pads under shoes

[mudmonkey17]

Has anybody or does anybody have their horses shod with pads under the shoes to reduce concussion?

I was reccommended that this may be an option for my horse who has some arthritis and does not like hard ground. Will discuss with farrier but would like any thoughts please.

p.s. is shod with egg bar shoes on the front

 

[eoe]

We have a livery who has a tb mare who fractured her pedal bone some years ago, is perfectly sound but when the ground starts getting hard the farrier puts a mesh between her hoof and the shoe and then fills it with this stuff from a tube to stop any concussion from the hard ground it works perfectly well. There are numerous pads on the market so would suggest that talking to your farrier is the best course of action as he knows your horses feet.

 

[JenTaz]

taz will be getting this done as of the 28th of this month as he wears down the fronts of his shoes alot which towards the end of a set causes him to get quiet sensitive feet which he usually doesnt get, so we are hoping that by building up the front of his shoes it will sort it out

 

[Troylimbo1]

We have a livery who has a tb mare who fractured her pedal bone some years ago, is perfectly sound but when the ground starts getting hard the farrier puts a mesh between her hoof and the shoe and then fills it with this stuff from a tube to stop any concussion from the hard ground it works perfectly well. There are numerous pads on the market so would suggest that talking to your farrier is the best course of action as he knows your horses feet.

My boy has these with wide webbed (natural balance) shoes. He has sensitive soles and doesn't cope with hard ground, but was originally given these for 'navicular'.
For very little expense your horse with be much more comfortable

 

[Nailed]

An other option which is slightly more expensive but a hell of a lot more successful would be to have the hooves filled with silicone. VETTEK do one called solepak which is very good. Speak to you farrier as he will be able to give you the best advice.

Loux

 

[Angua2]

With my footy old gelding, who also wore egg bars, we used these

http://www.horseshoes.com/supplies/alphabet/thorobrd/en-us/dept_44.html

We did try the VETTEK stuff and found it fell out (even with the mesh) within 2 weeks. We used these pads successfully for about 4 years and didn't have any problems with thrush and I had a very happy sound horse.

 

[MontyandZoom]

There is a 17hh mega-cob at my field. He has ring-bone and tore his ddft last year. He is now shod with pads with some anti-concussion stuff (technical term ) squirted underneath. He has now come completely sound and is back in ridden work!

 

[mahorse]

My mare has had these on since last summer due to coffin joint concussion. She has natural balance shoes and plastic pads on the front, filled with silicone. It does work out more exp (due to silicone) but the pads can be reused for up to 3 times. Its about £86.00 every six weeks but that includes hind shoes.
Its not good for them to have them on permanently due to the foot not getting as much fresh air as normal but my mare has good feet and its not been a problem so far. I'm hoping after the summer my mare will go back to normal shoes. Oh, be warned, when the pad is taken off for reshoeing, it stinks!!!

 

[millitiger]

Pilfer has these occasionally in the summer, generally for 2 or 3 sets.

work well at keeping him happier but the shoes did tend to come loose quicker.

he was eventing to BE Novice and working hard 6 x week- each set lasted 5 weeks.

 

[Bjutschilp]

My westphalian gelding had those plastic plates with silicone paddings under his shoes for about two years, because of fetlock arthritis in his front legs.
But I'm a bit astonished about the egg bar shoes at the front legs, because my farrier told me, that those shoes should not be used at the front hoof.

In the meantime Artos only has NBS shoes at the front legs and egg bar shoes at the hind legs.
Those NBS shoes are especially for those problems, because they facilitate a scrolling movement of the front legs, which decreases the exposure of the bones.

 

[JustaFlash]

My TB had pads on for a while, but thet caused me no end of grief. He has really thin soles so felt every lump and bump on ground. I had the thin black rubber pad with a pink dental packing. These worked for a time and I thought we had struck gold, then it all started going wrong. He went really really lame and could not work it out. Eventually took shoe off and there was an absess. Fixed this and became a poltice expert in doing so!! Then went lame again but on other foot, worse than before. Turned out he had a hole in his sole. The pads were allowing grit underneath which was causing damage to sole. When all healed tried different type of packing (hemp) even worse. Sacked farrier and tried something else. New farrier put in silicon gel but didn;t even last 24hrs in winter turn out conditions. SO have now taken the plunge and gone barefoot. Hard going to start with but now going really well. Only did this with fronts cos backs were ok. Have Old Mac G2 boots for hacking. Just taken backs off now. SO need to get boots for backs. Barefoot is fab, new hoof growth and condition is great without need for useless sups. Also use a Ucalyptus oil based hardener for soles fron vet, cheaper and more natural than Keratex. Good luck and keep me posted with how you get on.