Different types of shoes for horses with possible navicular and other hoof issues

[quietann]

Short version: I’ve seen Ground Control shoes, and a few others made of composites or polyurethane, and claim to be good for horses with heel pain. Just wondering if anyone here has used them, and what other options are available.

Long version: So I had a thread 3 years ago about my mare being lame in the LF due to possible navicular. She had Osphos, which helped a little, but ultimately switching to a new farrier was the thing that helped the most. She’s been shod all around with pads up front for years but with changing her hoof balance, getting her heels not contracted and increasing her shoe size from 00 to “almost 1”, and using different pads, we had a couple of good years.

Now she’s off on the RF, which is her “special hoof.” There are signs of (very) old laminitis on Xrays, the hoof has a tendency to flare, and that’s the one we will see problems with if she gets second cut instead of first cut hay. The leg above it has poor conformation – offset knee and a big splint that was there when I bought her 13 years ago.

A nerve block test done on Monday was definitive for heel pain. She’s had another round of Osphos but it’s too early to tell if it helps.

She is due to be shod in 2 weeks, and has had a lot of toe growth the last few cycles. Besides changing her trim… I am thinking about other types/materials of horse shoes. She’s had wedges long ago and I remember some problems developing because of too much toe pressure. She’s had pour-in pads in the past, which also made things worse. This horse grows hoof and sole like a champ.

[Scribbler]

Do you need shoes?

The nice thing about barefoot plus boots as needed is the hoof will wear naturally or you can rasp or trim flares at will, you don’t need to let the foot grow 4 to 6 weeks.

[quietann]

Absolutely do need shoes on this horse, unfortunately. As I have said elsewhere, I did not get the traits that Morgans are renowned for with her. She was barefoot for 8 months while having and rehabbing from suspensory surgery, and occasionally got a little footsore even before I could ride her. When I started riding her, it became clear pretty quickly that she would be better off in shoes. Current farrier thinks she will need shoes in front even when retired… I hope not!

[Sarah616]

We have a (very old, think 25+) lesson horse whose x-Rays are…. Far from what a normal x-Ray should look like. He has lived in Flip Flop shoes (https://hoofcare.blogspot.com/2017/01/thinking-outside-shoeing-box-florida.html?m=1 ) for years now. They have worked wonders for him. These shoes, combined with Osphos, have taken him from having multiple lameness episodes per year with injections to try and maintain some semblance of soundness, to being so sound now that he still continues to go to local shows.

[quietann]

Update: I am lucky enough to have connected with a vet in the area who specializes in equine podiatry. She knows my mare from before she did the advanced training required, and is going to come examine and X-ray her hooves on Wednesday. From the photos and history and old X-rays I sent her, she says she doesn’t think she would take over the farrier care for my mare, and she knows and likes my farrier and vets and will work with them. So I am feeling more hopeful now.

Meanwhile, she agrees with my farrier that a lot of horses in our area are growing out hoof very quickly. She thinks we may have to go to a 4 week cycle on my mare for a while; she’s been on a 5-week cycle and it’s clearly too long.

[walkinthewalk]

I am late to the conversation. What did your vet conclude and what did the x-rays show?

My horse, who lives with residual issues from a serious 2012 founder, has been in a model of the Versa; EasyCare’s composite shoe. In his case, a full flexible pad with a 3/8” rise at the heels is attached to the shoe and DIM material goes between the pad and his soles.

These shoes have been the best thing for reducing concussion; especially since Fall 202 e-rays showed him developing Low Ringbone.

He is reset every five weeks but during the spring, the farrier will bump him up to four weeks, as he is also a horse who has always grown a lot of hoof.

[quietann]

@walkinthewalk

I am late to the conversation. What did your vet conclude and what did the x-rays show?

We are not there yet. The equine podiatry vet is coming next Wednesday. I’m going to talk with her about alternate shoeing materials, pads etc. I know a little of her work and she’s open to non-traditional ways of doing things.

