Heel wedges- do you think they work?

S

seabiscuit

Well-Known Member
Joined
30 July 2005
Messages
6,228
Visit site
Just interested to hear about what people's experiences are of using heel wedges to correct flat feet.. My vet is insisting that one of my horses wears them on the fronts but I really am not convinced that they help things much at all and that the horse is uncomfortable with them, movement seems clumpy and heavy rather than light on the feet.
Had them on another horses's back feet once and the effect was disastarous and I insisted that they were taken off after two weeks even tho vet seemed to think that he was better with them on, I could plainly see that the horse was so uncomfortable.

Then there is another horse on my yard that has heel wedges behind and it really does look so crippled and odd moving behind and am sure thats the heel wedges( but owners are following advice of vet and keeping them on; I seriously believe that they're crippling the horse)

So any positive stories out there? its just that the farrier is coming out tomorrow and am sorely tempted to tell him to take the wedges of my horse but rather worried about not following the vets advice.But then again Im never 200% sure that vets always do know what they are doing.
confused.gif
 
Mmm, I had a wedge on one of my t/b eventers front feet, he didn't have a pair of feet! It did help but he kept yanking the shoe off, he did that with or without the wedge. My farrier insisted that it was helping him but in the end he gave up putting it on him. Since he has now left me, I have heard that the vets have suggested he wear one again.

Did it do any good? Well, it didn't do any harm!!!
crazy.gif
 
It's a tough one, that's for sure. If you're not entirely happy, then don't do it. I'm not sure it did anything for my boy, but it's kinda funny that it has been advised again.

Oooh, decisions decisions
confused.gif
 
I had an interesting conversation with my farrier about this. My mare has wedges on behind with a lot of frog and sole support but farrier's idea was that if you just raised the heel without any support then you just give the sole more room to drop which can cause even more problems.
Good luck with yours
smile.gif
 
My vet (at the time...ie no longer use him!) insisted they were the answer to a very slight soreness with my horses front feet which were a bit flat and my horse hated them. His big swingy walk dispapeared over night and he took titchy little pigeon steps. My farrier was dead agaisnt them as felt they would make the horse worse -which they did. Stupidly I let myself be talked into the work being done by a remedial farrier the vet knew. I never felt right with it and called time after I had run up about £2k of vet bills with a horse that was worse than before the vet got to him. In hindsight it had been a hard summer and the horse was prob just a bit footsore and needed a rest. It took a while to undo all the work of the so called remedial farrier as he had jacked up his front feet so high they couldn't be brought down in one shoeing so gradually decresed wedege size over a no. of months and he is now absolutley fine and back to his happy self and eventing again.
 
My Indi has wedges on both his back hooves as he has typical flat tb feet with collapsed heals as well as bone spavin in his hocks which can make him drag his toes.

The wedges seem to be helping to be honest but as this is only the 2nd time he has been shod with them i cant really say if they will continue to help in the future.

here is my farrier fitting the wedges.

DSC00206.jpg
 
My vet (at the time...ie no longer use him!) insisted they were the answer to a very slight soreness with my horses fromt feet which were a bit flat and my horse hated them. His big swingy walk dispapeared over night and he took titchy little pigeon steps. My farrier was dead agaisnt them as felt they would make the horse worse -which they did. Stupidly I let myself be talked into the work being done by a remedial farrier the vet knew. I never felt right with it and called time after I had run up about £2k of vet bills with a horse that was worse than before the vet got to him. In hindsight it had been a hard summer and the horse was prob just a bit footsore and needed a rest. It took a while to undo all the work of the so called remedial farrier as he had jacked up his front feet so high they couldn't be brought down in one shoeing so gradually decresed wedege size and he is now absolutley fine and back to his happy self and eventing again.
 
Our farrier is a remedial farrier who works closely with a large veterinary practice. He won't recommend heal wedges as he believes that the heels get crushed causing more problems.
 
My farrier dislikes them and says there is evidence that heel wedges can increase the risk of fractures of the pedal bone.

He wouldn't use them.
 
I think its a case of different horses for different courses (or however the saying goes.!)..
my boy has reverse rotated pedal bones in both his hind feet and has the same wedge pads on as the ones Rockchick_uk has posted a picture of.. he had the EDS ones to start with but as we event and they are quite heavy they didn't suit.. he has been wearing these pads for about 2 yrs now and the one time he didn't have them on he was v sore all over within 2 weeks as he now knows how his back should feel and quickly lets me know if there is a problem.! I had him for about 3 yrs before he was diagnosed with the problem and he is a different horse now (movement wise), for the better..!
I wouldn't be happy if it was just wedged shoes that were being fitted I would say no as mentioned above you need to support the pedal bone and internal structures... If your horse is not happy/comfortable with them then have them taken off, there are many other options available depending on what the problem is..
 
We tried them with my older mare, when she was xrayed and found to have fused hocks. To be honest, they helped a bit while she had a particular bone spur forming in there somewhere, but vet and farrier both said only use them for 1, maybe 2 shoeings, and then take them off. She pulled them off fortnightly as well!! We then took her hind shoes off last winter while she was worked less and ground softer, and re-shod her this spring with normal shoes and she is fine. She is long toe/low heeled anyway and my (VVVV good!) farrier always shoes her with quarter clips and rolled toes to let her heels come up as much as possible, and we've not had any problems with her since he has been shoeing her....you wouldn't even know that is the way her feet grow naturally tbh.)
 
We had a vet where I last lived who was absolutely mad for wedges - it was almost a joke. Personally, I think they did produce some "improvement" in the short term (in movement/comfort) but I often didn't like the way the horses felt in them. I am VERY leery of them. I saw a couple of her subjects for long enough to highly suspect it did them serious long term damage. Another vet in the area who was also a highly qualified farrier and "leg man" made a great deal of money trying to reverse her handiwork.

In my youth it was quite common to put them on horses with various pathologies when other options had been tried but always with the understanding that you were getting short term gain for long term pain and were merely transfering destructive force to other bits of the horse. I don't understand why this is no longer the case??
 
We have had positive results from hind wedges on Marco; he was badly lame for months last year - eventually diagnosed with bone spavin - our farrier suggested trying the wedges & almost immediately Marco started improving. This year is the first year Marco has been sound all summer, he's been jumping & doing dressage with no problems, his paces and action are better than ever before.
Am just hoping that long term there won't be any problems but he is much better with the wedges than he was without.
 
QR

my mare had wedges put on at her last shoeing together with egg bars.
She was a big striding mare but not with these on
frown.gif
Shes also still lame so I'm having them off on Tuesday
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top