bandage covering a protective pad, with an additional adhesive pad sometimes added as a top layer, rundowns are used so often on the hind legs that you’ll see races where all horses have rundowns. butts.

Much less common are frontal tours. It is rare for a horse to run forward and it is not ideal for a horse to need worn bandages as completely free movement at the fetlock is best. But the Vetrap tape used is light and flexible and has a negligible effect on the horse’s gait if applied correctly. Front runs can only indicate tender skin or some kind of minor fetlock sore, not necessarily lack of solidity. This is a “proceed with caution” situation, if in fact the problem is the horse’s tendency to run forward.

The difficulty arises because the front frayed patches are usually covered by full Vetrap below the knee, and it’s hard to tell the difference between a race bandage meant to support questionable ligaments and tendons and a plain frayed cover. There are trainers who use front racing bandages as a precaution on a fully healthy, well-conformed horse, but most trainers prefer the freedom and flexibility of an unfettered leg. Front wraps are rarely there unless there is a problem (or the belief that there might be a problem) with two exceptions: a trainer may bandage a healthy horse to prevent it from being claimed or to increase his odds. A horse that shows up with bandages on the front end may be perfectly healthy, may not be healthy but fast enough to win anyway, or may be too sick to compete.

The situation in harness racing is a bit different. Instead of wrapped bandages, coaches are more likely to use the orthopedic bandage, a device made of synthetic material or leather that protects the leg bones, usually from interference from other legs. Worn on the back of joggers, orthopedic bandages can also widen and improve their steps. Used on the front legs of trotters or pacers, they provide support for the tendons and usually only appear in horses with pre-existing health problems. Standardbreds generally don’t suffer from the catastrophic failures that Thoroughbreds do, but a sore Standardbred is no more likely to win than a sore Thoroughbred.

The bottom line on frontal bandages is this: they may or may not indicate a problem with potential lameness, but they usually indicate that someone is concerned about it. Many horses win on them, but as a casual racer or punter, you don’t know what’s going on in the trainer’s mind, making a front-bandaged horse a dubious bet unless everything else seems right.