Orange is the new black...

We have a bit of a theme developing at Rockley right now, as I mentioned earlier in the week as new horses Felix and Ruby arrived in turn.

 This is Ruby...

 ...this is Felix...

..and last but not least Dexter, our resident chestnut TB. 

For Felix, meeting Ruby was love at first sight - Prince is loitering on the right, for good measure, adding a third shade of chestnut, but having put up with bays on her first day, Ruby really only had one orange boy in her sights.

It may not last, of course, like many summer romances, but for now the mutual admiration society is in full swing. 

The second Ruby

New girl Ruby arrived yesterday all the way from Scotland. She couldn't be more different in appearance to our first rehab Ruby (a coloured cob who was here last year) and we are continuing the chestnut TB theme which was started by Felix at the weekend. 

As you can see, she has been out of shoes some time (since October last year) and there is lots to like about her feet but she is landing flat/toe first in front and that's something we need to help her sort out. She has some issues with medio-lateral balance which have been confirmed on x-ray and MRI with corresponding collateral ligament damage and damage to the coffin joint.  

Remedial farriery didn't improve her and though she did become sounder out of shoes her lameness recurred earlier this year and she has been recently assessed as variably 2/10 lame bilaterally. 

From this angle its clear her palmar hoof isn't perhaps as robust as it needs to be and that's, as always, where we will be looking for the biggest changes. 

As with the LF, an asymmetry which usually points to a medio-lateral imbalance - in both feet its the medial aspect which is weaker, as is often the case. 

A slightly long toe and again a weak digital cushion but then again I've seen an awful lot worse, so here's hoping the second Ruby does as well as the first. There will be more on her soon. 

Russell's 4 week comparison shots

Russell has been here 4 weeks - you know the form so let me know what you think.

Bear in mind that Russell had pretty good feet and was one of the sounder horses even when he arrived so we aren't looking for massive change, just improvements in the palmar hoof and his media-lateral balance.

Something like this, in fact. 

More of the same on the RF where he had more muscle wastage through his shoulders and back.

Nice improvement in frog and digital cushion - footage to follow but I was single-handed so it was tricky yesterday.

This is going to be confusing...

A new rehab arrived yesterday - lovely chap who has come from Wiltshire and looks as if he will settle right in. So what's the confusion? Well, he is called Felix (in my mind Felix=15.2hh, dark bay, white stripe, runs the place) but he looks like Dexter - really, very like Dexter - same size, same colour, same type, same outrageous punk-orange mane - I've already done a few double takes as he wandered round the tracks this afternoon...

More on that in due course, but meanwhile here are his feet. He has a diagnosis on MRI of moderate navicular bone degeneration and impar ligament damage which left him bilaterally lame in front (worse on his RF where he was 3-5/10 lame at his worst).

The remedial shoes he arrived with have given him an exaggerated heel first landing and improved his soundness for a few weeks but he went lame again earlier last week.

The most obvious warning sign from this angle is the hairline dropping down at the back of his foot. He still has wedges on but despite that you can see that the palmar hoof is collapsing and quite under-run.

Looking beyond the shoe and wedge, you can see that the hoof wall is longer on the medial side than it is laterally. it will be interesting to see how that changes. 

One of the frustrating things about wedges is how much of the foot it obscures. I'll try to get some photos of him out of shoes later today.

Although he is lamer on his RF this is a bilateral problem and the same issues are evident in his LF though the hairline is better. 

The other way round this time, with a longer lateral than medial wall and a split central sulcus, never nice to see. 

Better balance on this foot, I would say, though both feet show a medio-lateral imbalance on x-ray.

More on Felix soon...

Columbo's latest update

A quick update on Columbo, simply because his owner Michelle and I are worried about how slowly he is progressing. Of course every horse is different and you can't dictate to them how fast they can go.

Equally its always a worry when a horse is still landing toe first after nearly 8 weeks and there comes a time when you begin to wonder whether they will ever improve.

Looking only at the lower photo, which I took yesterday, its not a great hoof. However I cheered up a bit when I looked at his original photo because despite the slow progress there is some progress. 

The caudal shots are equally revealing - a rather weak, pinched frog today (below) but, despite that, so much better than it was when he arrived especially when you look at the cracks and long heels he had on day one. This is why photos and videos are so important(!).

Its no wonder, perhaps, that he can't yet land heel first so please send lots of good vibes for Columbo and especially for his weedy right front foot. 

The Red Prince of Mischief

Prince has, according to his Facebook fans, this fabulous nickname and I think it suits him. He has been here 8 weeks and I should have posted his update last week but days ran away with me so here it is, slightly belated. 

Prince arrived in shoes and with very long collapsed feet. He was landing toe first and as you can see his shoes weren't doing a great job of providing the much needed "support" for the back of his foot. 

Once out of shoes you can see the main issues - contracted frog and heels, flat feet and a long toe. 

Photos at 8 weeks show a frog and palmar hoof which is developing and better concavity. The toe is still long and the frog and heels are still pinched but Prince has a lot of new hoof still to grow so that's not a concern for now. 

From this angle you can see the old dorsal wall and under-run heels, with the whole foot shooting out from underneath his limb

Eight weeks in there is a nice new angle of growth and the old nail holes have nearly gone. At this point many trimmers would want to take back the toe but that would only make matters worse for Prince right now. 

A trim isn't necessary in order to protect the new growth - that's way stronger than the old, long toe. In addition would overload his palmar hoof before its strong enough, which tends to make horses lamer not sounder. 

The same story on his right front, again with a good new angle of growth. The long toe is ugly but will be gone in a few more weeks. 

This foot was slightly less distorted than the LF but is still very weak. 

 Out of the shoe though you can see the asymmetry in the sole and the contracted frog.

At 8 weeks there is still a long toe but his breakover is way further back - nearly half an inch closer to his frog and this mirrors where his toe will be once the new dorsal hoof wall has grown down. 

More on Prince soon!

I have camera envy...

I had a lot of fun yesterday trying out a Sony FS700 - the same camera which filmed the awesome footage from last year's RRR (that film has now had nearly 20,000 views, incidentally!).

The camera I got my sticky little hands on yesterday belongs to our long-suffering friend Ted who not only spent several hours indoctrinating me into the hows and whys of getting the camera to work but went way above and beyond the call of duty and lunged Felix while I filmed - and a grand job he did as well.

The aim wasn't really to get hoof or biomechanics footage - it was just a chance to get more familiar with the camera and its incredible slow-mo capabilities so that I can hire one to take to the RRR - and then we can really start to have fun!

It was a glorious day - which is what this camera needs, because HD slow motion requires TONS of light. Some of the footage reflects this - or I messed up when putting it together - but thats' why its test footage.

For a random selection of horses and dogs in slow motion, take a look at the clip - and don't forget to let me know either as a comment here or on Facebook if there are particular (equine!) gaits, actions, speeds or surfaces that you'd like to see in this year's RRR footage. 

Ted's footage from Nic Barker on Vimeo.

We already have jumping and fast work on different surfaces (including corners) on the agenda, along with more footage of every angle of horses' movement. All suggestions are welcome!