Hard Ground, Gel Pads or Equi-pak?

Ive got photos of the magic cushion and pad arrangement, and will post them tomorrow. My mare is being treated for a specific problem, and the aim for her is for the foot to be stimulated to encourage growth but cushioned to prevent soreness in the meantime. The magic cushion looks like carpet fibre in oil at the moment, but apparently the moisture comes out of it and it offers excellent protection. We will see!
 
Topaz Tiger said:
naturally the foot must always have an amount of slide as it comes into contact with the ground and that these grippy plastic shoes don't allow that, therefore increasing the shock to limb.
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Completely agree re the limb needing the "slide" for want of a better word but then I don't see how requiring shoes for studs/not wanting to event without the option of studs fits in? Pretty sure it was CPTrayes who posted the paper about what using studs does to the limb; much more jarring and damaging than a plastic shoe. This is totally disregarding your original post re being footy since you've stated this isn't the case or an issue BTW.

If you're looking to use the equi-pak to "make it like barefoot" and to reduce concussion you wouldn't use studs so why not just pull the shoes? Completely reducing concussion and enabling the limb to function normally. If the foot is healthy horse will be sound as soon as shoes come off. On BE forum there are a couple of users are eventing at 2* without shoes. It's not for everyone but it's another possible option.
 
TPO said:
to reduce concussion you wouldn't use studs so why not just pull the shoes? Completely reducing concussion and enabling the limb to function normally.
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Concussion by definition is "striking together" so any contact with the ground involves concussion and removing a shoe will not completely reduce it. As someone involved in eventing I understand the need to use pads as we are seeking to protect the horse from the effects of concussion not eliminate it all together as this, clearly, is impossible for a flightless animal.
 
TPO. Firstly there are a lot of very knowledgable people on here who wouldn't event without studs and I'm inclined to agree with them, partic if you want to be competitive AND safe

Secondly I think 10 minutes with studs twice a month is probably less damaging then every step the horse takes with synthetic shoes

Lastly I haven't gone off topic, you never seemed to understand the original topic in the first place.

I think all any of us can do is lessen the effects as much as we can of the highly unnatural life we expect our horses to live, which was the nature of my original post.
 
I would be interested to hear what you try and if it works.

Spotted Cat - Can you use the magic cushion yourself after shoeing? I have had a look at it (Same Farrier as Katb) but did not realise that it could be used as and when required or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

The farrier that Katb and I use has used magic cushion on a number of event horses, esp. last year with the hard ground and as katb states, he really rates it.
 
Horsemad12 said:
I would be interested to hear what you try and if it works.

Spotted Cat - Can you use the magic cushion yourself after shoeing? I have had a look at it (Same Farrier as Katb) but did not realise that it could be used as and when required or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

The farrier that Katb and I use has used magic cushion on a number of event horses, esp. last year with the hard ground and as katb states, he really rates it.
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Yes you can - in the bit of the USA I was in they use it pretty routinely and often give out the little trial packs in the goodie buckets they pull together for 3 days. Basically (and my memory is a little foggy as it was back in the start of 2009 when I was there), you pack it in the foot, wrap the foot (they used a bit of feed sack and duct tape or vetwrap), then the next morning unwrap the foot and you're good to go. I don't remember anyone making any special effort to remove it, and I only saw it used on horses that were footy coz of hard (frozen) ground as I was there in the winter. But they told me they often used it overnight after the XC, unwrap the foot in the morning and horses that had come back jarred up passed the trot up perfectly.

They seemed to use it a bit preventatively - so they'd pack the night before XC and then again after XC.

It could be just what my chap needs at the moment, so I've ordered a small tub and am going to test it out next week.

ETA: I've also got in touch with the person I was training with out there to clarify exactly how they use it as I'm a bit rusty! I would guess COTH forum would probably be able to supply similar answers though....

Re the 'slide' of the foot - a lot of this can be helped by where the studs are in the shoe - my farrier thinks the further forward the better on the front feet because when landing, the heel contacts the floor momentarily before the toe, so my horse currently has stud holes just next to the nail holes in the shoe to allow a small amount of slip.
 
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Hi just a quick update for everyone.
Topaz had some hoof wall cut out and filled last week, as she had a large unstable horizontal crack on the outside quarter, prob from a knock to the coronary band. On friday the filler came out and she went a bit footy, there was a good inch of hoof not touching the shoe, so with Eridge on Friday, some work already missed and no guarentee the next lot of filler staying in, I decided to bite the bullet and have her reshod with Equi-Pak in both front feet.
This is a bit of a high risk statedgy as I wouldn't normally shoe her within a week of an event, but it felt like the best option under the circumstances.
I decided to go for the Equi-Pak in the end because it seemed the most popular choice at this stage and it was also recommended by my farrier.
So will shall see.....
The aim, if it is a success, is to keep her in it until the ground softens in September, hopefully her soles won't soften too much in the process. :p
 
I have heard that the Magic Cushion is great and worth keeping some in equine store cupboard! Please could someone tell me where in the UK you can buy it? Thanks
 
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