Mine was one who didn’t tolerate pour-ins at all. It turned out that her coffin bones were so upright that even through her thick soles, the points were jabbing, and the pour-ins didn’t have enough give. A better trim helped and we went back to leather or rubber pads with squishy dental material between the pads and her soles.
Thanks for all the good questions and thoughts.
Trying to address the items that I hadn’t answered yet –
Previous shoes: she was in aluminum when I got her. It’s possible that was just for sales purposes, but I don’t have an easy way to contact to find out. She seemingly had no issues with the aluminum for a year.
Feed: she’s at a boarding facility without unlimited turnout, so she is on grain. She eats Nutrena ProForce Fuel and rice bran and gets SmartCombo Ultra supplement. She could use a tad more weight even with that, so removing grain isn’t an option.
Turnout: prior to the lameness, she was turned out about 5 hours in winter months and overnight for about 15 hours in summer months. Fields have been muddy in the fall and winter, as I mentioned.
Update: it’s been interesting to see the range of opinions on pour ins generally! My vet boards a horse at my barn and so is able to check on my horse almost daily. Current plan is to give her another few days with the shoes per the farrier’s recommendation, but to make a change after that if she’s still not improved. I’ll try to get and post hoof photos soon.
Thanks again for the responses – keep them coming!
I’m sure you’ll get much more helpful advice once we see some pictures 
then we’ll have more of an idea what’s going on 
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My horse was one that never adjusted to pour in pads of any type, even the squishiest. We had to remove them almost immediately every time we tried. He simply cannot tolerate them so we have just been using rim pads, which he is fine in.
If it were me, I’d probably do the coffin injection as it’s pretty common, but I know some really do not like to inject without further diagnostics.
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How was the thrush treated before the pour in pads?
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That’s a good question! Somehow I missed the thrush part:(
Thrush needs to be treated before the pads get poured.
Also, my horse has white line separation due to damage from laminitis. My farrier cauterized his hooves before applying the pour-ins.
My horse only needed pour-ins for three re-sets (15 weeks). He still wears corrective front shoes and she still cauterizes the white lines (she hot shoes). Fortunately this horse is extremely tolerant of smelling the smoke rolling off his hooves:).
We experimented cauterizing the front hooves on my other horse – that was exciting and a no go :)
How the thrush was treated is a good question! And the answer I suspect is contributing to where we are right now. 
We treated with daily Thrushbuster for a week prior to her visit to get xrays and MRIs that led to her getting pour in pads. She was on stall rest so we were able to keep her frogs clean and dry as well. The thrush definitely started to look better, but I don’t think it was sufficient to entirely clear it before the pour ins went on. I have been continuing to use Thrushbuster in the parts of the grooves that I can access through the back. I have also picked up some Tomorrow and plan to try to use that under the pad. I was following the advice of two vets and a farrier, but in retrospect wish we had waited longer to try the pour ins until we were fully confident the thrush was gone to minimize the chance of frog/heel sensitivity with the pads.
Update: the latest is that her lameness has now moved back to the RF, where it all had started with the abscess. My vet suspects that the pads have helped her coffin bone inflammation that the MRI revealed and toe soreness that we saw using hoof testers, but that she is not tolerating the pour in pad touching the area of her foot that previously had an abscess. My farrier was insisting that it could be her RF fetlock instead, so my vet blocked the foot yesterday and she was 100% sound with that. It’s an improvement in that she didn’t switch to LF lameness when blocked… but still not quite where we want to be. We’re going to reevaluate whether to pull the pads if she is not sound by her next check by the vet on Sunday.
Thanks again for all the thoughts and good questions and well wishes! I haven’t had time to take pictures yet but do have the radiograph films and will try to figure out how to post those on here…
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Be sure to update us. Usually don’t get this much information with these mystery lameness threads.
My thoughts? If she’s tender, the pads are going to put pressure on a tender area and hurt, not help. Given the thrush, at some point that sole needs to be open to flush itself out and heal so I would pull the shoes and pads. Best guess is the abcess is not yet fully healed and pressure on the sole hurts complicated by thrush that’s not cleared.
