New boy from Wales - Bailey G

Today's blog post belongs to the new boy from Wales, Bailey G, or Bailey the Third - he actually arrived a couple of days ago but it was late when he came off the lorry and we all felt it was kinder to let him just spend a night chilling out and getting used to his new surroundings.  This meant we didn't bother him with photos, footage or shoe removal till Tuesday, so his very own blog post is on Wednesday :-)

Its fairly easy to identify Bailey's weakest leg.  He is reluctant to stand square and is pointing his RF consistently.  He has fairly nice-looking feet, though, and even once shoes are off there are no real horrors lurking under his shoes!

You can see that the hairline is pushed up slightly, which is often a sign of an imbalance in hoof loading, and a shot from the front also hints at hoof balance being an issue.  However, you need to remember that this horse was shod 4 weeks ago, so his hoof balance would have been very different then - this is not a farrier's failure, just the effects of a hoof being dynamic, even on box rest!

From the front the same hoof (RF) is looking asymmetric but longer on the lateral side.  Interestingly, the hoof capsules on most rehab horses, once fully grown in, tend to be longer on the medial side.

The same foot (RF) from the caudal view.  Again, it looks longer on the lateral side (the left of this picture) but is that because the medial side (on the right) is collapsing?  His landing is more or less as you'd expect, short-striding and toe first in front and his hinds are only marginally better - lots to do!

Bailey's vet has been very helpful and freely admitted that he and the farrier have tried everything to improve problems diagnosed on MRI.  They've done their best for the last 8 months so now its our turn.

Bailey definitely has some big changes to make to his hooves, so there will be more on him soon.  Meanwhile, as his owners couldn't be here to see him on his first morning without shoes, here is a short piece of footage I took on Tuesday morning - he has a long way to go, but these are his first steps.