George goes home [RRR -2 days]

George went home yesterday, as his owners can't make it down for the RRR and he has made such good progress that he is ready to go back and resume his old job.  

As a recap on George's hooves, he arrived with them looking like this...

...and with a diagnosis of collateral ligament damage, DDFT damage and navicular and DIP joint damage on MRI.   His hooves had lots of good structure but were loading incorrectly which had probably been the cause of his lameness; there is a long post about him on arrival here. 

Fast forward a few weeks and his landing has improved, with the result that his caudal hoof is looking much stronger.  You can now see though that his medio-lateral balance is not correct. 

Drawing a line bisecting the frog on the same photo shows that the hoof is loading unevenly but fast forward again to yesterday, and the photo below, and his foot is already much more balanced.

Looking at the same hoof from a different angle you can see evidence of the same changes.  Comparing the shot immediately below (taken the day he arrived), with the final one, taken yesterday, the whole loading of the hoof has shifted caudally.

You can also see a band of new, tighter hoof capsule growing in which, once its completely grown down will further improve his dorso-palmar and medio-lateral balance.

Of course he still has a long way to go in terms of hoof growth but he is already at the stage where work is making him stronger and sounder, and he needs lots more of the same, coupled with ongoing good nutrition.

George from Nic Barker on Vimeo.

This is his landing footage, charting his progress over the last 8 weeks, and below is footage of him on a circle, comparing first and last weeks.  The biggest changes are in his improved heel first landing and  - on a circle - his soundness on the left front and right hind, which was his weak diagonal when he arrived.

George on a circle from Nic Barker on Vimeo.