Can anyone suggest their favorites pads, or therapeutic shoes for a foot sore, thin soled TB? Any input, experiences or links are appreciated.
Depends on why the horse is foot-sore.
If it’s just because the horse has thin soles, just about any type of pad can work with standard shoes. My thin-soled TB mare has worn steel shoes with leather pads, and steel shoes with rubber pads. My farrier typically packs them with pine tar & oakum. Her main issue is thin soles, but she also has high/low syndrome which requires more farrier/trim management than special shoe type.
If you are looking at therapeutic shoes - what is the issue that requires special shoes?
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i had tremendous luck with frog pads with pour ins. flat footed young horse that suffered from mild Pedal Osteitis and poor sole depth. totally turned him around. PO improved on xray
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Have a recently retired gelding- stayed in shoes and pads all of his competitive career due to less than ideal angles and sole depth, but when he retired in the spring, he transitioned to barefoot nicely and never took an off step. Fast forward to last trim a few weeks ago with a new farrier who took way too much sole (coupled with FL wet season) and I had an instantly crippled horse with frighteningly thin soles. I didn’t let him walk out of the aisle that way and farrier immediately put him in GluShus… after three days rest in a deeply bedded stall he went back to being comfortable in turn out and light riding. He’ll be staying in the GluShus until we can hopefully grow enough sole to go barefoot again.
This^^^ is a reasonable question to ask. WHY the horse has thin soles might change somebody’s answer:)
My horse seriously foundered in 2012 due to IR and had another, mild episode in 2015. Boots and pads made for boots stopped working for him.
I have a therapeutic farrier for him and what is currently working the best mare Natural Balance PLR Flat steel shoes - steel because she hot shoes him plus aluminum encourages anaerobic issues. She also has him in wedges with frog pads and covers his soles with VetTec’s EquiThane CS (copper sulfate).
https://www.stockhoffsonline.com/acatalog/Vettec-Equi-Pak-CS-210cc.html#SID=663
I can’t find a picture of the wedges she uses but Stockhoff’s also carries them.
To reiterate, this set up is for a horse with old and serious founder who needs palliative care. NaturL Balance makes several different models of shoes. Nanric also has a corrective shoe line.
The one thing I would recommend would be the EquiThane, when such a generic question is asked:). Type of shoes would be predicated upon the general health of the hooves and what the farrier is trying to accomplish:)
I did the basic green rubber pads for two cycles with my thin soled ottb after a stone bruise. Transitioned back to a wider shoe and will eventually go back to a traditional shoe.
My goal is to not have any horse stay in pads as they’re not great long term for 24/7 turnout in Missouri (hard dry, muddy and wet, frozen and hard).
I agree with others that you need to be looking at why your guy is ouchy and address that. Getting better angles has helped my guy more than anything else–landing heel first and getting a better hoof and frog in general. Plus a farrier that doesn’t trim sole!
My gelding gets pour in pads in the summer. He has thin soles and stomping at flies makes him sore. In the spring and fall he’s ok without them. In the winter he wears snow pads, other wise I suspect he would have some sore days with the frozen ground.
Do you have any x-rays of the feet? I had mine x-rayed when he first presented as a little ouchy as a 4yo. He’s 11 now and I haven’t done x-rays since. He has stayed sound, except for a short bout last summer when we were too late getting the pads on. We could see the bruising later as the sole grew out on his white foot.
We just had a pony experience rotated coffin bones and have her in a Soft Ride Boot. It’s the only way she can walk.
I agree it depends on why.
However, I have a chronically thin soled TB mare who in February had all of 3mm of sole. We have done it all over the years - full rubber wedge pads, leather pads (wedge and not I believe), rim pads (leather and rubber), pour in pads, mixed with different types of shoes, but have ultimately landed with composite shoes (Eponas) with DIM underneath.
She has more than tripled her sole depth as of xrays taken early July (about 4 months in that shoeing set up). Since she still has more sole to gain/ grow before being in the healthy/ ideal range, she will be in them for a few more months and we will re-xray in December.
I tried lots of things of the years in an effort to help, but a good healthy diet and a shoe set up that allows her hoof to expand/ contract as it would if she was barefoot have been the biggest help (as backed up by her xrays).
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This… the diet is key, also a balanced foot. If long toes and low underrun heels are an issue this is going to contribute to thin soles as well.
The DIM is important because it stimulates the bottom of the foot which helps build sole. Whatever you decide make sure the heels/frog/bars and the sole all share in the weight distribution. The wall should not be alone in this job.
What is DIM?
Dental Impression Material 
My TB thickened his soles with regular shoes, a pad, and equipak under the pad.
