Oh the hypocrisy!

I've been sent an interesting article by a friend who is a vet and who knows all too well how effectively taking a horse barefoot can rehabilitate its hooves.

The article was a ding-dong between rival vets about the benefits or otherwise of remedial farriery as a way of improving soundness in horses with DDFT injuries and apparently included the following:

"Barefoot...is certainly the cheapest option. 

Providing the horse has good solar depth and hoof quality and is well-balanced this is a valid option. Obtaining these prerequisites in clinical cases is rare. 

As a result horses treated this way tend to remain more lame than when treated with remedial farriery."

This statement is being spouted by someone who purports to be scientifically trained (and who should, in theory at least, recognise the importance of evidence-based treatment over superstition and tradition).

The author might as well have written "the earth is flat", "the moon is made of green cheese" or "horses can't work on roads without shoes". All of the quotes in italics have one thing in common - they are what those of us in the real world call Old Wives' Tales - superstitions and beliefs that have grown up with no basis in fact.

Of course, those of us in the real world know its often risky to try and sound knowledgeable about subjects which you have no experience of. Sadly, this doesn't seem to have troubled the author either.

What would you expect of a statement by a veterinary professional in a scientific journal? At the very least you would expect it to be evidence-based and supported by objective proof of some kind. Unfortunately this one is factually incorrect, cites no evidence whatsoever and is not even based on comparative studies.

Lets look at it in a bit more detail.

"Providing the horse has good solar depth and hoof quality and is well-balanced this is a valid option. Obtaining these prerequisites in clinical cases is rare."

In other words, a horse with good concavity and a healthy, well-balanced foot is unlikely to be lame. Just think about that for a moment - and consider the implications. If the author has realised this, isn't it incumbent on him or her to perhaps follow this astonishing idea up?

Apparently not - its easier to dismiss it (though wouldn't it be interesting to know what proportion of lame horses are presented in shoes or recently trimmed?).

"horses treated this way tend to remain more lame than when treated with remedial farriery"

Really? And the statistics for this are where exactly?

Of course, if the author means that ripping the shoes off an already lame horse doesn't miraculously make it sound then they are right - but even the most cursory glance at the internet reveals that this is very far from what most people mean by taking a horse barefoot.

I am confident that the author has no experience of hoof rehabilitation because most of the horses we see here for rehab - who have frequently had remedial farriery with little or no improvement - have gone back to work at the same level or higher than before they went lame and remain in consistent work over the long term.

No-one expects vets to be infallible but making statements like this is ill-judged and foolish. Worse, assuming that owners turn to barefoot simply as a means of saving money makes the author sound not only patronising but frankly ignorant - and will only erode owners' confidence in a profession which they should be able to trust. Thank goodness that some vets are now educating themselves in a more open-minded way. 

Ennis' first 3 weeks

Ennis arrived here just over 3 weeks ago, already out of shoes and with quite reasonable looking hooves. He was landing toe first, though, and was short-striding all round.

He has just started to land better, as I posted last week, but I couldn't put his photos up at the time as my stills camera (which admittedly has a hard life constantly under horses'  feet) had finally given up the ghost. Armed with my new one I have now got these shots, which show the subtle but important changes in his feet so far.

His frog still has a lot of development to do but he has better concavity and the start of stronger heels. His medio-lateral balance is still off, which is not surprising at this stage, and that will probably be the biggest change going forward. 

Not much to see from the lateral shots - it will be a few more weeks before any angle change is clearly visible. 

From this angle the better frog and digital cushion development are more obvious. 

Although he had fairly healthy frogs when he arrived his foot was under-running, as you can see from the position of the frog in relation to the heels. 

 

This profile is improving and will allow the back his foot to become stronger and his toe to shorten. 

Lateral shots will be interesting in the next update but don't tell us much at the moment!

This is his less distorted foot and so there are fewer changes but again better frog development which should continue over the next few weeks. 

Merlin's first fortnight

Merlin will have been here 2 weeks tomorrow so time for his update. He arrived in bar shoes, as you can see, but what is interesting I think is how even in such a short time his stance has improved.

When you see the sole shots its clear how the shoes were actually unloading the back of the hoof rather than supporting it.

By contrast now he is able to begin to use the his frogs and heels properly and I expect to see him develop quite fast over the next few weeks. 

Again the contrast is between a frog which is receiving stimulus and one which is shut down. 

You can see from the position of the nail holes how the toe is shortening on this foot as well. 

Its already loading better than in shoes with less stress on the toe and more engagement in the back of the foot. 

Have a look at the difference in wall height between the lateral and medial walls. This should start to rebalance now that he is centrally loading his foot - it should be easier to see in a couple more weeks. 

Merlin already had quite decent frogs, particularly considering he was in bar shoes, which gives us a great place to start from. 

He's also a very inquisitive personality who is always on the go - a perfect quality in a horse who needs to grow new feet!

An easy way to brighten up a wet Monday morning...

...Just take a look at what the Blinged-Up Bullet Dodgers have been doing over the weekend, of course!

The smiles give the game away but they've only gone and won...again...! Don't you just love the sparkly brow bands? They all look completely magnificent.

They aren't the only ones going out and flying the flag for rehab horses - Sophie and Felix have been jumping this weekend but sadly no photos - maybe next time? 

And just for the record, the gorgeous boys and their glamorous girls - with added feet. They are certainly giving the rest of us something to aim for before we all get together at the RRR...!

Ennis' update

A quick update on Ennis, who has been here nearly 3 weeks and whose photos are overdue - they will follow once my camera, which died this week, has been replaced (I hope later today!).

 Meanwhile you will have to just look at these stills from his footage instead. His RF was already landing just about heel first when he arrived but his LF was not, as you can see from the initial still above.

Its not the best quality but I hope you can see the better landing in his recent footage. Its not totally consistent yet but he is certainly heading the right way. 

Ennis from Nic Barker on Vimeo.

Feet, footage and biomechanics

I've been putting together some comparative footage of Alfie for his owner and I thought it would make interesting footage for the blog as well.

Alfie is a really genuine boy who always tries his heart out but he had quite compromised feet when he arrived here.

Of course my blog posts often focus on feet because lameness is after all why horses are sent here but there are some quite interesting (but not surprising) effects on movement as feet change and improve.

The photo above is a still from Alfie's November footage. He was short-striding and tended to go hollow as you can see. On the left rein he was also intermittently unlevel.  This photo is also a perfect illustration of why horses with forelimb pain nearly always have related pain in their neck, shoulders or back.

The March footage by contrast shows a better frame with a longer stride and more relaxed neck and back.

You can see how comprehensively foot balance and hoof health affect not only soundness but every aspect of a horse's movement - and, of course, that once feet are more comfortable, better biomechanics follow quite naturally. 

The complete footage is below, for reference. 

Alfie D circle footage from Nic Barker on Vimeo.

New boy Merlin

These hooves belong to new boy Merlin who arrived here at the end of last week in his remedial shoes.

 As you all know, bar shoes are intended to provide support to the palmar hoof.

Only problem is that very often the palmar hoof has other ideas - in Merlins' case it looks as if his shoe is heading in a different direction to his foot - to be fair he was due for a new set of shoes when these photos were taken.

 Overall, though, he has nice strong feet and even straight out of shoes is stomping around over all surfaces - a good indication of basically healthy feet.

 There is a clear imbalance here but that should be something that improves over the next few weeks.

More on Merlin soon, of course.