When you get it sorted out, recommend steel in front and rim pads if any pad is needed. Reshoe in aluminum if you go on the circuit to show and are absolutely convinced the aluminum turn a pink into a red for you. But if she’s home getting turned out on wet grass, the aluminums don’t hold up well and don’t offer the support of steel. I gave up switching and pinned about the same with steel without the cracks around the clinches from the aluminum’s coming off on wet pastures.
I bought one ( expensive) horse, had it for 4 months then it blew abscesses for a friggen year despite top care and a clean PPE. Thrush popped up too. Vet thought it was diet but not the one she was on after I got her, the diet and program she was on before I got her and she was overweigh… In other words, she came with a crappy hoof. It took about 18 months to completely get rid of the old but once it completely grew out, had maybe 3 abscesses in 17 remaining years of ownership, 2 from stepping on a clip, one because it’s a horse and it happens.
Dont discount diet and overall program in a relatively new horse still on hoof they grew someplace else. One thing about the hoof, it grows and those better supplements actually work…but it takes time. A long time.
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My 8 year old big wb came up sore last week, left front. Blocked, was better. Bunch of xrays, determined some inflammation in the coffin bone and sore heal. History of 2 abscesses in 6 months same foot. Hard crappy winter footing in turnout, who knows.
Farrier put him in flip flop shoes, recommended by vet, he is sound after 5 days of bute ( and ulcergard)and tack walking.
I’ll take it.
It is tough to figure some of these issues out. I hope you get to the bottom soon. Good luck.
I would get the farrier at Morven Park to do soft pour in pads. I would also do a Cushing’s test. One of our horses did best with rim pads and soft pour in pads for his sensitive feet.
I had a horse that did not tolerate sole pressure. Current horse did far worse with soft pour in than harder when we were dealing with the quarter crack and the creature from the black lagoon that was apparently living in his foot.
Sometimes stabbiness is neck, just to throw one more thing at the OP. And neck issues can cause front end issues.
My gelding has thin soles and we decided to put leather rim pads (not a full pad, but just beneath the shoe). It elevates the sole off the ground and the shoe of course provides support. He’s never ouchy now. I tend to believe that he would NOT have been able to tolerate the pour ins either, as even when dirt would mound up on the solar surface, he’d hurt.
Quick update: my mare has been looking better. She’s just slightly off – more NQR than lame – on her RF at this point. Regardless, my farrier is cutting out the pad around the frog to relieve the pressure that she may not like, which will also make it easier to keep up with thrush treatments as needed. We landed on this because the vet was concerned with re-shoeing again after only 1.5 weeks, and going forward would look to other pad alternatives like rim pads if this works for her. Fingers crossed!!
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Sounds like some of what we went through with my TB his first year off track. Pulled the aluminum shoes, he was sore in front barefoot. Put him in boots, which worked until we started dealing with wet weather. Kept him out of the wet, but was always better with boots than barefoot.
Weather dried, put him in shoes. Sore. Shoes and rim pads, still sore. Shoes and leather pads did the trick.
By the time we got to the next winter and pulled shoes again, he’d grown enough sole thickness and new wall integrity that he’s been cheerfully barefoot and playing on frozen ground all winter. Wet ground doesn’t bother him anymore either.
He needed to grow a new foot, and that takes a year no matter how you face it.
I think a lot of people, even vets and farriers, underestimate the amount of pain and damage thrush can cause. I am dealing with a nasty case on one of mine, and in doing so, have learned a ton about how sugars/starches, trace minerals, the hoof trim and environment can all be factors.
I’m currently trying a mix of zinc oxide and copper sulphate to treat my mare. It is miserably sticky stuff to deal with, but it is supposed to work well. Sure stays put on her hooves! I have also heard good things about the Tomorrow paste, so I am interested to hear what you think of it.
Good luck!
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From this and your other update it sounds like you’re making progress and I’m glad to hear it. There are a couple of other things I wanted to throw in.