[StormyDay]

My horse with navicular was in glue on easyshoes for two years. He wasn’t in them for navicular, but I’d recommend them to anyone who has a horse with mild to moderate hoof pain.
They absorb a lot more concussion than steel or aluminum, and can be really easily shaped to have more of a roll over, higher heel, etc. You can also get polyflex, which come in wedges, different breakover, etc.
They also tend to promote a ton of sole growth, which is great for any horse with not so great feet, and also tend to cause the horses overall hoof to grow in size.
My horse went up two shoe sizes over 2 years. Even after 2 years of being out of them, he has kept that hoof size.

The only real downside to them is that your prep work for gluing them on takes a lot longer than regular steels. A fast farrier can get a set on in about 45min-1hr.

[skipollo]

^^^I second glue ons like StormyDay said. My horse does not have navicular, but there are a few navicular horses where I board who have been put into the Polyflex with good results. My farrier recommends doing it for at least three cycles to see the full impact/change before deciding if it’s helping.

I have my horse in the Poly as he’s a habitual shoe puller (due to chronic hind end issues that must be managed carefully.) He’s also overall a lot more comfortable in them. He had been wearing them from mid 2017 until August 2020. We tried switching to aluminums, and while he was technically “sound” (aka not limping), as winter progressed he got more and more uncomfortable all over his body. I spent a LOT of $$$ trying to get the issue resolved. I ended up switching him back to the Poly in June 2021, and he is a different horse. So while he was never technically lame in aluminums, the Poly are so much more comfortable for him. They expand and absorb impact/concussion really well, and there are no nail holes so if they’re sensitive to nail pressure they are a great option.

They have corrective options, wedges, padding, etc. You can also get options with pre drilled stud holes.

I will say the only downside is the cost. They are expensive. They are worth every penny to me, but they are costly. There are also no resets–you have to start fresh with new shoes every time.

[StormyDay]

@skipollo

^^^I second glue ons like StormyDay said. My horse does not have navicular, but there are a few navicular horses where I board who have been put into the Polyflex with good results. My farrier recommends doing it for at least three cycles to see the full impact/change before deciding if it’s helping.

I have my horse in the Poly as he’s a habitual shoe puller (due to chronic hind end issues that must be managed carefully.) He’s also overall a lot more comfortable in them. He had been wearing them from mid 2017 until August 2020. We tried switching to aluminums, and while he was technically “sound” (aka not limping), as winter progressed he got more and more uncomfortable all over his body. I spent a LOT of $$$ trying to get the issue resolved. I ended up switching him back to the Poly in June 2021, and he is a different horse. So while he was never technically lame in aluminums, the Poly are so much more comfortable for him. They expand and absorb impact/concussion really well, and there are no nail holes so if they’re sensitive to nail pressure they are a great option.

They have corrective options, wedges, padding, etc. You can also get options with pre drilled stud holes.

I will say the only downside is the cost. They are expensive. They are worth every penny to me, but they are costly. There are also no resets–you have to start fresh with new shoes every time.

Good point on the nail pressure; this was exactly why I went with glue ons vs the composite ones you can nail on.
They are super expensive. I actually did them myself, and it was still about $70 in materials every time. I found I could reset the easyshoes one more time but I had to clean them really well. For me that made sense as they are like $50 a pair.

[quietann]

Because of our terrain and trails, I’m not sure glue-ons would work. My mare isn’t bothered by nails so hoping to end up in some sort of rugged composite that uses nails.

[Heinz_57]

I have a horse in Ground Controls this summer because our ground is super duper hard and the concussion was too much.

After two cycles, I like them. Not too finicky to work with, the frog support bridge (which is slightly inset from the shoe itself) can be removed if pressure is a problem, the perimeter can be shaped with nippers and a rasp. Nails can be set anywhere in the channel, no preset holes. Depending on the ground wear situation, they can often be reset (sometimes several times).

The other option I considered was Epona shoes, but those do require some sort of packing underneath which may not work for you.

