Wednesday 12 January 2011

Updated footage - Solomon and Kingsley

Now its the boys' turn...

Solomon first - he had a classic toe first landing when he arrived and, like Ginger, had a weak caudal hoof with a split central sulcus on his worse - left - foot.  What I like about his footage is that it clearly shows the progression and how his landing improves as his foot becomes healthier.  He has gone from being clearly unlevel on a circle to being not only level but extremely full of beans and he is working well out on hacks too.  He is going home in a couple of weeks, and Lucie is planning to come down and have a days' hunting on him before he goes back :-)


Solomon from Nic Barker on Vimeo.


With Kingsley, although I have taken lateral footage, its really from in front or behind that you see the biggest improvement in his movement - along with his new found ability to trot on a circle, which is nothing short of fantabulous!  I'm including this footage though because it does give a very clear indication of how much more confident he is in his foot and limb placement.

Initially, in his wedged shoes, although he is landing heel first he gives the impression of having no clear idea where the ground is.  By contrast, in his most recent footage he is jauntily striding along without a care in the world.  Its a more subtle change (from this angle) than for Solomon, although he is actually the one whose movement has improved most dramatically.


Kingsley from Nic Barker on Vimeo.

5 comments:

jenj said...

Nic, watching this video makes me wonder if you can compare the arc that the foot takes for a shod vs. unshod horse. One thing I keep noticing is that early on, the hind feet in particular seem to sort of skim the ground or slide a bit before landing, whereas later the horse places the foot very precisely. It would be interesting if you could somehow measure that.

Nic Barker said...

Fascinating, isn't it? Bailey W was a really good example of that as well. It must be to do with proprioception but how practically would you measure it - any ideas?

Lucie said...

I keep seeing that to Jen. They sort of slide their feet on to the ground at the beginning and then they end up 'placing' their feet down instead. It's amazing how the landing changes in such a short space of time

Unknown said...

I had a little play with some stills from this footage and I am loving the results!
Super work Nic :) and Kingsley of course!

Unknown said...

Very much looking forward to seeing him. His progress is looking quite honestly nothing short of miraculous.