First, if you have another occasion to do any blocking I would start even lower. Your vet can block just the heel, THEN move up to the whole hoof. This can be really valuable to help figure out exactly where it hurts.
Second, Thrushbuster is antiquated garbage. And it stinks. Tomorrow is a much better treatment option. It it’ll get your mare sound enough to get through the show season then do it to it. It’s also my go to for a horse with minor thrush or one who will not tolerate soaking. But as soon as your schedule allows it you need to pull her shoes and do a week of White Lightning or CleanTrax proper soaks every other day to really get that thrush out of the picture. That’s the gold standard for thrush treatment. You can boot or diaper wrap to keep her from getting sore with no shoes but you have to pull the shoes because of how the chemicals react to the metal. There are a bunch of good thrush threads on here but that’s the message to take away from this. I would do all 4 feet while you’re doing it.
Best of luck getting back in the ring!
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Not a vet or farrier but I recently went through something similar. In the end, 2 rounds of medical plates and leather pads going forward was the very expensive but also very effective solution.
And another update, but a less positive one : The frogs of the pads were cut out yesterday – the goal was to leave the rest of the pour in to protect her thin soles but to relieve pressure on her frog. My vet and farrier jogged her together this morning and she is much more lame again on the RF. They think that the thrush looks cleared but her frogs are sore. We are likely going to send her back to the vet at the clinic for a reevaluation at this point. Any thoughts on other shoeing changes to make that can address both thin soles and sore frogs? I think it is likely that we would have her shod by the farrier at the clinic next… And I 100% hear all the calls for pulling the shoes, but I am still hoping to get her back in the show ring soon if we can do it comfortably and happily so I’m primarily looking for other shoeing suggestions first.
I’m glad another farrier will be able to provide some insight. Hard pads for a horse that is tenderfooted isn’t inherently a bad idea but it sounds like your current farrier really pushed to keep them on even after the horse did not demonstrate improvement. That coupled with insisting the lameness was higher up makes me wonder if they may have some resistance to objectively looking at the feet/their work.
Personally, I’d mentally scrap the show season. I know that is super easy to say from a distance. However, if your mindset is “what can I do to get her sound enough to get into the ring” I think it pushes you in a direction of quick fixes, which may create larger issues downstream. Hopefully, you have a sound horse in 4-6 weeks. I’d be surprised if even the perfect shoeing option could deliver results much sooner because it takes time for bruises to fully heal and inflammation to completely subside.
If the issue is super crushed heels or a mile long toe, the most creative shoeing option isn’t going to do squat if it isn’t specifically targetting issues that need to be changed. Are you willing to post pictures of the feet? There are so many expert eyes on here.
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Hm, that’s still pretty interesting that “sore frog” would show up while the foot is still shod and padded everywhere else. The frog shouldn’t be contacting the ground in this situation or doing much. Right? Did they hoof test on the frog area?
Pads seem to be so individual. Some only tolerate a plastic pad. Some really respond well to the pour-in. Some can only tolerate leather. Some need a rim pad. Some need a flip flop. Some like the plastic pad but with the frog support piece.
I see your point about not wanting to take the whole shoe off at this point, but it’s too bad the modification to the pour in seemed to make things worse. I think in the meantime if you are stuck till you make the trip to the clinic, I’d pack or paint the frog area with anything that is toughening/hardening/pain relieving that is safe to use on the frog area.
Iodine, something like Rebound hoof packing or Hawthorne’s packing or a combo of Sole Freeze and the packing. These products would also help any lingering thrush. Hawthorne’s sole pack I can find in the single packs at one of my local farm stores. Other products you might be able to get quickly versus ordering would be venice turpentine or pine tar. Anything to toughen and take any sting out would be what I would try until you can get to a place where you can try the next option for shoeing.
Sounds like you might need a few different days using different blocking techniques. Start trying to just get the heels. See what happens. Another day, try the front of the foot first to look for the coffin bone/joint pain or possibly associated collateral ligament.
