Gel pads for shoeing flat feet, anyone had any experiences?

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KatB

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Marebag is having some special gel pads to start to try and correct a very flat pedal bone. Has anyone had any experience of shoeing a sensitive pony in these? My farrier thinks they could be perfect as long as she isn't overly sensitive to the change of pressures on her feet... otherwise we are looking at egg bars. Any experiences muchly appreciated!
 
The Equi pack stuff?? I have used that before on my old horse, it is good stuff but I was lucky if it stayed in for 2 weeks, one shoeing it fell out within a week :eek: it is not cheap neither :(
 
Thanks! Yes, my farrier said it is expensive... luckily we have money to through at it for the next year, so want to crack on and do the most expensive thing first!!!
 
KatB said:
Marebag is having some special gel pads to start to try and correct a very flat pedal bone. Has anyone had any experience of shoeing a sensitive pony in these? My farrier thinks they could be perfect as long as she isn't overly sensitive to the change of pressures on her feet... otherwise we are looking at egg bars. Any experiences muchly appreciated!
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Yes! Morris had really flat feet when I first got him, not helped by a rubbishy farrier at the yard I had him at first (or by the fact that Morris liked to suddenly freak out when he was being shod). Think Morris is just about as sensitive as you can get too...

My new farrier put gel pads on for when we were competing through the summer and then he had all his shoes removed for a holiday in the winter, then we repeated the process for two more years. They slowly started to come right and now he has near 'normal' shoeing. I don't really like egg bars for horses that are prone to over reach (like Morris).

Best of luck with your girlie :)
 
Thanks guys.

Ali, sounds good :) She is very unlikely to over reach (long back short leg syndrome :D ) but we will probably end up with egg bars longer term to keep supporting the foot. My farrier has been excellent with her, but we can't go any further with "normal" shoeing, hence looking at pads. Hopefully it will start to help it!
 
KatB said:
Marebag is having some special gel pads to start to try and correct a very flat pedal bone. Has anyone had any experience of shoeing a sensitive pony in these? My farrier thinks they could be perfect as long as she isn't overly sensitive to the change of pressures on her feet... otherwise we are looking at egg bars. Any experiences muchly appreciated!
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Really helped out a horse of mine who had reverse rotation in his pedal bones. And made life an awful lot more comfortable for him. He wore bar shoes for sometime initially with them. Then after 6 months went back to normal shoes and gel pads occasionally.
 
Saffy had to have it in her front feet after the stand in farrier last year took her feet back way too far. It didn't last very long but did help as we had to jump on concrete ground at the PC Champs. One shoe complete with the gel flew off over the last fence in the jump off!

Useful stuff but you are likely to see a lot of your farrier :D
 
Thanks guys, Amymay, may PM you if that's ok?

measles, I'm sure he'll be thrilled about that, he loves (snigger) marebag ;) :p She has got very good foot quality, so hopefully that'll help!!
 
Good stuff and have to say when have used it had no problem keeping it in. One word of caution if you are working on grass it is like being on skates as it flattens the surface in contact with the ground and loses any of your normal grip. Any work on grass needs to be done with studs in and competition work you need to be aware of the difference this will make.
 
Thanks S_J, I am prepared for that, and she will be studded all round for any work on grass... pleased to hear yours stayed on!!!
 
I have used it extensively on several horses. Not much to add other than interestingly it was only with one farrier (apprentice "graduate") that it repeatedly came out: Haydn said it is to do with making sure the foot is bone dry before injecting it, I think. It always lasted fine whenever he did it himself. I also had a horse who required bar shoes (very slightly "egged") in conjunction with the pads initially, and whenever the ground came up particularly hard. He did, however, carry on a successful career at 2* and Advanced throughout, including on very hard ground, managed in this way - in conjunction with standing him in ice buckets after every XC and gallop, which I swear by :)
 
I don't know how long you've had problems, but here is where I am. Last May my horse started feeling not right/slightly lame. Xrays showed very flat pedal bones. He had egg bars fitted and had his coffin joint medicated (as vet thought that he had pressure causing pain in this area). Long story short between then and February he had another lot of xrays done, his joints medicated another 2 times and then had graduated egg bars fitted (costing £30 per set extra per time). He kept going sound for 8 weeks then would feel 'off' again.

So I bit the bullet and he went for an MRI at RVC as I wanted to know exactly what was going on. Well there was nothing sinister going on at all. The vets said it is just his pedal bones being too flat. They said to put him back in normal shoes and get farrier to trim toe only and get his heel longer. They've told me to be patient, 6-12 months, to get him 100% but I can crack on with ridden work (but ONLY on arena surface at all times) as there is nothing actually going on in his feet. He must be shod every 4 weeks and never to have quarter clips fitted.

My advice is to get MRI done asap if you can. I wish I had as I would have saved a lot of money in long run and would be a lot further ahead getting him right.

