As part of her overall horse-care routine, five-star eventer and Grand Prix dressage rider Laine Ashker regularly packs her performance horses’ feet to help them recover faster and perform their best. Here, she explains when you should pack your horse’s feet and provides step-by-step instructions on to pack them effectively.

“My mare Lottie is gearing up for our first event of the season, so after our jump school today, I want to make sure that her feet are feeling great so she can perform her best next week,” Ashker noted. “I like to use Absorbine®’s Magic Cushion regular formula for my horses’ day-to-day work. It’s also great to use at shows and is FEI legal, which is important.”

Before packing your horse’s feet, his hooves must be completely clean and free and any dirt, manure, hay or other debris. If you’ve just hosed your horse off, Ashker says it’s imperative that you wait until his feet are completely dry before applying the packing material. “I can’t stress to you enough how important that is. Once Lottie’s feet are dry, I apply petroleum jelly or Vaseline to the bulbs of her heels, because good hoof packing is nice and sticky,” she advised. “Then I apply the Magic Cushion. As you can see in the video, I push the packing down into the hoof crevices and cover the frog.”

Ashker explains that you don’t need to use a ton of packing material and that it’s better to use just enough to thoroughly cover the sole so that when she steps down it will really penetrate. “One of most common mistakes I see is people using too much packing. When you do that it tends to fall out and doesn’t work right,” she said. “Once I have the material packed, I use a handful of shavings since we’re in Lottie’s stall at the moment and layer them over the packing material to seal it all in. If I were at show, I would cut up shop towels to use instead.”

After Lottie runs cross country, Ashker prefers to use Magic Cushion’s extreme formula, especially if the ground is harder. “The extreme formula offers a little bit more recovery and takes the sting out a little faster,” she explained. “And both of these products are FEI and USEF legal. I can’t stress how beneficial Magic Cushion has been for Lottie and my other horses.”

Watch Laine Ashker’s Hoof-Packing Routine

Click to watch this full video, brought to you by Absorbine®, of Laine Ashker sharing her post-workout hoof-packing routine.

About Laine Ashker

Five-star eventer and dressage professional Laine Ashker has competed in numerous FEI competitions at the five-star level, including the Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials CC14* and the Defender Burghley Horse Trials CC15*. The horsewoman, who trains out of her Keystone Acres farm in Chesterfield, Virginia, also won the National Eventing Championship (Advanced Level) in 2013 aboard her long-time mount, Anthony Patch. More recently, she won her first CDI in May 2023 aboard her upper-level dressage horse, Zeppelin.

For more horse-care and training tips from Laine Ashker, click here.