4 week updates: Mojo and Merlin

Time for 4 week updates and I'm starting with Mojo - I will blog all of the updates over today and tomorrow.  As usual, the original photos are at the top and the current ones are below, with a link to footage at the end.   

Mojo's weaker foot is his left, which had the worse landing when he arrived. The footage shows a more confident landing now and this is borne out in the photos although the changes are still fairly subtle.

As you can see, he has a split central sulcus, not just on this foot but on his better foot as well, which we are dosing with medical grade manuka honey daily to help battle infection. We want to see that frog get a lot stronger and for his heels to de-contract as well. 

You can see how deep the split is but at least he no longer finds it so uncomfortable and the better landing will also promote healing. 

The changes are harder to see in this foot where he already had a good landing. 

There are the same issues with a central sulcus split on this foot  - at this time of year it is a case of persisting with keeping it as clean as possible and encouraging the best possible movement. Again, keeping it pain free is a big help. 

Mojo's footage is here (I don't normally film horses with rugs on but it was well below freezing, minus 5 I think, so we made an exception!): https://vimeo.com/512541994

He has quite an extravagant landing which is easy to spot and you can see that his left foot is starting to land better and is closer to mirroring his right foot, which will in turn even his stride length.

Next up is Merlin, who actually had nice looking feet when he arrived but whose landing was not so great. 

As usual, he has not needed to be trimmed and so all the changes to his feet are those which have grown in naturally. 

The biggest difference is in the shorter toe and the placement of his heels, which are now slightly further back, indicating a better landing and developing palmar hoof. 

He has a slightly better digital cushion as well - believe it or not under the feather!

You can just about make out the shorter toe from this angle but there is not a lot else to see. Its common for changes in dorsal wall angle to not be visible until after 6 weeks or so although you can often feel the angle change earlier. 

As with the other foot a slightly shorter toe and slightly more supportive heel, good signs but we expect more changes as his landing improves. 

Merlin's footage is here and the changes are, as in the photos, quite subtle so you may need to freeze frame to see the landing. It is fractionally heel first now and allows us to get him out doing short pieces of roadwork: https://vimeo.com/512551016

 

Three week hoof comparisons, part 2

 Sorry, I meant to add these on Monday but the week has got away from me. Its wonderful having dry sunny weather but its so cold that everything has frozen in the barn and I am having to bring water either from the house or from the stream! Anyway, here we go with the second part of the hoof comparisons...

This is Mojo's worse foot, with a particularly contracted frog (and nasty central sulcus split). There is a long way to go but his heels are deconstructing slowly. 

They are slightly less of a pincer shape today (below) than they were when he arrived, and his central sulcus split is no longer painful which is a good sign. We use medical grade manuka honey to keep infection at bay as much as possible and an improving landing should also help him. 

With Merlin, whose feet already looked pretty reasonable, there is less to see but as with Mojo he has a better landing and his frog and heels are becoming more robust. 

Both Merlin and Mojo have started working on the roads which is a great way to improve palmar hoof strength once a horse has a good enough landing. 

Isla is the last of today's horses and its good to see that her palmar hoof has also started to develop - again the original photo is at the top and today's is below. 

Instead of the widest point of the foot being towards the toe, it is shifting back as her frog and digital cushion improve. 

It is early days for all these horses but it is looking positive so far. 

Just for fun, hoof comparisons 3 weeks in...

 Three weeks is early to be seeing proper changes in hooves but as I was working them today I decided to get some photos as their feet were nice and clean and, although the weather has been pretty relentlessly wet over the last week they have all made some good progress. 

Since this is only a quick check in, rather than a full scale review, I've only grabbed sole shots as the preliminary changes usually show up there first.

As usual, all these changes have ocurred without any trimming being required.

These first 2 photos show Astro on day 1 (at the top) and today (above). He had reasonably good frogs but was in shoes when he arrived; its good to see how well he has adjusted to work barefoot. 

