pads for thin soles - does anyone have experience of these?

[LeneHorse]

My farrier has just fitted my mare with pads on her front feet to protect her thin soles. They are plastic, fit under the shoe and are filled with purple gel. Does anyone else have these and what problems should I look out for. He did warn me she is more likely to pull shoes. I am continuing to turn her out as usual but have been putting over reach boots on. Any thoughts/advice welcomed!

 

[Shilasdair]

The reason the shoes come off is because the pads give each time your horse steps on them (cushioning effect) and this means the nails on the shoes work loose gradually...so I'm not sure O/R boots will help...but then they won't harm either!
You may find your horse gets smelly feet under the pads...thrushy stuff....and over time the pads will mean that your horse's feet get softer...so they're usually only a short time solution.
Hope this helps
S

 

[LeneHorse]

I had wondered about thrush - farrier didn't mention it. He also didn't mention over reach boots - it was other liveries who suggested i should be using them - would much prefer not to as I think they will end up rubbing.

 

[dieseldog]

Your horse might pull them off as there is now a strip off plastic running across the back of the foot which the horse can now tread on. So overeach boots will help. Some of our horses have won pads for a long time and never got thrush. And once you start wearing them it doesn't mean that you are going to have to wear them forever.

Hope they work for you

 

[Shilasdair]

Sometimes you can harden the feet better by feeding an all round supplement....or feeding some biotin.
Farrier's Formula is meant to be good but I've never managed to get any horse to eat the stuff!
One of my farriers did say if your horse has bad feet and is slow to heal when gets little cuts etc, calcium is the solution - I was sceptical but I have to say it did work on one of mine.
I don't know why your horse has pads on...so can't comment whether it's a good or bad idea...as it depends entirely on the horse and the situation.
Hope your horse is going well
S