Incrediwear Exercise Bandages: Review

In the pursuit of getting my horses to look and feel their best whilst in work, I have tried an awful lot of therapy products, protective boots, wraps and so on and so forth. Especially after my main horse, Milo, sustained a soft tissue injury a couple of years ago, doing my best to keep his legs healthy and feeling good has been of the utmost importance to me. With the amount of therapy products on the market, finding the right ones can feel a little daunting, especially with the speculation as to whether or not the therapy technology works.

When I first discovered Incrediwear products, I was intrigued, particularly by their exercise wraps because of their ability to be utilized as ice wraps if you apply cool water to them. This was fascinating to me and the convenience of being able to easily ice legs at horse shows without having to worry about bringing a freezer to put them in is a huge problem solver for me. I’ve yet to find a mini fridge that could actually freeze ice packs all of the way through, leaving icing legs at shows something to be desired.

My first impression upon receiving the bandages was that the material was high quality. The width of the bandages is 5”, more than most polo wraps or other stretchy bandages I’ve used. The material is similar to a tensor bandage, thick and stretchy but with good resistance. This makes them more difficult to wrap properly so they definitely need to be used by riders who are comfortable with their wrapping skills as they are easier to over tighten than polos, but personally, I prefer stretch bandages as I find they wrap nicer and trap less heat than a fleece polo, which was one of my biggest issues in using other therapy products like the Back On Track polo wraps. I also find that bandages with more elasticity give far better compression support than polo wraps do, so they’ve become my preferred material for bandaging legs.

Milo, the horse that I got the bandages for, tends to have fill in his leg where his injury was. The injury is healed but left some fluid in the leg, like a windpuff. I like using bandages for hard work to compress this and help bring it down. With the ceramic infrared technology types like BOT, I found the swelling got worse so I sought out to find something that would bring it down and Incrediwear delivered. I was very impressed when I took them off after the first ride in them, cool and tight legs with minimal sweat under the bandages and a definitive difference in the “windpuff” in Milo’s leg. The next time I used them, I decided to try the icing technique by cold hosing the bandages after my ride before I removed them. I was fascinated by how cold the bandages actually got and how long they stayed cool for. This was an extremely easy and convenient way for me to do cold water therapy on my horse without having to lug my ice boots out from the house or stand there holding a hose against the leg. The convenience factor alone sold me on these bandages, let alone the major differences I noticed in my horses legs.

I also got a chance to try the compression hoof socks and really like these for putting under jump boots when I am not wrapping, they’re also good for wearing in the crossties or while being groomed and a lot easier to put on than the bandages. These would be a good alternative for riders who are not comfortable wrapping as they provide similar compression support and can easily go under protective boots. They don’t provide the same protection as wraps, but being able to put them under boots solves that issue. Incrediwear is a brand that has clearly thought through the products they put out and strives to make them suitable for all types of riders. Their technology is especially good for use in the summer or in hotter climates as unlike ceramic technologies, they don’t work based on reflecting body heat and thereby increasing heat in legs, something that contributes to more injuries and something I strive to avoid.

I’m very excited to have something that I can use year round in all climates and also use for ice boots conveniently at home and at shows. Incrediwear offers a lot of testimonials and studies on their sites, but despite this, I was skeptical because of the other therapy products I used increasing the fill in my horse’s legs. Incrediwear blew me away and left me with a very firm preference in the brand I will continue to shop with for therapy products. Thank you for introducing me to your brand, I really appreciate it and am ecstatic to see the difference in my horse’s legs!