Same here; my mare loved leather pads.
My farrier used to use pine tar and oakum under leather pads; not sure what he would use if he did them now. Currently my mare is in winter shoes with snowball pads and he uses some kind of packing material mixed with a little cotton (which I think helps it not stick to the pad permanently, but not entirely sure.)
Usually something goes between the pad and the sole.
Update:
My poor fella was feeling NQR and subsequently came up 3 legged lame. I’m pretty sure it’s another abscess. Luckily he’s doing better after wrapping with ichthammol for a few days and a little bit if bute. He’s still got a little bit of a limp/stiffness, but he isn’t walking like his leg is broken.
I decided I want to x ray all if his feet so we can get to the bottom of this. I’m a little scared of what we might find. Fingers crossed the only thing we find is thin soles!
Good decision to xray at this point. You may find that it’s simply genetically thin soles, and then your vet and farrier can decide on an appropriate shoe setup.
Or, you may find that the trim is the real problem, and can set out to find a competent farrier who will imnprove things.
UPDATE:
X rays looked fine- no rotation or anything else concerning. There was a gas line running along the sole in the foot he’s been battling an abscess in. In an unrelated incident, he got something wrapped around the same leg (he lives out, his pasture has prickly vines and brush 
). Leg blew up. Vet gave dex and leg was back to normal in 2 days.
Vet came today to recheck his leg. Leg is fine. Had me trot him, still lame (same foot). There was heat in the foot, a pulse and he was reactive to hoof testers. She pulled the shoe and advised me to wrap with Epsom salt poultice.
She would really like to see him in a stall to help his feet. I always fought for him to stay out because he doesn’t like the stall since he’s been living al fresco. However, I’m thinking we may have to put him on stall board eventually because we’re having so much trouble with his feet.
If he goes on stall board, I will most likely have to move him. I always thought I’d have to move him to a place with more involved care eventually as the current place is a little on the rough side and I’m afraid it’s just not working for him anymore. I’ve been making it work as best I can (cleaning, filling water trough, picking manure out of shed, blanketing/unblanketing, feeding him lunch), but it might be time for a change. 
Did the vet specify why they felt restricting movement would be helpful to this horse’s feet?
To keep them dry. I should specify- we are in the warm, wet, deep south. He has a shed to go in, but depending on how the rain falls, it gets wet in there too.
I’m so stressed about the prospect of putting him in a stall (with daily turnout), but he keeps having trouble with his feet and I don’t know what else to do.
I see - thanks, that makes more sense. I’m in the south too, I am familiar with it sometimes being hard on feet, it can be frustrating! Do you have the ability to improve his shed floor instead? For example, a few years ago, I backfilled mine with screenings & matted it & now no matter what, there is always a dry spot for the horses to stand (and they eat in there). I know it can be tough if you don’t own the property, but some barn owners are willing to work with people.
Try changing his diet so he can grow a better hoof. Is he getting the correct amount of the following nutrients: limiting amino acids lysine and methionine, biotin, zinc which must be balanced with copper, etc. The Horse has a good article. https://thehorse.com/191783/feeding-the-foot-nutrition-of-equine-hoof-health/
How was the sole depth in the xrays?
An abscess and thin soles are definitely two separate issues to consider.
In theory, a horse should not have hoof problems because they are wet. They are animals who are designed to live outside, and lots of horses live outside in wet climates with no issues.
That said - some horses are special and have special needs. Since there isn’t an easy resolution here, I would wonder about the trim and the diet as well. Can you post pictures? I’m not any kind of expert but some on COTH are.
She said sole depth was actually ok, his feet are just soft. I’ve tried all the topicals to toughen his feet- durasole, ketatex hardener, venice turpentine and jim rickens.
As for diet, he’s on TCS Gold, tri aminos and msm. He was on farrier’s formula for a few months, but farrier suggested Equinety. I did some reading and Tri amino has more of the amino acids and costs less, so that’s why I changed him to that.
I don’t have photos of his feet. This is actually a new farrier that we’ve used for 3 cycles so far. He works with the local teaching hospital as well. My vet said it looked like he did good work.
Take a look at his Zn to Cu ratio in your feed and also see if he is getting the minimum amount needed from his food.
