Shoeing

[bitsnbridles]

My horse has a shoeing:eek: problem with soft feet and can never go bare footed. My shoer consisitenlty recommends putting pads on my horse. Isn't this kind of defeating the purpose of getting soles hard???? :eek:

[dwblover]

My farrier suggested pads for my thin-soled horse as well. He also packed it with Magic Cushion. I believe the pads allowed the sole to stay dry and the Magic Cushion worked wonders. His soles were as hard as nails when those pads came off. Your farrier is probably suggesting things from past experiences that worked out well.

[BuddyRoo]

Your question is so vague and without detail that no one can adequately answer this.

"soft feet"--usually due to moisture or poor nutrition

Pads? not always necessary.

Why don't you do some research and see what you find? I doubt muchly that in KS of all places your horse NEED shoes.

But if he does, so be it! Still, would be good for you to understand the mechanism!

[AKB]

We have used pour in pads for our tender soled, flat footed horses. Pour in pads are nice because moisture doesn't collect underneath them. The soles of the feet were much harder after a few shoeings with the pour in pads. Now, the one guy is barefoot, and the other is wearing regular shoes.

We have also used rim pads to for one of the tender soled horses. The extra few mm of height lifted the soles away from the ground and gave them a chance to heal.

[bntnail]

Give Durasole or Venice turpentine a try.;)

[Tom Bloomer]

Ditto on the Durasole . . . http://durasole.com (http://durasole.com/)

[tpup]

My horse had thin soles and we tried a long time to go barefoot. Didn't work. He was sore, short strided....and he was trimmed well. tried hoof boots - major pain to use and I never felt he was comfy in them...after 2 vet recommendations, I had him shod and farrier put him immediately in Sole Guard (pour in/squirt in type). It was fabulous. The Sole Guard was held in by the shoes and never came out in all conditions - mud, dry - you name it..... Didn't have to worry about gunk getting underneath. After 3-4 cycles, my horse had beautiful, thick soles!! We even Xrayed them and vet and farrier were amazed at the thickness of his soles now. He is now off the Sole Guard but I would consider putting him in it again in a heartbeat if he needs it, or perhaps in summer if it gets dry and rocky to help his comfort level. It was a relief to me to not have to worry about whether or not he was sore when riding anymore, especially trail riding over different terrain.

Shoes and Sole Guard gave me a new horse so maybe give something like Sole Guard a try? Good luck!

[Tom Stovall]

NoOneGuru in gray

Wow, shoeing a horse in KANSAS? What are you thinking!

The aptly-named Flint Hills comes immediately to mind.

[matryoshka]

I'm not a shoer, but it would seem that Sole Guard, properly applied might actually help the shoes stay on, since it adheres to the soles.

I've pulled shoes off with leather pads and some sort of packing, and the soles were very soft underneath. If you explain your concerns to the farrier, perhaps he can help decide which type of pads would work best. There are a lot of options out there.

Sole Guard is something you can learn to apply yourself.