Farriers have limitless creativity. However, that ingenuity must be exercised according to what is best for the horse and won’t cause harm. Vandergrift, Pa., farrier Todd Allen says that when he shares information about his work, he is conveying his practices at the time. His work is always evolving, so what may work for him one day may not work in the future. Also, what may work for him on a specific type of case, may not be what’s best for a horse with a similar issue. One area that he has had success with is his creativity with pour-in solutions.

Allen gave insight on using this option at the 2018 International Hoof-Care Summit. There are many different situations in which a horse could benefit from a farrier’s imagination with this solution. Allen reminds that the overall motivations for using a product like Equi-Pak as a pour-in are summarized by addressing concerns for the foot health. He outlined these reasons as follows:

Internal movement. “Every time the foot steps down, there’s distention within the foot, and there’s also expansion or contraction,” he says. “Sometimes I may have difficulty figuring out the issues with a horse with excess expansion, so I’ll cast it and pour the feet. Often, that will take care of them.”