Wednesday 28 May 2014

Columbo's first fortnight

A quick update on Columbo, who arrived here a couple of weeks ago. He was lamest on his RF so this is the foot where we need to see the biggest changes.  Its a tidier foot today (below) but the frog is still extremely contracted and there is old damage to the bars which you can now see more clearly. 
Caudal shots on the day he arrived showed the extent of the problem, with the frog not only contracted but sheared and with nasty cracks at each side which extended into the heel bulbs.
Today the cracks have improved a lot and I hope that with increased stability in the foot the frog can now start to do its job. His heels are already lowering and broadening which is an encouraging sign. 
Its ironic that horses like Columbo are so often described as having "low heels" whereas in fact his heels are way too high at the moment . The reality is that it will be the development of his frog and digital cushion which will improve his soundness and that once those are better his heels will effectively be far lower than they are at the moment.

1 comment:

dea i Campina said...

Wouldn't treatment of the central sulcus infection speed up his recovery?

I know that you choose not to interfere in the healing process with trimming, but this is not trimming (and artificially speeding up), just putting some medicine into this crevice to increase his comfort (or rather decrease discomfort). I found it VERY helpful many times. It could make it possible for him to use his caudal foot better/more earlier and thus use your tracks fully.

I don't see any arguments against it, except for the five minutes "lost" every day that is needed to put the medicine into the crevice.