Can Happy Hoofwear™ shoes be used on flat feet and/or bruised soles?
Absolutely. Bruised soles can occur with any horse, but most commonly with flat footed horses. Solving this problem starts with the trimming process. Flat soles typically are thin, sensitive soles. Trimming the sole makes this problem worse, and yet with steel and aluminum shoes, your farrier must trim the sole to avoid “sole pinch”. This is where the hard, inside edge of the shoe touches the sole of the foot, thus creating pressure. To avoid this, the sole must be trimmed into a dished configuration. Happy Hoofwear™ shoes are flexible and do not cause this pressure, even if the sole is left flat and untrimmed. Happy Hoofwear™ has a wide web to protect the sole, plus allows the sole to be left much thicker, giving natural protection to the foot, just as has been documented in the feet of wild horses. Sole contact with the shoe allows Happy Hoofwear™ to spread the “load” over a much larger portion of the hoof. The bar across the heels of the shoe transfers weight to the frog and bars of
