To Fix a Heel Problem, You Have to Understand What Caused It
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Why Your Horse’s Heels Take the Brunt of Every Ride—and How Smart Cushioning Can Help
When your Sport/Performance horse starts showing heel soreness, short-striding, attitude changes, or uneven landings, it’s natural to ask:
“What caused this?”
Horsepeople everywhere look at the usual suspects—conformation, genetics, farrier work, diet, turnout, saddle fit… the list goes on. And while all of those absolutely play roles in hoof health, after years of looking at real-world horses and real-world workloads, we’ve come to a simple, clear truth:
The cause—the crux—of most heel issues is the repeated concussion from the horse’s daily workload.
Everything else may contribute, but the impact is what starts the cycle.
**Let’s Look at the Numbers:
Your Horse’s Heels Work Harder Than You Think**
Take Standardbred racehorses for example.
A typical jog for a Standardbred is around 4 miles per day.
The average stride? 10–12 feet.
That means the heels are hitting the ground about 500 times per mile—
and 2,000 times during that daily jog.
Two. Thousand. Heel impacts.
That’s 2,000 times the heel takes the initial landing.
2,000 times the hoof capsule momentarily compresses.
2,000 times soft tissue absorbs shock, tries to rebound, and then does it all over again tomorrow.
And that’s before you add training miles, speed work, turnout miles, or inconsistent footing.
Now picture that level of repetitive impact happening day after day, month after month, year after year. It’s no wonder horses develop:
- Sore, fatigued heels
- Under-run or crushed heel bulbs
- Negative palmar angles
- Shortened stride
- Tenderness that radiates up the limb
- Changed attitude or reluctance to work
Even the most perfectly trimmed foot cannot “conformation” its way out of this amount of concussion.
If Impact Is the Cause, Cushion Has to Be Part of the Solution
Once we understood the magnitude of the forces a horse’s heels face, it changed how we looked at hoof protection.
We asked ourselves:
- What if that initial heel strike didn’t feel like hitting concrete?
- What if we could give the heels something soft, wide, and supportive to land on every time?
- What if we could protect the heel buttresses from being driven upward and inward with each landing?
- What if we could ease the strain that travels up the limb when a sore heel hits the ground?
The answer became The Black Pads—our hybrid horseshoe pad designed specifically around heel comfort and concussion reduction.
Why We Created The Black Pads
(And Why Horses Feel a Difference So Quickly)
We built The Black Pads with one core goal:
Give the horse a cushioned, forgiving, wide-webbed heel base that absorbs impact instead of transferring it.
Key benefits include:
- Impact absorption: Our polyurethane is rated among the highest in the industry for concussion reduction.
- A wide, cushioned heel cleat: Instead of a rigid, narrow heel area, the horse gets a broader surface to land on—like switching from a stone floor to a padded running track.
- Better heel mechanics: When the foot can land softly and evenly, the hoof can grow in a healthier direction with less distortion.
- Improved comfort → improved attitude and gait: A horse that doesn’t brace for heel pain is a different horse—freer, happier, and more willing.
Many of our customers tell us this is the first time they’ve ever truly understood why their horse’s heels were sore. And once you see the workload numbers and what each heel strike actually does, it becomes obvious:
This isn’t a mystery problem.
It’s a workload problem.
And workload problems need workload-based solutions.
The Bottom Line
Before you can fix a heel problem, you have to know its cause. And for the vast majority of horses, the cause isn’t a mysterious genetic flaw or poor conformation—it’s simply repeated impact.
Thousands of heel landings every single day.
That’s what breaks horses down.
And that’s exactly what The Black Pads were designed to help solve.
If your horse is telling you their heels hurt, a little cushion goes a long way—
and your horse will thank you with every happier, softer, more confident step.