[StormyDay]

Glue ons can handle any terrain that shoes do. The glue has really come a long way in strength and is now very reliable. But if your horse can do nails, nailing them on will certainly be a lot cheaper!

[quietann]

Update: Oh I like this vet/farrier. She’s smart as a whip, and had clearly reviewed her notes about my horse, who she had not seen since 2017.

So… she watched the mare get walked down a hill, trotted on the flat on softish ground, and longed in a circle at the trot both outside (hard ground) and inside (cushy footing). Did good Xrays including of navicular bones, hoof-testers (absolutely no reaction anywhere; mare has thick soles), etc.

The good news is that the mare is now barely lame on the RF. So maybe the Oxphos is doing something, as skeptical as I am.

I have a list of issues, but also some good things:

– X-rays look very good, especially for a horse of her age and conformation (I’ll get to that.)
– Palmar angles are way better than she was expecting (+9 degrees on RF, +8 degrees on LF). The vet had Xrays from 2017 and these are much improved since then.
– Because she’s so pigeon-toed, she lands on the outsides of her front hooves (this is pretty dramatic and has been present for a long time), and the inside heels are therefore much higher – this needs correction
– Related to above – she has some separation on the outside of her RF but it’s not white line disease.
– Agrees that her toes need to be brought way back.
– RF is a “sneaky” club foot – it can look “normal” at a glance
– ETA she is also quite over at the knee on her RF and somewhat on her LF.

Her general conclusion is that the RF club foot, combined with the gait abnormalities, is stressing her DDFT. The separation is a sign of that, since she lands HARD on the outside of the RF. Says the mare would be way more lame if the DDFT was torn or damaged, so the general idea, going forward, is that we’re going to do everything we can to support that DDFT so it isn’t so stressed.

We are starting with steel shoes with a pretty good sized bevel in front to try to improve her breakover, leather pads, and soft impression material with some give. Frog pressure, pour-in pads, etc. would probably make things worse (this agrees with prior experience – she was miserable in pour-in pads.) And trim her every 4 weeks because it’s clear that she needs it.

The vet is going to talk with my farrier directly before the farrier comes on Friday.

The vet is very open to alternative shoe materials if the above doesn’t help. She likes Polyflex, which are glue-ons, but I am going to send her info on Eponas and Ground Controls, which can be used with nails… I don’t see a reason to fuss with glue-ons since the mare has no issues with nails.

I am feeling a bit more hopeful.

[sportyspicepony]

I am about to start down this path with my mare but I have a farrier that I’m very skeptical about and haven’t found a good hoof- knowledgeable professional to work with yet… any way you could post pics of your mares feet just so there’s a visual to what you’re describing? This is super educational, thank you for the update!

[quietann]

I’ll try to get photos of her barefoot before the farrier on Friday, and shod after. Might have time to get a few after the farrier trims her, but before she is shod.

PM me where you are located and I’ll ask my vet whether she can recommend someone.

[MsM]

Any thoughts of doing a small wedge? My Morgan had a strained DDFT and other inflammation diagnosed by MRI. We used more xrays and got his toes as far back as possible. Then he was shod with a 2 degree wedge pad with frog support.
He has been sound this way for over 2 years. We thought about losing the wedge but the hooves are holding up well so decided not to mess with success.
BTW he has great quality feet and had been barefoot with careful trimming before developing this problem.

[quietann]

Ok… so knowing that any time someone posts photos of their horse’s hooves, the knives come out… Here are before and after. Keep in mind that the befores were taken 12 days ago.

[quietann]

Here are the afters, just taken about 2 hours ago. And yes, she managed to take a chunk out of her RF in the 2 days she was barefoot. I still don’t think her toe was brought back enough, but I’m not sure how much one can do in a single cycle.

[quietann]

In better news, I guess, the vet-farrier thinks Epona shoes would be a good choice if steel shoes don’t work out. What she has on now are not the shoes the vet wanted, because the farrier could not get them with only a day’s notice. The farrier modified something she already had on hand.

We have also moved the mare to a 4-week cycle because there’s so much growth going on.