Thinline Hoof Pads
“Make Them Sound, Keep Them Sound”
ThinLine technology expands into hoof care with new therapeutic protection hoof pads after positive results with previously lame horses
ThinLine Inc., maker of performance enhancing saddle pads for over a decade, is introducing its new protection hoof pads to the hoof care industry. Using the same unique technology found in their equine products, ThinLine working with farriers have found the protection hoof pads to produce remarkable results in restoring soundness to lame horses.
Farriers have discovered the protection hoof pads prevent as well as assist in treating ringbone, sidebone, navicular syndrome, and founder in horses. The ThinLine protection hoof pads work to provide durable support for hurting feet and to restore soundness. Initial data indicate ThinLine hoof pads will also keep the equine athletes sounder longer.
Doug Ehrmann, a farrier with the Sound Equine Inc., used ThinLine hoof pads on lame horses suffering from ringbone as an experiment to see if ThinLine would be just as effective under the hoof as it is on a horse’s back. Ehrmann’s venture paid off. Beginning with chronically lame horses Doug easily convinced the owner of a horse with ringbone to give the pads a try. This horse had been out of work for the better part of a year. In 6 weeks after applying the ThinLine pad the horse returned to work!
The owner of ThinLine Inc., Elaine Lockhead, after hearing about the outcomes of Ehrmann’s experiment decided to make the hoof pads available to the public. “After seeing the amazing results Doug had, I knew these hoof pads would make a difference in other suffering horses just as well as ThinLine saddle pads work to reduce back pain for riders and horses. It’s the same technology only now going into new territory. After all, you can’t argue with results,” Lockhead said.
The ThinLine hoof pads are placed directly against the hoof and are used either alone or with a plastic pad, on top of which the shoe is nailed. The use of another pad will prevent the ThinLine pad from puncturing while allowing direct contact with the hoof for anti-microbial and anti-fungal treatment.
Along with the same quality anti-microbial and anti-fungal protection found in ThinLine saddle pads and tack, the hoof pads also feature superior impact shock absorption with its unique open-cell technology. Horses with founder and navicular syndrome in particular can experience possible lameness due to the imbalance of weight, especially if the horse works against a hard surface or in a circle. ThinLine hoof pads, which work on a compression basis, will aid in better stance and improve the horse’s stride.
David Richards, owner of Equicast, an equine hoof cast system based in Sand Hills, NC and author of the Ask Dave column in the Equine Herald, has used the ThinLine hoof pads with his casting system. “The good news is that I have used the pads with my casting procedure with great results. After a cast is applied I set the cast down on a TL pad, which presses the cast into all the contours of the bottom of the hoof. The TL pads are working better then anything that I have used so far,” Richards said.
Richards also suggest using the hoof pads with factory made boots. “A major drawback with factory sized boots for the barefoot market is they have a tendency to rub because of poor fit (different shapes). With the ThinLine pads an owner will be able to place (glue) a TL pad in the boot for a better fit. The ease of cutting and bending the TL pad could work well on the sides of the boot or the heel area as well as the bottom,” Richards said.
The pads currently come in a size 4 (can be trimmed down)and are sold in sets of two, twelve, and twenty-four. The pads will last six weeks, the same time between shoe changes. Some customers have had them last multiple shoeings.
Jim Crew of www.healthy-stride.com trims the ThinLine pad into triangular shapes and glues them to a ThinLine hoof pad to create frog inserts for navicular horses. The frog insert will load weight when the hoof is on the ground and will unload when the hoof is in the air. The frog inserts stop the rotation of the coffin bone during the onset of navicular and will create increased blood flow to the hoof as well as allowing the frog to flex as it would without a shoe. The results have been increased hoof wall growth and rapid recovery from injury and abcesses. Additionally the ThinLine pad increases comfort for the horse allowing him to move and recover more rapidly. The shock absorption also aids horses with joint ailments.