Rubber, though the most expensive of these materials, is the most resilient and takes the best grip on smooth pavement. A pad of rubber, wide enough to cover the branches of the frog alone, or the branches of the frog and the buttresses of the hoof, firmly cemented to a leather sole, constitutes the modern rubber pad ([Figs. 145], [146], [147]).
Fig. 145.
A light driving pad, gummed and stitched to a leather sole; seen from the ground-surface and in profile. Used with a seven-to ten-ounce short shoe. a, stitching; b, rubber bar under buttress and frog; c, leather sole.
The frog- and buttress-pad used with a short shoe is to be preferred to the earlier frog pad which takes a full shoe.
The advantages of rubber pads are:
1. They prevent slipping upon asphalt and other smooth, dry surfaces.
2. They diminish concussion, and are valuable in the prevention and treatment of sore heels, dry and moist corns, bruised sole, and incipient side-bone.
Fig. 146.
