M is for...

"mad hooves", quite possibly. These of course are M's hooves. He has now been here 12 weeks so its time for another update. 

To recap, he arrived with all sorts of issues, including flat feet, long toes, under-run heels and a history of long term lameness which blocked to the palmar hoof. In addition he threw into the mix assorted hind limb problems - there are more details here.

Today he has a selection of new hoof growth angles - from the worst old growth at the bottom to the new hoof capsule at the top. He still has lots to do, notably improving his palmar hoof strength, but he is doing a good job of growing a stronger hoof and importantly has massively improve his terribly thin soles - to the point where they no longer bounce on thumb pressure(!).

His flat feet will develop more concavity but that won't come till the new growth has reached teh ground and meanwhile you can still see the old damage. The bars are better though and the heels slowly moving back to be more supportive.

From the front when he arrived you could already see that there would be a difference between the old hoof capsule and how the new growth would come in.

Its only today though that you can see how much difference that will make - both to his dorso-palmar and medio-lateral balance. I've taken this picture from a slightly higher angle to make it easier to see the changes in medio-lateral balance.