Strapping?

[poppypony]

What do people use for strapping?

Do alot of people still do it?

How often and for how long for ?

thanks

[lucretia]

You can make a wisp out of hay or straw, or buy a leather pad. It is important to build up slowly and only strap on muscle. some people use a soft body brush. Bring your pad or brush down onto the area eg crest, shoulder, quarters, then stroke firmly along the line of the coat. The muscles will contract on contact and helps build up the area. Start gently. Its hard work but can really help. You will be out of breath if you do it properly!Puts a lovely shine on the coat as well

[lucretia]

forgot to say, start daily for about 5 minutes and gradually build up to twice a day for about 15 minutes.

[Emma_X]

The best time to do it is when the muscles are warm, i.e after excersise

it does work though xx

[armada]

I start off with a felt pad and use the leather pad after about three weeks, it needs to be done in a rhythmical fashion, so I always count and start off at 10 'baps' and build up over a three week to a month period to about 100 per muscle, depending on how much muscle I need to build on a particular animal.
Also a dull thud is a no-mark, and a sharp slap sound is what you want to hear, I also watch to see the muscle twitch after each bap with the pad.
As Emma said, always on warm muscle after work and a good groom, doing it on cold muscle does nothing other than bruise it!
It can take up to 3/4 of an hour to get round the whole lot of muscles in my experience!!

[marypom]

yeh i agree with you armada... i used to have to use a leather pad, when i work on yard years ago, not one pony but 12,, yep i was knackerd.. hard work.im looky dont need to strap all mine thank god.. as after so many ya arm kills

[poppypony]

Thanks everyone , have started to day!

[tbgirl]

i bought my boy a pad, and he absolutely hates it! :-( has anybody else had problems?

[gtr121]

I ended up with fantastic muscles however the horse looked just the same!!!!