One of the simplest anti-slipping pads is "Balls & Keep's Wedge-pad." It possesses one advantage in not covering up the whole under-surface of the foot. When properly fitted it is firmly retained and does its work, but a careless farrier may so apply it that it shifts on the foot. To fit it exactly the wall of the back part of the foot must be lowered more than that in front, so that shoe, foot and pad may all be closely adjusted.
Fig. 88.—Wedge-Pad.
Fig. 89.—Pad with Shoe attached.
What is called the "Bar-pad" is a leather plate on which an india-rubber pad occupies the whole of the back portion and it is fixed to the foot with a short shoe. This pad is not only an anti-slipping agent, it is anti-concussive, and for some diseases and some injuries of the heels is a most valuable appliance. For long-standing "corns," for cases of chronic laminitis, and for horses that markedly "go on their heels" the bar-pad is without doubt the most efficient arrangement yet invented. The best are made by Mr. Urquhart.
