Hi all 
I would like to protect the front hoof soles of a mare with Comfortmix Hoof Pad but I am quite concerned about how hot the product becomes over the very thin soles.

Collateral groove reading is only 0.5 cm at the apex and 2 cm at the heels.

Do you have experience with this? Will it cause more harm than good in the soles?

I have tested it in a cardboard just to see how it behaves before using it and it burns like hell for a long time.

Do you advice using it in thin soles? What's your experience?

Thank you very much.

María Durán.
Madrid, Spain.

Anyone experienced with these kind of products over thin soles can help?

I would like to know if it can be applied over very thin soles or if the mare is going to experience burn and damage to internal blood vessels or tissues.

Thank you.

Sorry Maria, no experience with it, but from what you are describing it sounds like it might be too hot to apply to thin soles.  Can you use DIM  instead?

--
Kirsten Rasmussen

You could try Hoof Armor:

https://hoofarmor.com/


But if the soles are really that thin you may need to boot/pad/glue on shoe (of some combination that works for the horse) to get the pressure off the sole...
--


Jennifer Krogel, Central Florida, 2020

GS: NRC Plus, NAT, MPG, Deworming, Vaccines, BRR
NS: Arthritis
MS Biology
Certified Mackinaw Dells 2 Applied Whole Horse Hoof Care

Hi Jennifer and Kirsten,

Thank you so much for your help. We have been applying Hoof Armor for months, still on it but as this help not to wear down too much the soles, she still needs protection. She is on boots and pads but they rub the heel bulbs and we have tried several boots.

I am happy that I tested the resin first on a cardboard and not in her soles.

What is DIM?

Thank you.

Dental impression material.

It can be used in casts to help cushion the sole and heel area.  You could try casts instead of boots and pads.  There's a bit of a learning curve to apply them but they won't rub.  I tried this last year for my horse and found he was slightly more comfortable in his boots with pads, but some horses do very well with casts.

--
Kirsten Rasmussen

Hi Kirsten,

Casts were tried months ago but she has a veeeeeery sensitive skin and they made cuts and bruises in her heelbulbs. We really have a problem because she gets bruises in her heelbulbs very easily, her skin is very thin, this is why we haven´t found yet a boot that accomodates her. It is quite frustrating.

Is dental impression something that can be purchased easily? How would be used?

Hi Candis,

Because I was concerned about this issue I poured some product in a cardboard, it got solid just in a few seconds so that I could touch it, it was absolutely impossible to stand the heat with my hand, it was burning like hell and it stayed like that for a minute or so. Maybe the horn of the sole can isolate this heat and is not passed into the sensitive internal corium but I was quite scared at how much it burned.

I would like to add that the company advices no to use it over thin soles, but doesn´t explain why. I believe this might be a cause.

Hi Maria
Have you tried Hoofwings? www.Hoofwings.com
They help laminitic horses be comfortable without needing pads. Great for riding in also. Maybe better for your heel problem than other styles of boot. I presume you’ve tried wrapping a layer or two of vetwrap around the heels before putting boots on?
Best
Josie
Davis CA 12/09 

For some reason, I could not get Josie’s link to open so I searched for the product online and found this link.  Hoping this helps someone.

Josephine and Martha, thank you!

Josie yes we have tried protecting her heels inside the boot with socks and wraps. I don´t think we can try those boots here in Spain but thank you anyway. We have tried 5 different boots for her besides casts, glued shoes, etc and it is all very expensive. Today will arrive a new pair of Equine fusion, lets see if those work the miracle.

Kirsten, I have found the DIM and already purchased it, I don´t know how do you use it, but I am going to try something that I have been imagining in my head. It goes like this: I will make a matrix with the alginate of an old iron shoe of the mare, then I will fill the matrix with the confort hoof pad which is a nice flexible but firm resin (if you don´t get burned in the process haha). This way I will have two resin shoes that I will try to glue with adhere into her soles. Just like an iron shoe but glued and of resin material.

