Pads and Silicones. What Is the Farrier’s Potential Contribution in Case of Sensitive Feet?

Many horses suffer from bad horn quality, from feet that are ill-adapted to their activity, from bad care, from inadequate farriery. Travelling can be a fantastic school for learning about our world, but it can also make us aware that we live in crazy times: in a world where distances are not taken in consideration, where physiological, and climatic environmental adaptations tend to be set aside. An Irish warm blood will not be necessary be happy in a hot climate, with a hard and very stony ground… Horse foot comfort is not only a question on what adaptations farriers introduce beneath the hoof to facilitate movement or absorb shocks. In all cases of lameness or sensitivity, it is essential that the problem is carefully identified and diagnosed. It will be a significant advantage for the farrier to carry out the examination with the vet, thus to appreciate and make decisions together in perfect collaboration. Nowadays the technology involved to the clinical examination brings precision and clarity to the diagnosis that never existed before. Thus such techniques as digital radiography, echography, even MRI immerse us into what seemed like science fiction not so long ago. Let us now examine the different lesions and pathologies that can affect the foot and produce sensitivity or lameness, slight or severe and look at some of the solutions the farrier can bring to each situation. […]