Dakota's 10 week update

Another belated update, but here are Dakota's 10 week photos, starting off with her worse foot, LF. She was as you can see unhappy to load it properly when she arrived. She has had ups and downs on this foot but is now landing heel first on it and is much happier to stand square. 

You can see the angle of the new hoof growth and that her hoof wall will be shorter and stronger once it has fully grown in.

She is also building a better frog although again it will be another few months before the changes are complete. 

There is a significant difference in the strength of the palmar hoof  - the digital cushion is less crushed, hoof wall is shorter and her frog is able to make ground contact as it should. 

This was a healthier foot to start with and so the changes are less dramatic but there is an improvement in the hairline, which no longer collapses towards the back of the foot. 

Again, there will be a shorter, stronger hoof capsule once the new growth is complete. 

Her heels still need to come back more and her frog will develop further but the sole and frog are already healthier and responding to better loading rather than the whole weight being confined to the periphery of the foot, as it was when she was shod. 

Nice to see a digital cushion and frog which are recovering! It never ceases to amaze me how they pop out and build up as soon as they are given the chance. 

Mordor's 12 week update

Mordor has now been here nearly 12 weeks so another update is due. Contrary to initial impressions, Mordor's feet have not just become hairier in the time he has been here...!

His landing has changed as well - I will upload footage later on - and he has gone from having a medio-lateral imbalance to having a much more balanced landing. 

He had a reasonably good foot in shoes but his toes have shortened and his heels come back since he came out of shoes. 

He has also developed a stronger frog and digital cushion, as you can see from this angle. 

Feather really doesn't help in hoof photos, for which I apologise. 

This is his weaker foot and on this foot his frog still has a little way to go before its as strong as his right foot.

More when I have his footage...

Teak's 12 week update

Teak will have been here 12 weeks on Tuesday and its her turn for a (belated) update.

Not the best photo but she had very flat feet when she arrived which had under-run and lost concavity. She came out of shoes a short time before she came to Rockley; she had previously had some time barefoot but was in shoes most recently.

This is her worse foot and as you can see she has developed better concavity as well as a clear heel first landing. Her heels are still under-run - it will take at least another 12 weeks before she has grown in a full new hoof capsule. 

You can already see the changes in her feet but full concavity won't be there until the new hoof capsule is completely grown in.

Recently out of shoes she had a long toe but you can see from the photo today that the new angle of growth will bring that in a lot shorter. Her heels look strange at the moment because the new growth hasn't yet reached the ground but once its there it will bring the back of her foot more underneath her.

This was an even more collapsed foot than her LF but again the new hoof growth is clearly visible and will result in a shorter toe and more supportive palmar hoof once its fully grown in.

From this angle you can see that the palmar hoof is much more developed than it was on day one, even though it still looks under-run on the lateral shots. A stronger frog and digital cushion are very encouraging even though she has a way to go. 

As always, its important to assess feet from several different angles and not just rely on one shot to make your comparisons. Photos like these are helpful but only when you have already seen the horse move and how the feet are loading and landing. 

Ella's 12 week update

Finally, here we go with an attempt at a proper update. Ella has been here just over 12 weeks and is soon going home so this will be her final update most likely. As you can see, she arrived with very boxy feet and with a very pronounced toe first landing. If you look at the original photo there is also a clear difference between the under-developed palmar foot she had on arrival and where she is today. 

The new growth is obvious from this angle and reaches about two-thirds down but importantly the new palmar hoof capsule is already on the ground. Ella's landing isn't extravagantly heel first but she does now properly engage the back of her foot. The shorter toe she will have once the new hoof capsule has fully grown in will also help to keep her landing heel first. 

Same story on this foot and again the new hoof capsule growing in at a tighter, better connected angle is easy to see. The temptation as ever for farriers and trimmers is to back the toe up but Ella is doing just fine on her own and by not overloading the palmar hoof before she is ready we will ensure she stays sound and able to continue work. 

What a difference between the length of hoof wall now and when she was in shoes! Its not the best photo angle but I hope you can also see how much more developed the heel bulbs and digital cushion are today. 

The photo above is the day she arrived and below is immediately after the shoes came off. 

Sorry - another of the irritations of this poorly designed photo software is that it doesn't recognise editing changes as soon as they are made. So this photo is, in the photo software, the right way up but its not uploading the current version...Still, with luck even if you have to crane your neck you can see that there frog and sole are healthier today than they were in shoes. 

From this angle you can see that the hoof wall, though a lot shorter than it used to be, is still long. The new hoof capsule will result in a shorter, better connected hoof but it will be another 6 weeks or more before this is complete. However the frog and digital cushion are already in much better shape. 

These photos again show her on arrival and immediately after the shoes came off (below). the current photo is the last one.

Sorry - same problem with this photo but at least I've managed to upload some...More soon!

Getting there...

I'm afraid progress on updating the blog with new photos and video for the rehab horses has been slower than I had hoped, due almost entirely to Apple's not-so-helpful recent "upgrade" (please insert maximum irony here) to its photo software.

Its relocated 2 of my photo libraries and is not allowing me to add to them so its proving extremely time-consuming to post new photos of the existing rehab horses as they are ending up being stored in different places and I haven't yet had the time to do a wholesale reorganisation of all my photos.

Its maddening, as photos were previously quick to upload and were all stored under each horse's name whereas now everything is being lumped into date order. To add insult to injury I wasn't even given the choice of refusing the upgrade...

I've spent hours (with and without Apple's help!) trying to sort this out since last week but am still not really any further on. I'm still hoping to get updates out this week so please bear with me for the moment. 

In the meantime by way of a sweetener I can at least offer you these fantastic shots taken of Em and Indy (who was here 2 years ago) out eventing at the weekend - thanks to Gary Horner for permission to post them, and if anything were needed to make you smile I hope these will do the trick!

August update

Dear all,

As regular blog readers will have noticed, there was quite a hiatus from Rockley over July as my father was very ill and sadly died at the start of the month.

Thanks to the incredible Freya, who dropped everything and came to help us here again, life (and work) for the Rockley rehabs and our own horses carried on without interruption but of course other things like the blog were put on hold.

We are far from back to normal but I am aiming to catch up with photos and video footage over the next few blog posts. In the meantime, what better way to start a new week and a new month than with some updates from the horses who have gone home?

Sophie and Felix, relocated to near London, have done themselves proud, being placed in both their tests and Krista and Buddy were also bagging frillies, with a 1st and 2nd - congrats to you all! 

No less important or exciting was the work being done by Vikki and Lad, who left Rockley and moved to their new home a couple of weeks ago - a really lovely photo from them. 

Finally another essential piece of news - the website for this year's reunion is now live, taking bookings and waiting to hear from you: http://rockleyrehabreunion.weebly.com - hard to believe but its only about 6 weeks away...