This is timely as I just bought a new horse and his feet need some major help. His front feet have been allowed to let the toes grow way out and his feet in general seem splayed. My farrier is going to work on fixing things slowly, but I’m wondering if it would help to add pads and/or impression material under the shoes while we are adjusting angles? He’s older and creaky so I want to do all I can to keep him comfy.
I personally after all of this gong show , for lack of better terms, gradually is best and possibly mid winter when there is snow (if you have snow or at least softer conditions).
I can post what the vet today suggests whenever they arrive and have a look.
I have a good feeling my mare wouldn’t be sore if we got shoes back on. (After the short period of bruising subsides).
One of the largest issues I feel (in my non expert opinion), that went on with our situation is for one pulling shoes when the ground got unreasonably hard (though usually May is wetter here), and the issue of pulling almost all the toe back during one trim.
However on the other hand, the second farrier I had look at her suggested that the fact that he left a bit of toe and took heel back as well, it has aggravated the situation as she had an unbalanced foot landing toe first creating further bruising on the tender soles.
She’s now standing with cushioned bandages, vet wrap and soaked pads with a natural hoof hardener/poultice to draw out any abscess. Thankfully she is a quiet girl who just wants to eat and be loved on.
What does “slowly” mean? It might be worth getting some basic xrays to see what the bones are doing there. If he’s been LTLH for long enough, he may have boney changes that you shouldn’t mess with by trimming for the right look on the outside.
Beyond that, I wouldn’t dink around with slow changes. Trim, and shoe, to get the bones as well-aligned as they can be, right off the bat. Better to cause a bit of body soreness issues as he adjust to a new way of using himself, then to continue the process of damage from poor angles. That doesn’t mean you can fix all the angles in 1 trim, but with the proper trim, proper placement of the shoe, and proper use of any wedges, you can get pretty darn close. That’s going to allow new growth to come in properly that much faster.
pads/impression material can be a good thing, your farrier better know which to use and why SOMEtimes the farrier says “this is what’s best” but the horse says “NOPE!” and you just fix that if it happens. This might be that he needs pads but NOT packing material under it. Or he needs softer material. SOMEtimes putting toes back where they belong dumps too much pressure on heels that can’t take it, so you have to manage that, assuming it’s not something that was obvious just by looking at it (sometimes it’s very obvious the back of the foot can’t handle much more added weight).