NRC ideal Zn:Cu is 4:1 and the average 1100 lb mature horse requires 400-500 mg Zn/day thus 100-125 mg Cu/day. Also if you have high iron content in your hay and/or water you will need more Zn/Cu, as Iron inhibits absorption.
i had a mare with undiagnosable lameness until we xrayed her hooves. SHe had thin soles. Mizzou (university veterinary teaching hospital) recommended daily access over rocks. (i know, i was shocked too!) Now, 3 years later, her feet are almost as tough as the mustangs’ are. Putting them across rocky creeks to get to and from pasture has made a huge improvement in most of my domestic herd’s feet. (fyi, all my horses are barefoot. Most have never had a shoe on during their whole life)
The Zn:Cu ratio is 3.7:1. Based on the amount of feed he gets (9 lbs total daily), I calculated that he gets 1061 mg Zn and 285 mg Cu. He doesn’t get any hay because of his teeth, but is fine to graze and eats his alfalfa pellet/beet pulp lunch. I don’t think we have much iron in our water. I don’t see any rust stains or discoloration in the water.
I’m trying to save money, but I might invest in a nutritional consultation for him. All of the nutrition info available makes my head spin and I just want to make sure I’m doing the right thing.
When I bring him up to the barn, we have to walk across rocks. I always make him go extra slow though. Did your horse become lame initially? I’ve heard of this approach, but I’m app- afraid he’ll go more lame with abscesses/bruises, since it’s so wet here too.
she got to pick her way through and choose her speed. All of them do. I have 19 in two separate herds that each have to cross the creek all day long. One of mine, a MULE!!! of all things! gets abscesses every late summer. Don’t ask me why, i’ve tried and tried to figure him out…so has the vet, so has my farrier… but for the past three years he get abscessed. different front feet, so it’s not the actual hoof. I’m figuring it is something that he eats that is toxic to him that time of the year… Anyhow, none of the others, that cross very stony creeks, get abscesses.
Sorry for the deleted post @Loviebird. I’m struggling to picture the feet in my mind, and should have stayed out of it because I’m probably way off track, LOL. 
You don’t need to have rust stains to have iron affecting the absorption of Cu and Zn. I have iron in my well water, but no staining. A quick test to see if your guy is getting enough Cu/Zn is to take a look at his mane and tail and look for bleaching (chestnuts)or reddening(blacks/bays) at the tips. Does his coat bleach out in the summer? Mad Barn will do a nutritional consultation at no cost I believe and since your guy doesn’t get hay, you won’t have to pay for that. Yes, the info can be head spinning. 
Are your rocks rounded river rocks or jagged? All my horses are barefoot as well, but several had to make the transition. I started off with pea gravel in their paddocks, then in the winter sacrifice field they had a choice of sand, pea gravel, gravel, river rock, stone dust and dirt to explore. I know that is not possible when you board your horse. Vet and farrier love my horses hooves.
Both. The domestic herd has a wide but shallow crossing of mostly smaller stones, (fist size to quarter size) but they are not that smooth. They are flint, Missouri flint and sandstone mostly. The sandstone rocks are rounded. Flint break and can be sharp.
Mustang herd has a pretty gnarly creek LOTS of flint rocks…minimal sandstone. The sandstone that is in there are large (head size).
Both herds have hundreds of acres and several other creeks to cross depending on where they choose to roam. Or not. It’s possible for them to graze and frolic without ever crossing another creek shoud they wish.
I recently scooped several frontloader bucketloads of creek gravel to build up the mudhole in the domestic herd’s corral. So they have that same mix of rock where they gather to sleep at night in the barn. It’s impossible for any of my horses to avoid rock at this point.
edit to say: When i first brought all the mustangs here, before they could be handled and were still quite wild, i went to a whole nuther area of the farm and brought gator-loads of flat wide limestone ‘paver’ rocks and set them about a hoof-width or more apart allllll around the automatic waterer. I mean, no horse could get within 20 feet of that waterer and they were forced to move across the ‘landmine zone’ of pavers (by pavers i mean 1-3" thickness and at least 24" circumference. All had hard edges). So these mustangs chipped down their hooves by themselves as i was taming them. NOBODY grew long toes.
i’ll take my phone along today and get some pics of the creek for you.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
