Pads under shoes for hard ground, advice please :).

Firewell

Firewell

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Jae and I have our first USEA three day event this weekend. It cost a fortune to enter and I want to do well ;).
Jae hates hard ground. He has never worn pads before and if the surface is OK he is fine. However if the ground is rock hard he gets very sticky and tries to stop, he gets jarred up his feet and gets sore shoulders on landing.
I have looked at videos of the event last year and they have prepared the XC course with sand but it still looks a little hard to me. Dressage is in an arena, some classes showjump in the arena, some on grass. My class was on grass last year.
This is California, we have had no rain for three years so naturally the ground is like concrete.
It is an affilliated event so the ground *should* be prepared well but what if there idea of good is still rock hard?
My farrier had said he can come down and put pads on his fronts before we go and take them off next shoeing. Should I do this? What is best to put pads on and risk the ground actually being fine or leave it and risk him getting sore if it is too hard?
Thoughts?
 
My horse had pads on for the summer, in fact they were the same ones re-used. You can get cheaper ones, but my farrier liked the more expensive ones as he said they lasted well, and he was right.

You are not going to make any difference to the firmness of the going, but it might save a bruise. Try them and see, if you don't find they make any difference don't have them on again.
 
I have used them before for my old horse in front when the ground was hard. It's hard to say whether they prevented any soreness or not, but my farrier (who I trust completely) advised them knowing my horse as he did.

The problem I found (not sure whether they will do them the same in the us) is the silicone sealant that they use to seal around the back of the shoe. I found this usually came off within a fortnight or so meaning that dust, small stones and dirt could work its way in. It never ( touch wood) caused a problem but I used to worry about bruising from small stones against the frog and thrush!

So I guess I'm on the fence about them. I guess just try them and see how you both get on with them?

Ps. Good luck at your event!
 
I've had ruby and teak padded through the summer before. With teak we put iodine soaked cotton wool in the pad first, ruby without. Definitely saves them when the ground is less than ideal. I try to have them off when I don't need them though.
 
Mmm if he is getting sore from the extra concussion of working on hard ground, not nessecarily from stones etc I don't know that you can get a pad that will go between the hoof and the shoe that will effectively absorb the extra concussion. Most pads are rubber like and only 1/2mm thick - think about how much you have between your feet and the road in a good pair of trainers...
I had this discussion once with a farrier about the front foot concussion and hard ground, and he said the pads werent worth it for this. Not sure how Jae is shod but 'natural break over' shoes made a big difference to Beau and how he felt hard ground.

If you want to pad against stones, uneven ground etc, then yes pads can work very well, though as mentioned ^ can be a ****** to keep clean if they are open at the back.
 
Dad's horse wears pads year round. My farrier fills the space between them and the sole with silicon gel - we've never had an issue with the gel coming away and stones getting in.
They've made a huge difference. We took them off for a while and he was foot sore so they've gone back on for the foreseeable future.
 
Orangehorse said:
The ones I had weren't sealed but I never had any problems with stones getting inside.
Click to expand...
Same, and the soles and frogs seemed clean and dry even after 5 weeks (no thrush). These were full rubber/plastic pads covering the whole sole. The late chesnut git wore them for a couple of summers as he had thin soles, they definitely helped him.
 
I'd think for thinner/sore/easily bruised soles they would work well
for the ground just being hard they aren't ultimately going to change the amount of concussion.
 
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