Have you used water soaked Styrofoam to work on contracted heels? I have just heard bits pieces about it, and want to learn more.

I have two horses in different barns that have all for feet with contracted heels. The feet on both are rock hard, but in good shape other than the contractions. I have started with trimming the feet to put the frog on the ground and have seen some improvement, but slow.

Next time around I’m planning on heart bar shoes, or myron mclane pads.

I rarely try to fix contracted heels. I find them to be more a symptom of a problem rather than the problem itself. As a result, I try to figure out if there is a lameness issue causing the contraction, or if it is simply the nature and conformation of that particular horse. I don't like the sound of using the constant soaking, but I do use a lot of heartbars and Myrons' pads.