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Re: pads for rocky rides



--- Deanna German <finishis2win@columbus.rr.com>
wrote:
> What would anyone recommend for a person working
> with a farrier who doesn't
> use pads often? Where/how does one obtain the
> materials mentioned below?
> what's a pour-in pad?

Your farrier should be able to order most all of this
stuff from his supplier's catalog.  

We always used Shock Tamer pads with GREAT success. 
They are "plastic" pads that come with different
molded densities to absorb some of the concussion. 
(Kind of like a runner's shoe.)  We had a horse who
had road foundered and HAD to wear pads in rocky
terrain with his thin soles.  (He had 3-5* rotation.) 
He did considerably better in the Shock Tamer versus
regular plastic pads of the same thickness.

We had poor luck with leather pads where we used to
live - on the edge of "The Great Dismal Swamp" in the
Tidewater, VA area.  With a name like that, you can
imagine how wet it was there.  The leather was
constantly wet.  The pads started to disintegrate
before a reset at 5 weeks & the feet suffered from
constant moisture against them.

Our farrier tried pine tar & oakum under the shock
tamers - didn't stay well at all.  Silicon was good
for about 3 weeks & then it worked out.  I have no
experience with equi-pak.  

We eventually used shock tamers with silicon fill and
an oval cut out in the toe, just behind the rim of the
shoe.  It allowed for sand & junk to wash out from
under the pad and the foot breathed some.  This seemed
to work best.

> Are there any draw backs to pine tar?

Pine tar is usually used in conjunction with oakum. 
It works well with leather pads & it is VERY
traditional packing.  The pine tar toughens the sole &
seems to reduce thrush under the pads.

> Also, what do you do when you have rocks AND
> slippery mud/pavement/wooden
> bridges? Do you and then put borium on the shoe as
> well?

I HATE borium - it stops the foot solid when the horse
puts it down.  No ease or slippage that the horse is
used to.  Maybe consider duratrak nails or small
caulks/studs.

> What do you do after you come home from the ride and
> don't want the pads for
> your home turf? Call the farrier out to reset the
> shoes without pads?

You can, or live with them, or have an oval cut out
when they are set, or simply cut out the pad yourself
(essentally leaving a rim pad behind).  I know I could
easily cut out the leather pads.  I'm afraid that I'd
slice up the horse's foot trying to cut out the
plastic pads!

Good luck.

Linda Flemmer
Blue Wolf Ranch
West Virginia

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