Why are the race horses hind legs taped, but not the front ones?? would tape prevent an injury?

Question

Why are the race horses hind legs taped, but not the front ones?? would tape prevent an injury?

Answer 1

I personally never wrap or tape my horses legs.  I've also never had a leg injury in any of my horses.

The wraps or tape have to be 100% the same on all four legs.  Wraps can also resrict blood flow to the lower leg if too tight, come off and cause the horse to freak out if too loose.  In most cases wrapping is just used to that the horse doesn't bump the other leg and cut it up.

I'm sure Eight Belles trainer had a very valid reason for taping the back legs and not the front.  The speculation that taping her front would have "saved" her is ridiculous.

Answer 2

It would prevent injury. I think they don't tape the front because they need them for turning.

Answer 3

It wouldn't help... it's just a little bit of wrapping... it's not like reinforced steel or anything.  They would still break legs.  The only thing is that if they break the skin, the wrap might be able to protect the leg from the dirt and infection... but if the injury is severe enough to break the skin, in most cases it would probably rip through the wrap too.  Wraps are usually just to protect the legs from minor cuts and scrapes that a horse might get from bumping into other horses in the race.  You can't wrap a horse's legs tight enough that it's going to prevent the horse from breaking a bone... otherwise you'd be cutting off circulation.

Starlight, you usually have decent answers here, but the thing about Ruffian is not true.  She did not wear any leg wraps as a 2 year old.  When she came back as a 3 year old, she added wraps to her hind legs.  And people speculated that since she had started wearing wraps, she must have had an injury or something.

Answer 4

It's meant to prevent injuries, and a lot of the horses had all four legs wrapped.  I'd be curious to know the downside of taping their legs...

Answer 5

i dunno but i picked the pretty black baby for the derby and she broke both her front ankles and had to be put down i was so sad she was a beauty

Answer 6

The tape you refer to is actually a type of running bandage known as a run down bandage, and its purpose is to prevent injuries in the leg it's applied to. There are some horses which do race with run downs in the front as well as behind- Ruffian was one of these, at least in the beginning of her career. That changed after her first season ended and she suffered a hairline fracture in one of her hind legs, though. After she came back from that, she only wore run downs behind. It's not known whether her wearing run downs in front would have prevented her from breaking down, though.

That answer your question??