Sole Guard w/Shoes revisited

[LarkinGreene]

Greetings all - I wanted to revive the Sole Guard with shoes issue because we want folks to understand the versatility and limitations of this material.

In equal dimensions, the Sole Guard is firmer than the black EquiBuild. It can be used on the shod foot, but not as a full fill pad, unless you've got a good foot with adequate sole and commissures that are not too deep. It's designed more as a thin protective pad, and can be quite firm when it gets thicker than 1/4 to 3/8".

On deep feet, we typically run a bead of EquiPak in the commissures to avoid a firm knife edge down in the bottom. The EquiPak/Sole Guard combo works great....soft stuff down deep, firm stuff against the ground. -Larkin

[daatje2008]

This is very interesting to me. We have three horses, all are barefoot. Two are miniature horses of which one is retired (mid 20's and blind) and the other an active carriage driving horse who's going to be competing in ADT's this year.

I'm toying around with what to do for the driving mini's hooves. She needs protection from rocks/pavement but as we all know, minis hooves are tiny! Her's are 2.5" long by 2" wide. :)

I'm thinking of using Equipak CS under the Sole Guard with her for a little extra protection.

Any thoughts on how this might work for a mini?

I'm also thinking of using this combo on my barefoot Friesian mare who is showing 1st level dressage and foxhunting......

Hmm....

[Ray_Knightley]

I used sole Guard and a alternative with a mini with founder building a mini stuart type wedge at the back of the hoof ..the guy got up and ran off ,could not move before ,it was so good thet i had to go back and do the back hooves aswell...
The hooves where too small for shoes and too much danger for glue ons in respect to absesses.so i could model by rasping after and leave the dorsal wall free ,just built a space to fill with duck tape and a damm with playdoo.

Ray knightley..Farrier Germany ..

Ps .sorry no picture i will get some after the next visit.

ps. if vettec wants to give me a job ,here in germany .i speak farriers german ..only on a very high wage of course:D

[daatje2008]

I used sole Guard and a alternative with a mini with founder building a mini stuart type wedge at the back of the hoof ..the guy got up and ran off ,could not move before ,it was so good thet i had to go back and do the back hooves aswell...
The hooves where too small for shoes and too much danger for glue ons in respect to absesses.so i could model by rasping after and leave the dorsal wall free ,just built a space to fill with duck tape and a damm with playdoo.

Ray knightley..Farrier Germany ..

Ps .sorry no picture i will get some after the next visit.

ps. if vettec wants to give me a job ,here in germany .i speak farriers german ..only on a very high wage of course:D


Interesting! I would love to see your photos of this minis hooves, when you next visit him. :)

[Ray_Knightley]

Interesting! I would love to see your photos of this minis hooves, when you next visit him. :)

Okay ,back to your idea of CS under Soleguard ..the thing is if you have any bacteria under any closed enviroment its not good ,you must treat this before closing it all up as those bacteria love it in an air tight world..Party time ....
look for other threads on CS and how to use it..

Also soleguard sticks to the hoof and it does that really well ,using Cs first can`t really work (as far as I know).
The sole and frog and whiteline must be clean (really clean ) and dry ...its worth working on that 2 weeks ahead ,and also at least a night in a clean dry stall ,the night before the farrier comes ...:)

all the best Ray knightley ,Farrier

[LarkinGreene]

EquiPak CS can be used under Sole Guard but there are some considerations.

First, CS kills bacteria most when it's liquid; once set, there is only a small exchange of CS to the foot surface. This means you have to clean the area thoroughly and get rid of any necrotic or nasty tissue to avoid leaving something trapped down deep where there will be no kill.

Second, CS takes longer to set (1 min), therefore you have to wait about 30 seconds for it to start to set before introducing the Sole Guard on top, or you'll likely just displaced the CS with the SoleGuard. But you can't wait too long because once the pad materials are set, additional layers will not bond adequately.

Third, it's important to make room for SG, especially on flat feet. SG is best when it's at least an 1/8" thickness. Remove any loose or flaky sole that will exfoliate in the next two weeks. Clean the frog and commissures with a clean wire brush.

Fourth, pad materials can be made to set up faster if you warm the material (and the foot surface) to the higher side of the operating temp range (60-85˚F).

Hope this helps. -Larkin

[pickupgirl]

Greetings all - I wanted to revive the Sole Guard with shoes issue because we want folks to understand the versatility and limitations of this material.

In equal dimensions, the Sole Guard is firmer than the black EquiBuild. It can be used on the shod foot, but not as a full fill pad, unless you've got a good foot with adequate sole and commissures that are not too deep. It's designed more as a thin protective pad, and can be quite firm when it gets thicker than 1/4 to 3/8".

On deep feet, we typically run a bead of EquiPak in the commissures to avoid a firm knife edge down in the bottom. The EquiPak/Sole Guard combo works great....soft stuff down deep, firm stuff against the ground. -Larkin

Hey Larkin ~

I can't wait to try this on my riding pony this winter. I would like to keep him barefoot in the winter, but he seems to get thrush in the blink of an eye even when my other horses in the same living conditions don't have issues so I have taken to shoeing him even in the winter and using the EquiPak CS (which I am totally in love with) and his feet have been staying in much better condition. When his frogs are in relatively good condition he tends to have really deep commissures and I had hesitated to try Sole Guard on him because of this and his thrush issues. Now I have another option to try on him.

Thanks!!!!

[Travis Reed]

10020

Im not Larkin but I use impression material for areas I wont some cushion at…don’t mind the wound area this is just a example of using the IM then fill with sole guard….

10021

[LarkinGreene]

Interesting approach Travis.....I've never tried bonding SoleGuard over IM but obviously you've had success with it. If you have deep feet like pickupgirl, there are some concerns and you could even use gauze or just about any soft material to prevent SoleGuard from flowing into sensitive areas.

I'm curious what kind of longevity you get with that set up Travis? -Larkin

[Travis Reed]

Larkin
That horse in the pic wore it a tad over 3 weeks ..but turn out was regulated to dry flat lot..

I find heavy turnout in wet or mud the sole guard will turn loose 1-½ weeks to 2-½ weeks..

Also from my experience if you wait till the horse is pretty sore..its like shutting the barn door after the horses are already out..

If im lacking sole depth I will build a shoe with super fast and I usually can get 2 or 3 weeks from that method … that is regulated turn out of course…