Egg bars/pads may work for you but the vets at RVC said they can also make them a lot worse by putting pressure on areas and therefore cause more pain which was what started to happen to mine.
 
Mine has the same issue, he has the equi pack stuff with graduated heart bars and I haven't had any problems so far *touches wood* with it falling out.
A tip my farrier does is puts bubble wrap on the polystyrene pad thingy which the horse stands on, then the gel goes in and when it sets has the bubbles imprinted on it, which gives him a bit more grip. It can be really slippery tho especailly when the ground is wet on top and hard underneath and as we hack out a lot and have to go on the roads I can't stud (apart from road nails) and the bubble wrap does seem to really help!
Not convinced it is actually working tho :-(
 
Thanks guys. Tabledancer, thats v.helpful! My farrier is excellent, ane would want to avoid seeing madam too often so I have no doubt will do a good job! I'm being very careful of ground, for various reasons, but she's pretty much fine in 'normal' shoes but needs maintaining.
 
milliondollar what was the reasoning behind never having quarter clips fitted? Frank has flat pedal bones and coffin joint DJD (just medicated for the second time), also currently being shod in bar shoes with quarter clips (and allowing the heel to grow down). We are using the quarter clips so the shoe can be set back to ease the breakover as much as possible hence my question.
 
catherine, what are yours being used for? Milliondollar, her feet are v.short toed and has goodish heels. My farrier and vet agree we need to offer more than we are currently with normal shoes. Pleased yours is looking a lot better though!
 
My mare had gel pads with NB shoes for about 6 months last year, turned her feet around right from the start, she moved so much better, it also stopped a recurring misalignment problem she had with her pelvis she's now barefoot and doing very well, but her heels had got very under run and my old farrier didn't really address it, my new farrier did this and turned it right around. Sorry fast typing, at work!
 
one of my horses had gel pads with his egg bar shoes. They really helped his feet with bruises. I would say though be careful turning out in mud or hacking in deep mud. I hacked him out in a really deep muddy area and the shoe and gel pad came clean off. I never had a problem with it coming off except in deep going.
 
KatB said:
catherine, what are yours being used for? Milliondollar, her feet are v.short toed and has goodish heels. My farrier and vet agree we need to offer more than we are currently with normal shoes. Pleased yours is looking a lot better though!
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Kat B-Similar to ester, coffin joint djd and flat pedal bones, mine also has collapsed heels which we are trying to take the pressure off with the graduated shoes. He is in work tho so they do work. We even hunted in ours and they all stayed on!
 
Another one in graduated shoes! Really working well though. MRI showed nothing in the joint but very flat pedal bones.
Out dressaging again and doing well, so another vote for graduated shoes
 
Frank's heels (were collapsed and under run) have improved tremendously in his bar shoes (since nov) and vet (and me) not keen on graduations/wedges long term. Unfortunately I'm not convinced his feet looking better has helped his soundness over and above the injections and he might be having them off (up for discussion still!) he also doesn't have age on his side as is 19 now.

It has been interesting reading this post padding him in some way has been suggested but I think I would rather try him with shoes off first to see if they can sort themselves out as he isn't required to do any more than he is able competing wise etc (atm I will just be pleased if we don't end up retiring him!)
 
Similar to what others have already said, my boy has got djd in his coffin joints, and so we use equi-pak.
The way we get them to stay in before shoeing is to add extra stud holes - the gel goes into the holes whilst setting, and so have an extra anchoring point.

I guess this spring/summer is when I'll find out whether it's doing the job, but he's sound at the moment (touch wood). Expensive though, but luckily the insurance is paying.
 
ester- both the top 2 vets and their head farrier at the RVC came and spoke to me after the MRI and discussed what I needed to do with my lad. They asked me what I had him in before the egg bars, I answered wide/long normal shoes with quarter clips, and they all said 'ah, might have been how it all started to go down hill'. They told me that unless you have the horse shod every 3 weeks (maximum) the quarter clips do not allow the foot to expand like it should (and can with a shoe with the one toe clip or no clips). Therefore can lead to problems when you have your horse shod every 6 weeks like I did.
 
thanks MD that's interesting not really heard about them causing more restriction than the shoe itself if that makes sense. As the quarter clips are now on the bar shoes I guess we are restricting the foot from doing any expansion anyway given that it is attached to a metal ring so probably not relevant.

Frank had single toe clips before he went lame and the shoe was being set too far forwards really and not enough heel support (crept on so I didn't notice), previous farrier (as in 5 years ago so not related) did used to have him in quarter clips.
 
Me neither! I had no idea. But it makes sense, as they won't allow the foot to expand outwards like a one clip shoe does. Both the egg bars and the graduated egg bars he was in had no clips at all, but the egg bars eventually were making him worse as the pressure on the heel had obviously started causing pain. So it's now back to normal shoes and getting his heel to grow.
 
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