Dylan's 3 week update

Dylan with the wedges (who is not to be confused with "Dillon with the wedges") has now, like Isla, been here for 3 weeks. He arrived with very long, weak feet and in remedial shoes. When the shoes came off I was concerned that he might be uncomfortable but in fact he surprised me by being perfectly happy despite his thrushy frogs and distorted hooves. 

He has not been trimmed. The difference between his inital photos and his feet 3 weeks on have been achieved by allowing him to move on the tracks and while turned out and by giving him additional in-hand exercise on good surfaces, including the arena. 

Of course his feet are still collapsed but his base of support is in fact no worse out of shoes than it was in the wedges and it is giving him an infinitely better chance of strengthening and developing his hoof again. 

Dylan had thrushy, stinking frogs due to the pads but they have rapidly started to improve, though we have a long way to go. 

After 10 days the thrush was disappearing and his long hoof wall was wearing away, also allowing his toe to shorten. 

By 3 weeks most of the dead sole has gone and his heels are beginning to load, though they are still severely contracted. Over the next few weeks I would want to see his heels and frog improve significantly. 

Again, though his heels are under-run his base of support is no worse out of shoes than it was in the wedges and if anything his hairline and hoof/pastern axis are better. 

The same sequence for his LF - day one, immediately out of shoes above...

10 days later...

and 3 weeks later. Lots to do, but a foot which is beginning to function again. His footage is below and again its slow progress but no backwards steps so far, and a better medio-lateral balance.

Here are the stills from his circle footage - he was ok in his shoes (above) but is stepping under much better without them (below). His stride length should improve further once he has a stronger palmar hoof. 

Look at them go!

Had to post these photos as a follow up to Monday's post with Amanda and Lucy's news...

 Their third one day event and not only flying but placed as well!

 Some serious jumps and Lucy is jumping beautifully and clearly loving it.

 Many congratulations to Amanda, Lucy, Sam (who first sent her down here as a rehab several years ago) and Steve who now helps look after her feet.

No shoes, no studs, just healthy well-balanced hooves doing what they are more than capable of doing over all terrain. 

 Well done  - you look amazing :-)

Isla's 2-and-a-bit week update

Isla will have been here 3 weeks on Thursday and as Steve was with me at the weekend it was an ideal time to get lots of new footage, so her update is going to be a bit early. 

Here are her feet the day she arrived. She'd been out of shoes a couple of months but was landing toe first in front and on the lateral edge of her LF.

 She'd had issues with a splint on this leg too, which with hindsight was probably related to her landing in this unbalanced way. No dramatic changes yet but the foot is more symmetrical and her frog, though tatty, is starting to look healthier. The ridge of sole round the frog is a sign of  a weak foot but I expect that will disappear pretty quickly.

Watch the palmar hoof, because that's where we need the biggest changes to occur...

Isla is beginning to engage the back of her foot more but its far from established at the moment. Still, as the old saying goes, every little helps!

Again, the development at the back of the hoof is what we want to be seeing. Isla is landing heel first on easy surfaces but her landing on a flat, hard surface is still only intermittently heel first.  

Nevertheless, after less than 3 weeks that's good progress and her medio-lateral balance is improving too, so there should be lots more to come.

This is her footage, and you can see that though she sometimes lands well, its not established. In the footage of her coming towards the camera, its easier to see as her toe is more often than not the last part of the foot to touch the ground, unlike when she arrived. 

Making the most of it...

A busy weekend, with Steve Leigh down for a few days - despite being hoof anoraks for most of his visit we took Saturday morning off so that he could have his first taste of a proper day out on Exmoor accompanied by Charlie...

And another team making the most of it were Amanda and Lucy who yesterday came 7th in only their third ODE together, despite having a pole down in during their SJ!

Amanda said: "I'm over the moon! She just gets better and better and was loving every minute of it!"

Long live this Indian summer - and lets hope we have a few more days like this before the winter!

Happy Friday, everyone...

A belated post of congratulations to 2 of our ex-rehabs who were out competing last weekend and did us all proud - sorry you had to wait til today to get on the blog!

 Big congrats to Sarah and Solar, who went out and were placed in their local dressage competition, including scoring an 8 for their walk :-)

Very well done also to Amanda and Lucy - there seems to be no stopping them at the moment and they were placed 13th in their ODE last weekend at Northallerton. Looking good, the pair of you!

Meeting and greeting - learn from the experts!

I posted earlier in the week a looooong post of FAQs which included a paragraph on what happens when new horses arrive. 

I rely so heavily on Felix and Charlie when it comes to rehabs settling in that I thought they deserved a post - and a clip - of their own. 

They have incredible social skills and never fail to strike exactly the right note when meeting a new horse for the first time, as well as ensuring that the Rockley herd is always as peaceful as possible.

Here they are with a young warmblood who has just arrived and isn't really sure what's going on...

Reine's 4 week update

Time for Reine's update. She has been here 4 weeks now and her owner came to visit at the weekend, when we took some updated photos and video. 

Reine has already been barefoot for a couple of years and there was lots to like about her feet but she had never been able to land heel first and this had led to niggling soundness issues which her owner is keen to try and improve. 

 On the sole shots there is not a huge difference, though her heels and frog are looking stronger. 

The lateral shots show a much shorter toe (and don't forget, she hasn't been trimmed at all) and the chipping of the long hoof wall at her toe as she brings it back to a better position herself. 

Her palmar hoof is stronger and that is confirmed by the fact that she is now landing heel first on this foot.

Her stance is improving too, though I'd forgotten that when she arrived she found it almost impossible to stand square. 

On her LF she is not yet landing heel first but looking at the change at the back of the hoof it looks as if it shouldn't be long before she is comfortable enough to do this.

More on Reine shortly!