Hoof pads - pros and cons????

[janie]

Hi all: my horse has had intermittent lameness for a couple of months. Had Xrays and nerve blocks - showed a small arthritic change in coffin joint but the prognosis was good. After a month he came sound but then went unlevel again. Short of having an MRI scan (costing £1,000 plus) or Tildren (again, cost about £1,000) we have opted for remedial shoeing with silicone pads. Has had these pads fitted for 10 days but he has now got worse. I suspect that he has soft tissue damage and the hoof pads are causing pressure and discomfort. Has anyone else had a similar experience??

[Silence]

We have a horse who suffered from intermittent concussive lameness and he now has shock absorbing pads in both his forefeet. It has worked extremely well with him - however if he loses a shoe he is considerably lamer than previously - when he didn#t have the pads in. But it has been worth it to have him sound.

I wonder if yours has that soft tissue damage it will take a long time to heal before you'll be able to see a different with or without the pads.

Hope this helps

[CityLights]

seen them used on two horses ever, one had lami, which why in a million years a farrier would choose this i have no idea, it did make her really really badly crippled as there was a lot of pressure on the sole caused by the pads

the other wore them as he has very thin soles and sturggled with stoney ground, they worked really well for him

[black crow]

I've only seen them work for non arthritics - although they are beneficial in a lot of cases, some vets do go by just the 'standard' procedure - i can understand you didnt have a bucketful of options though!

The last one that we had pad's put on was on the verge of being crippled with hoof problems - she should have been put down, and it took nearly a year for her to actually get any benefit from the pads, as they were still putting pressure on her feet. Sadly she's being ridden again now, despite being still lame. Gr

Have they offered anything else? Adequan intermuscular injections have helped all but one horse that i've seen it used on with arthritic changes - it is still costly, but is less than a set of Tildrin injections, which can be over perscribed anyway..

[CityLights]

Have they offered anything else? Adequan intermuscular injections have helped all but one horse that i've seen it used on with arthritic changes - it is still costly, but is less than a set of Tildrin injections, which can be over perscribed anyway..

we had a horse on adequan and it acautlly didnt help for her, whcih is a real shame, she is only about 8yrs old and has been diagnosed with Ringbone, she hadnt even done much hardwork and was only a show horse, but she does have tiny skinny feet

[janie]

Thanks guys for the advice. Latest is that the vet has given him cortisone injections in both front feet but he has advised to rest him for another 2 weeks and then see. At the moment, my gut feeling is that the pads are not helping him and I am seriously thinking of going against the vet's advice. Trouble is, now he's had the cortisone he might come sound anyway with the pads on! then I suppose, rather than tempt providence, I will have to leave them on.