Rolie is short for rollercoaster

Rolie is going home at the weekend and its time for his final update. As regular readers know, rehab is rarely just a straightforward, smooth linear improvement and horses often have downs as well as ups along the way. 

This isn't surprising when you consider how extreme  are some of the hoof changes that they undergo - and when you consider that changes in foot balance and loading inevitably also affect soft tissue in the neck back and shoulders.

Rolie has been no exception to this rule and although he has made some great changes to his feet he has had a couple of "downs" along the way as well. Fortunately these have been short-lived blips and I sincerely hope that he won't have any more once he goes home!

Looking at his feet, you can see in the lower photo the band of new growth about a third of the way down his foot.  I suspect that the whole foot once its grown in will have a medial deviation as its that side of his foot which is lacking support at the moment and you can see that the hoof capsule is already tending to try to grow this way. 

The lateral shoe gives a clue to how big the changes have been and will continue to be. His hairline is less distorted but althought the back of his foot has strengthened he has more work still to do. 

Comparing the photos over the last few weeks its interesting to see how much the medial side of the foot has changed - much more than the lateral side. 

Finally a couple of pics for his owner, who wanted to know if Dave really is bigger than Rolie!

The answer is yes!