Talking about quarter cracks, equine veterinarian and farrier Stephen O’Grady says, “There are a lot of different causes. Some we don’t fully understand.

When the duo of Burney Chapman and George Platt popularized the use of heart bar shoes for foundered and laminitic horses in the late 1960s, it set off a firestorm of innovations and design-styles for therapeutic horseshoes that reinvigorated the hoof-care industry.

Ambrose Gordon, a farrier from Kerrville, Texas, located just outside of San Antonio, regularly does therapeutic shoeing work with veterinarian and boarded equine surgeon David Dutton from Hill Country Equine Clinic in Borney, Tex.

When dealing with excessive stress on the deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT), H.H. Florian Buchner has found that farriers can sharply reduce the amount of tendon force and navicular compression by applying heel wedges to horses with these concerns.

You can’t really take a “back-to-basics” approach to therapeutic horseshoeing.

Despite the advancements in today’s adhesives, acrylics and other types of materials that can be used to build up and repair damaged feet, there are still a wide variety of other options out there that can help fill a farrier’s specific needs.

For the past 5 years, I have been applying plastic shoes to horses. These include “regular” horses, not just those with soundness issues.