I am hoping that her soles will be rised from the ground and protected whithout losing hoof flexibility, expansion and function. Hope it stays for long there and work. I have nothing to lose from trying. 

Any tips from experienced people will be very much appreciated to polish my idea.

Thank you all.

Hi Maria,

The DIM is fairly easy to use, it comes with two types and you mix roughly equal amounts together in your hands until the colours blend.  Then just pack it into clean collateral grooves and the concavity in the hoof to make a fairly flat base.  It solidifies into a rubber.  I've heard of at least one person who mentioned using it in boots, but because it can come loose and move around I think its usually better to use it with casts, which will hold it in place.  For casts, you can also pad the outer wall of the heel with it so that there is some room for the heel to expand.  The casts shouldn't irritate the heel bulbs because they should not be applied above the hoof wall.  When I put them on, if I go a little above the hoof wall (easy to do when you're trying to get the hoof wrapped quickly), I trim it off with a hoof knife so that it is not touching skin/hair.  If there is no heel (ie, it is really underrun) then you probably can't use casts because they will fall off.

Let us know how your idea works out!

--
Kirsten Rasmussen

Hi Maria

Frank Orza of Hoofwings says he has Hoofwing customers all over the world. They order their Hoofwings by emailing the outlines and measurements of their horse's hooves to Frank. You can email him at hoofwings @ hoofwings . com  All the instructions are on their website.  I'm putting in extra spaces in the email address so yahoo doesn't get upset.

I know of another possible solution that doesn't involve boots that a Grand Prix level trainer in Thailand has used to transition all his PRE stallions to being barefoot (shod their whole lives, some with thin soles, some with distorted hoof capsules) because he couldn't get a decent shoer to come regularly.  UC Davis farrier shop also recommends it.  It's called Formahoof.  The website is formahoof . com

Just a couple options in case your DIM experiment doesn't work out for you.
Best
Josie
Davis CA 12/09

Hi Kirsten,

Thank you very much for your detailed explanation, I can totally understand it. The DIM I have purchased is only alginate to mix with water but I believe it ends up being very similar. 

I am guessing the farrier didn´t do a good job with the casts as when he finished, I thought it looked weird even not knowing how it should be done, but didn´t look workable.

I have received the boots, they are the cavallo treck sorry, I said Equine fusion. Lets see if these are more kind with her and anyway I am going to try the resin shoes, so will let you know.

Thank you!

Hi Josie,

Thanks a lot for your help and giving me options. If the Cavallo and my idea don´t work, I will llok into these options. I have spent a few minutes in the Formahoof and I am amazed. It is a very good idea, the only thing is I guess it doesn´t allow for frequent small trims, but definitely something to have in the tools kit, although it is quite expensive.

Thank you so much.

My mary has thin soles and i am using Versa glue on shoes. Easy to apply because the horse can stand on the shoe while you apply the glue. And you dont have to have bottom of hoof hermetically clean like other glue on shoes. No glue goes on bottom.  I wanted something that would provide support for back of foot, unlike traditional open heeled shoes. My first set lasted almost 3 weeks. There is a bit of learning curve to applying them, but not hard. I dont want to advise anyone as i dont know the specifics of your horse. But thought i would mention it, if you want to look into it. They are made by Easy Care. 
--
Mary Marzec, Chelsea MI, 2012
Mary/Katie Case HIstory

meant "mare has thin soles" not mary though maybe i do too :)
--
Mary Marzec, Chelsea MI, 2012
Mary/Katie Case HIstory

Thank you Mary for sharing it. We are trying resin shoes.

I had totally forgotten that I promised to share my experience with alginate. Well, alginate alone was not a good option for doing the molds, it is an easily breakable gum with poor properties for this work, so I remembered I had a good resin for taking molds from my former years working as art restorer and that worked amazingly well.

I have sent the pics of the molds and the resin shoes to Lavinia for uploading, the shoes you are going to see are made with Super Fast from Vettec, but it is even better with Adhere, same commercial brand. It gives more flexibility to the shoe.

Thank you!