Shoes and pads - Shinnic's feet

These feet belong to Shinnic, a quarter horse who arrived yesterday.

She has been diagnosed on MRI as having DDFT, impar, collateral ligament and navicular bone damage in both feet and had been shod with pads on veterinary advice but has remained lame.

She clearly has long toes and an under-run heel and there is some distortion of the digital cushion as you can see from the hairline.

The biggest problem with her feet once she is moving is actually her medio-lateral balance as she has a very pronounced lateral first landing on both front feet.

As she has come in shoes, unlike the other recent arrivals, she will have greater changes to make to her feet and more to get used to.

The removal of the pads should make a big difference to the level of stimulus which her palmar hoof will receive.

The pads cover a multitude of sins and a very weak frog but as she is comfortable out of shoes walking on our tracks I hope it won't be long before she makes some big changes to her feet.

Performance Hoof, Performance Horse - exciting (I think) news!

Thanks to all of you who have been big supporters of the new book, particularly those of you who have bought it and left such great reviews on Amazon - its very much appreciated!

The great news is that J Allen, who published "Feet First" way back in 2009, now want to take over publication of Performance Hoof, Performance Horse as well.

They did such a great job on the print edition of Feet First and I know they will produce Performance Hoof to the same high standard. Its particularly important that the photos are high quality and in their capable hands this will be a priority.

The only downside is that producing the new edition won't happen overnight so there will be a hiatus until October/November when it will come out both as a hard copy and as an ebook.

Obviously that doesn't affect anyone who has already bought a copy but for everyone else, please be patient and you will be rewarded with a shiny new version of the book as soon as we can produce it.

Meanwhile, the new rehab horses have, as you can see, settled in really well and have been revelling in the marvellous weather we have had this week. 

I know their owners are keen for updates but as its a bit too soon for hoof comparisons here are some scenic photos of them enjoying each others' company instead...

Ted M - last lot of new feet for the week

These are Ted's feet - the second Ted in our current cohort of rehab horses.

Like the other new horses, he has been out of shoes several months and his palmar hoof has apparently already improved.

Ted has had not 1 but 2 MRIs showing DDFT damage which has healed and flared up again over several years.

However there is a lot to like about his feet, although he has a medio-lateral imbalance on his RF which is causing him to land laterally at the moment. Unfortunately I can't add his footage just now as we are having issues with Vimeo but I will add it as soon as I can.

 Nevertheless I think these are feet which will improve fairly rapidly - I hope I am proved right.

More DDFT damage - Rose's feet

These are Rose's feet and, like the other new arrivals she has come already out of shoes.

She has had 2 diagnoses of DDFT damage, one of which was repaired by surgery, but the more recent tear has not responded to medication, rest or remedial farriery so she has come here.

Like some of the other new arrivals, she has under-run heels but a decent frog which is dying to work harder.

Interestingly, her hoof pastern axis isn't bad at all but with her long toes and under-run heels its not surprising she is landing toe first.

She also has a slight medio-lateral imbalance which is leading her to land on the lateral edge of her right foot; her left foot is the more balanced and loads evenly.

<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/211904660" width="320" height="240" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>

<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/211904660">Rose</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/rockleyfarm">Nic Barker</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Zac's feet - new arrival number 3

These feet belong to Zac, a Hanoverian who is our third new arrival from the weekend who came out of shoes in December.

He has been diagnosed with navicular bone damage and related soft tissue damage in both front feet, worse on the right foot.

His feet are boxy and are not properly supporting his limb  at the moment with the right leg again being the worst. 

Although his feet are fairly symmetrical at the moment I would not be surprised if he developed an asymmetric hoof capsule as his new hooves grow in.

For now he is keeping himself busy meeting the other new horses which is proving quite exciting for him!

<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/211638455" width="320" height="180" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="https://vimeo.com/211638455">Zac</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/rockleyfarm">Nic Barker</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Teddy G - new arrival number 2

These feet belong to Teddy G - we have 2 Teds here at the moment who are fortunately very differently coloured so there won't be any confusion on the blog!

This Teddy is a young sports horse who has been diagnosed on MRI with bilateral navicular bursitis and DDFT damage together with further collateral ligament damage to his LF.

This is his worse foot and he also has a central sulcus split in the frog; not surprisingly he is landing toe first on this foot and flat/toe first on the RF.

Although he has under-run heels there are good features as well; the frog on this foot is much stronger.   

Teddy is a cheerful soul however and is keen to move about on the tracks so I hope his feet and how he lands will improve steadily while he is here.

<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/211638600" width="320" height="180" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="https://vimeo.com/211638600">Teddy G</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/rockleyfarm">Nic Barker</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

New arrivals - Jigsaw

We have had several new horses arrive over the weekend. It will take me a few days to get all of their photos up so I am posting them strictly in order.

First up is Jigsaw, a hunter, who has been diagnosed on MRI with navicular bone damage on both front feet and a DDFT injury on his left (worse) foot. 

He has had remedial farriery and box rest, along with medication of the navicular bursa, and has been out of shoes for a few months.

There is actually a lot to like in his feet, although he is clearly weak and under-run in the palmar hoof.

However he has progressed from landing toe first to landing flat, which is already a step in the right direction, so I am hopeful that it will not be long before he has a better landing and a stronger foot.

<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/211272746" width="320" height="180" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p><a href="https://vimeo.com/211272746">Jigsaw</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/rockleyfarm">Nic Barker</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>