Gemini and the clues to an unbalanced foot

New horse Gemini arrived yesterday. She is unusual for several reasons - firstly she is a very young horse, only just 4 years old, and secondly she has never been shod. 

This meant that she had some big advantages over many of the other horses who arrive for rehab but it also meant that it was going to be interesting to try and work out why her feet were causing her problems (Gemini has been 2-3/10 lame for several months and has been diagnosed on MRI with navicular bone and collateral ligament damage). 

Lateral shots of her lamer leg don't look too bad  - in fact there is lots to like, not least the strong hoof capsule and balanced hairline.

From the front, however, we get the first clues that her hoof balance isn't quite right for her. From this angle the hairline no longer looks so balanced and there is a hint that she has a medial weakness in her hooves.

Here is a fascinating caudal shot. With most horses who have been in shoes for some years you wouldn't see this level of good frog development but Gemini has it - at least on this leg, though her LF is weaker.

Her frog is loading and she has a heel first landing on this foot. However, a shot of her foot from this angle confirms the same medio-lateral imbalance as we can see from the front and sure enough she is landing on the lateral side of the foot when she walks.

More on Gemini soon...

Here's hoping...

Although we are still facing horrendous weather here (though no flooding, since we are so high up, so we are a lot luckier than many), there is a glimmer of light on the horizon - well 2, actually.

The first comes from the Met Office who are saying that as long as we can all get through the 80mph winds we are forecast today - and of course the 40mm of rain - then its going to start to calm down over the weekend and we may even have a break from the storms next week. Wouldn't that make a pleasant change?

If its true I might even be able to catch up on the backlog of filming which has been put on hold for most of this week and last week - so watch this space!

The second and more guaranteed ray of sunshine comes in the form of SB, who is down for half term - yippee :-) 

[ETA: photo comes from this time last year - look how dry and sunny it was! Ack, ack ack...]

Hoof prints in the snow

A snowy morning here though its not going to lie - but Knightley, Brigitte and I were the first ones out on the lane. 

Brigitte's prints - not bad at all for a rehab horse - great frog definition on her RF and even her LF is getting there. 

Knightley muses on the view, or possibly on the desperately scratched and grubby state of my camera lens...

Brigitte's 11 week update

Time for Brigitte's update though its hard to believe she has been here 11 weeks. I've taken some footage of her and thought stills from it would the easiest way for you to see what is going on.

 Here she is on arrival, a very toe first landing on 3 out of 4 feet with the fronts being the worst. Most horses start to land heel first fairly quickly but Brigitte's feet were so under-run that it has taken her the best part of 10 weeks to start to change.

Even today, she is only landing flat, not clearly heel first, but now that she is beginning to use the palmar hoof more correctly it should continue to strengthen. 

When she arrived (above) her feet were very distorted - in fact they were so under-run that they were narrower at the base than at the coronet. The deviated hairline is another clue that things were far from well. 

Eleven weeks on we are making progress. However though the toe is shorter the palmar hoof is still weak, proved by the fact she is still reluctant to land heel first. 

Sole shots give a clue to where her feet are heading - interestingly they look more symmetrical from this view today but less symmetrical from the top. Its clear that balance for Brigitte has to be set using internal markers not external angles!

Notice as well that the bars which extended right round the apex of the frog have disappeared as her foot has become stronger. I have not trimmed them as they were an essential support while her foot was weak and unbalanced. 

Brigitte landing from Nic Barker on Vimeo.

Lots to catch up on

Sorry the blog was a bit truncated last week - storms and power cuts are thankfully over (at least for a day or so...) and we have re-battened down the barn roof (which was threatening to take off last Wednesday!) so normal service can now resume.

Pride of place today goes to Kate and Rolie who were out competing at the Regional Dressage championships this weekend. 

They did brilliantly, coming 6th with 69% in their Prelim class and topping that off with a 4th now a 3RD place (he's been upgraded!) and 70% in the dressage to music!

Very well done both of you - you both look fabulous - and here is their triumphal video :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxrOguMudyQ#t=30

On a completely different note, I had a great meeting last week with vet Chris Tufnell of Coach House Vets. I've known Chris for a little while through the horses he has sent down here so it was great to finally sit down and talk hooves with him and farrier Luke Silcock.

We have a few interesting ideas in the pipeline so I will keep you posted about how we get on!

Storm and seminars

Short blog today as we lost power completely last night because of the storm - nothing like going to bed with a head torch and book at 8.30pm to bring back your childhood :-)

Power back on this morning but may well go down again as the winds are incredible - so if there is no blog for a few days, that could be why!

Just a quick one though to let you know I am going to do a  seminar in Northern Ireland on Saturday 8th March. Helen Spence kindly invited me over and it should be a fun day, looking at lots of different horses, how their feet work and some basic anatomy and biomechanics.

We will also cover some key nutritional essentials and look at some ways to maximise the facilities available to people in terms of management - using tracks, yards and dead areas and how to increase movement, reduce boredom and give horses the best possible management system with what you have available.

If you are interested in coming along or want more info please get in touch with Helen - info@helenspencehorsesense.co.uk or phone 07773 157428. The cost is £50 with a deposit of £20 payable to Helen now if you want to book a space.

Hope you are all ok through this bad weather  - more soon!

Cheshire Chester

New boy Chester arrived yesterday - he will be known as Cheshire Chester on the blog, as there was another horse called Chester here last year, but he came from Sussex :-)

Cheshire Chester has feet which don't look too bad but - like most of the horses who come here he has a toe first landing and has had recurrent lameness which blocks to the palmar hoof and which has not improved despite various drug therapies and remedial farriery. 

I would expect to see his frogs and heels strengthen over the next few weeks and for that toe to shorten as his foot rebuilds.

This is his lamest foot and its also the foot with the worse landing. If you compare with the LF its clear its also more under-run with less depth at the heel.

More on Cheshire Chester over the next few weeks.