Where to find wedge SHOES (not pads)???

[FIRMmarci]

My husband's 4-YO QH mare has been having some issues, and he finally had a lameness exam last week. Vet said she's too upright in the pasterns (which we knew) and that her toes grow too fast. It's placing too much pressure on the digital flexor tendon. (I think that's right). He suggested using a 3/8" wedge pad to lessen the pressure there, and said if that doesn't work, we could inject the coffin bone with the same stuff they inject into hocks, to reduce friction and pressure there.

My husband isn't thrilled with the idea of using pads, what with winter (snow) coming on. He's concerned about trying to keep her feet dry, and thrush, etc. He looked through a very old book on horseshoeing and farrier work and found a pic of a wedge SHOE. Was hoping we could find those and use instead. Anyone know of a source for a wedge SHOE? Thanks much!

[calshoer]

Your horse will be much better off with a full wedge pad than with a wedge shoe.The reason is the frog is a very important structure to help hold the coffin joint inside the foot in alignment. If you wedge the foot up by just the heels and do not support the frog, the frog will eventually prolapse through the shoe toward the ground, overloading the heels and causing secondary problems.
Besides if you get snow and do not have a full pad, it will ball up in the shoe and could cause an accident. There is no worry about what happens to the foot under pad as long as the farrier packs it well with a commercial sole pack material. Most of them contain mixtures of pine tar and iodine in some base like ground leather. Also important is to make sure the farrier TRIMS the heels before he applies the wedge, because if they are crushed or underrun, the wedges will only crush and underun them more.

Patty

[FIRMmarci]

Patty,

THANK YOU for the comprehensive answer. I hadn't thought about that, and we sure don't want to fix one problem and just start another one down the road. We very much appreciate your help!