Hello Pippi lover,
I like to use sling boots they are good and they also look good my mum sells them for $31 which is quite cheap and they come in black and white : Sheba horse shop
why are they open you ask , well they are protected around the back of the leg for the tendons and they are open at the front so if the horse knocks the pole he/she feels it so the horse picks there legs up
When showjumping I always use open fronted tendon boots, over reach boots, and fetlock boots on the hind legs. I want my horses tendons to be protected, but allow them to feel a pole if they knock it. When jumping fixed obstacles (like when on the cross country or out hunting), I like to use event boots (with a closed front and quality tendon guard) on the front legs, along with velcro over reach boots, and leather speedy cut boots behind.
I use Roma open front boots when we jump in lessons but we can't use boots in the hunter show ring. If you are looking for a pair of boots that are nice but won't break the bank, I really like my Romas.
I use open front boots for show jumping and sports boots for cross country. If I'm doing both in the one ride, I use sports boots for both. Too lazy to change inbetween.
I always use open front boots in the front, and on the back legs I use fetlock boots.
I use the open front boots to protect the tendons, but if my horse ever gets lazy, he will
tap his cannon bones on the poles and get suprised by the impact and it has taught him
to pick up his feet nice and high when we compete. I use Fetlock boots to protect the inside
of his fetlock joints from hitting each other. If your horse has weak hoof walls you might want
to use bell boots to protect it.
I mostly train dressage so I don't jump huge fences but I like having fun and being silly with my horse so we will go out and jump logs and ditches or fences up to about 3' for fum (i feel cross training to the extent of skiing behind your horse is good for them to trust you, you to really trust them and for neither of you to get burned out) but I only jump with his legs covered either with boots or polos since i don't want him to bonk his legs. Though the other argument if you are interested in competing jumping is to let the fronts of their legs be exposed so they will hit their legs if they don't pick them up high enough.
I don't think that boots are nessasary, unless you are doing serious jumping or have a young horse. Why use them??? Horses where born to jump without them, why then should we invade on what is natural for them??