Heart Bar Shoe Therapies (Frog Support Devices)
Raised Heel or Wedge Therapies
It should be no surprise that my preference is the Heart Bar shoe or some form of Frog support. There are as many Frog support methods as there are farriers. The most commonly used methods are described by Burney Chapman somewhere around here (Answers to some questions).
It's worth looking at the difference between frog or P3 support and other shoeing methods.
Frog or P3 suport (HBS) methods apply direct support to P3 by some means. The purpose is to counter the effect of gravity within the hoof capsule in the event that the lamellar bond should fail (I do not see the DDF as playing a substantial role in P3 displacement. In the case of the "sinker" P3 rotates little or not at all(no DDF effect). After DDF tenotomy P3 continues to rotate if the horse is acute, and certainly P3 does not replace itself in the nonacute hoof (no reverse DDF effect)).
The value of early use of the HBS is that it prevents or limits the displacement of P3 when it is in place prior to acute laminitis.
In acute cases where displacement has already occured the HBS arrests or limits further displacement of P3.
In chronic cases the HBS can have strong palliative value.
Sole support methods do not and can not offer the specific P3 support of the HBS.
My feeling is that the positive effects attributed to sole support methods is primarily due to the protection to the sole surface they afford.
I strongly believe that inflammation is the dominant force behind laminitis. Obviously the source of that inflammation is variable, but in the end it is the inflammation itself that causes the damage. I realize I may be alone in this belief, but it fits the day to day story that I see in the field. Observing that protecting the sole surface of the laminitic horse can dramatically reduce the effects of laminitis supports this notion.
Like the HBS sole support systems are of greatest value when appied before major damage has occured.
I think it is Burney Chapman who describes founder as being similar to the cuff of a long sleeve shirt being pulled up your arm.If you want the cuff to come back down over your hand you must pull it down some how. Sometimes you must unbutton the cuff (resection). If you put a pad under your knuckles while the cuff is up your arm, in most cases it not fall back down over your hand on it's own.
There are several "Wedge" therapies in use. I will put more here soon.
For now I will refer you to Dr. Farley
There are several Sole Support therapies in use.
Gene Ovnicek has a method I will describe later.
There is also theEquine Sole Support System available from Hoof & Nail Farrier Supplies LTD.
More later.
Wedge Therapies
Sole Support Therapies
