can pads in shoes make horses uncomfortable?

[Jericho]

If you have been folllowing my recent posts, my horse has been having remedial shoeing for collapsed heels. Xrays etc showed no signs of navicular. The remdial shoeing includes having pads between the shoe and hoof, and gel under the pad.

Anyway ever since he has had the pads on he has pawed the ground, will stand with one hoof pointed and then shift over and is short in stride. I rang the vet about a week after they were put on and he said he is just getting used to the feel of them and a rebalnced foot.

3 weeks I did wonder if it was laminitis and am taking the necessary precautions but vet has confirmed it is not lami and that he is bilaterally lame, probably worse than when he was first assessed

. Vet seems to think the pads may not be right for him and we will reassess next Wednesday when he is being xrayed and tested again and reshod.

Would the pressure on his frogs from the pad hurt him? I would like to be able to talk to the farrier with some knowledge under my belt and discuss alternative as he is obviously not right in these shoes and want to try something different but I dont really know much about all this. Should we look at heart bar / eggs shoes or something like
VetCell’s HSP Hoof Support http://www.vetcell.com/vetcell/technology/hsp_hoof_support.aspx

Anyone have any experience to share......

 

[Nailed]

solefiller which is the gel underneath has been known to cause discomfort, preasure on the sole. also, those pads are awful, do the pads have a wedge. sorrry its breif, im on my phone, when i get home ill have another look at the pads.

lou x

 

[Stoxx]

My boy was shod using the same pads that you are using for the first time 6 weeks ago. They have made a huge difference to him, he is very comfortable in them. However he was on bute for the first 10 days so that he could get used to them and to help any bruising that may have been there from before he had them on.
My vet saw him after 3 weeks and was really happy with the improvement, but said he should continue to feel better and better. Which he is.

Am I right in saying that your boy also had heel raisers on? I wonder if he is objecting to the whole different 'feel'. His whole leg has been been put at a different angle.

 

[Flame_]

Yes, if the horse has soft tissue injuries it could be very uncomfortable with those on. Has it been MRI scanned?

My two horses were both subjected to this drastic remedial shoeing before anyone was prepared to refer them to find out what was going on. Both were very unhappy with those wedges and having learnt from the first horse, I had my second's removed quickly.

If the farrier puts them on and there is an instant improvement, IMO it should then lead long term return to soundness. If the horse instantly dislikes them and goes lamer, get them off and find out why. They shouldn't make the horse uncomfy, even while its getting used to them.

 

[Jericho]

Nailed - no they are no heel raisers.

Ifield - the vet and farrier said the angles will make him feel different and he did walk a bit odd but he was on bute so this should have helped. Any improvement certainly went away once the bute stopped. He is also on Navilox to help the blood circulate in his hoof more / stimulate growth.

Vet didnt feel the need to put him any more bute when he saw him on Friday and was happy to wait until next Monday to reassess... wish I had pushed to come in earlier now but I guess the horn needs some growth on it to do anything more.

Flame - thats struck a chord. What did you have put on instead? Vet did say that obviously xrays wont pick up soft tissue damage which a MRI scan would so in reality although the bone structures look fine there still could be something else going on... gulp.
In fact the more I think about it the more I believe these pads arent helping

 

[Flame_]

The ligaments etc inside the first horses feet were very badly damaged. He had a dreadful prognosis and was pts. It took months to get him diagnosed for anything more than crushed heels, corns and bruised soles when there was obviously a much bigger problem.

The second horse had ordinary shoes on, set quite far back while she was on controlled exercise. She was then turned away barefoot. We are now a year on and she's back in light work, sound in normal shoes.

 

[AandK]

after seeing the improvement in a friends horse, my vet and farrier decided that my boy should have filler pads put in his front shoes. after a couple of days he was a cripple and after 5 days i finally managed to pursuade the vet to rip out the pads.. it took best part of 3 months for Andy's feet to recover. he just couldn't take the constant pressure on his soles. that was nearly 4yrs ago.
so while they can work wonders with some horses, they can cause others a lot of discomfort.
fingers crossed he either gets better or you can find another method of shoeing to suit his problem.

 

[connie1288]

My mare has just had pads put on, no gel and flat so not totally the same, but my vet told me that some horses just dont get on with them but it was worth a try, she has hers under bar shoes to try and help heel pain and to cushion the feet generally as she hates jumping on anything other than soft ground.

 

[LadyRascasse]

[ QUOTE ]
solefiller which is the gel underneath has been known to cause discomfort, preasure on the sole. also, those pads are awful, do the pads have a wedge. sorrry its breif, im on my phone, when i get home ill have another look at the pads.

lou x

[/ QUOTE ]

ditto what lou has said, it excatly what i said would happen

, just be aware how far back it set me horse. if i were you i would request they were removed and an alternative is found.

good luck

 

[Jericho]

thanks QwenLP - yes it was your reply to my last post that starting me thinking something wasnt right with the pads because of your experience. I was sure he wasnt laminitic but wanted the vet to check.

I was so hopeful that these pads would make a difference - one step forward and two steps back!

 

[Marchtime]

The problem is without an MRI you won't know what is going on with your horses feet.
A bit like Flame I have lost one to soft tissue damage in the foot and have recently retired another. The first was many years ago when diagnosis was slow and by the time he went to New Market for an MRI his ligament had ruptured and his coffin joint was collapsing. He was pts aged 8yrs.
Jesper was diagnosed far quicker about two years ago now. We turned him away for nine months (rest is the only thing proven to help with soft tissue damage in the foot). He had silicone gel pads which helped him immensely but that's no surprise as x-rays had confirmed low lying pedal bones and paper thin soles. We were warned that putting wedges in could cause more damage than good as they upset the lie on the ligaments. Sadly Jesper retired this spring due to a combination of injuries.

 

[TheFarrier]

Remind me why the horse is lame please.

Pads with filler underneath is prob what i causeing him to be uncomfortable, you should have one or the other.

I wont suggest too much until you remind me what was worng with the horse in the first place but you should be looking into equipak with your farrier and i have seen easywalker shoes do a lot of things for a lot of different needs from ligament injuries to Navicular with great success