Manufacturers of hoof-care products are blessed. Although they often create products with specific intended uses and applications, the farriers they serve will likely come up with innovations on how to improve a product or use it differently.

At the 2016 international Hoof-Care Summit, Conny Svensson of Razerhorse shared one of these success stories during a presentation and demonstration.

Adapt For A Need

A Standardbred shoer, Svensson says the Propad was initially designed for frog support. It had the right depth and thickness he found to be effective with trotters and pacers.

“But we wanted to reach other disciplines and bigger horses, so I reached out to Steve Teichman,” he recalls. “I asked him to try it with his eventing horses.”

He says Teichman initially examined the pads and voiced concerns that the pad wouldn’t be sufficient in thickness for the horses he works with. The Unionville, Pa., farrier still accepted the challenge. About a month later, Teichman called Svensson to report he had a breakthrough with using the pads.

“By the way he’s doing it, he can customize the amount of frog support he needs,” says Svensson. “I talked to Steve this morning and he told me that 90% of his eventing horses are going in these pads and they are going phenomenal. This has allowed him to limit his use of heart bar shoes.

“This had presented trouble for him because he had to replace the shoes for the cross country events — the horses couldn’t run in heart…