There are some nice changes with his toe shortening and his heels and bars now becoming more supportive and beginning to move further back so his foot is properly underneath him. 

These are Jules' feet - the school does a fantastic job of cleaning hooves, only snow is better!

Again, 3 week is very early days and Jules is still only working in the school, unlike Astro who has just started roadwork, but I am pleased with the changes that have started. 

If you compare the original shot (at the top) with today's (below) you see similar changes to Astro, with a developing frog, heels which are becoming more supportive and a shorter toe. 

I'll post quick comparisons for the other horses as well in the next day or so!

New arrivals part 2

 Following on from yesterday, here are the photos and footage for our other new arrivals, starting with Astro. 

Astro has been diagnosed on MRI with navicular bone and DDFT damage with some additional damage to the LF. He was in bar shoes when he arrived but has coped well with coming out of shoes and is comfortable on a variety of surfaces. 

This is his better foot and he has a flat/slight heel first landing on this foot compared to a flat landing on his LF. These are not the strongest looking feet, with narrow frogs and weak hoof wall, not to mention a distorted hairline (visible in the top photo) which is usually a sign of uneven load. 

His frogs though, which are always the most important factor in rebuilding palmar hoof strength, are in reasonable shape and his digital cushion could be a lot worse. This is the foot on which he can already land heel first, which is a good sign. 

Although its historically a weaker foot I suspect he may have been switching to compensate, which we see quite often, as this foot looks as if it has been working harder than the other foot (its less boxy) up until recently. 

Ultimately there is lots to work with here so we will monitor Astro's progress carefully over the next few weeks. 

Astro's footge is here: https://vimeo.com/501426336

Next up is Isla, veterinary history to follow, but when we filmed her on arrival her landing was better (heel first) on the RF than the LF (toe first). 

Her lameness was previoulsy worse on the RF so (as with Astro) it is possible that the change is a compensation as usually (as with the horses we looked at yesterday) the pathology on MRI is bilateral even though the lameness may be only in one side. 

She has reasonable frogs but they should definitely develop over the next few weeks - when you look at her foot from this angle the frog is quite weak and has not been fully load bearing. 

This is her weaker foot at the moment with a more under-run heel than the right (which is more upright). She has a farily long toe, which usually corresponds with an under-run heel, and this is something we would want to see improve once she is landing better. 

Again, though, there are plenty of good points, with a fairly healthy frog and moderate digital cushion. 

Isla's footage is here: https://vimeo.com/501425752

And finally we have Jules, who like Astro arrived in shoes, in her case with pads as well. 

Jules has quite strong looking feet but the sole shot shows a frog which we would expect to see build quite considerably. As with Mojo yesterday, the curved bars are a sign of a contracted heel and the frog also looks pinched; this should change fairly quickly. 

A reasonable digitaul cushion and, in common with Isla, long hoof wall that will likely chip and shorten naturally over the next week or so. 

When we filmed her Jules was landing toe first on both front feet, worse on the RF. 

She also has an unusual medio-lateral imbalance where she is landing on the medial rather than lateral edge of her RF. There is evidence of this in her sole, where the medial side has a less under-run heel than the lateral (it is usually the other way around). 

Jules' footage is here: https://vimeo.com/501426019 and there will be plenty more on all the rehab horses over the next few days. 

 

New arrivals, part 1

A busy weekend here with our first new arrivals of 2021 so after a few weeks off we are back and raring to go again! I'll post photos today and tomorrow so we can get all of them up on the blog so brace yourselves for a slew of new feet...

First up is Mojo, who has been diagnosed on MRI with bilateral navicular bone and DDFT damage, more serious on the LF. As you can see from the photos he also has a central sulcus split which is always a trap for infection and often accompanies palmar hoof pain. 

He has been out of shoes for several months and his soundness has improved over that time, to the point that he is now landing heel first on the better foot (RF) and flat first on the LF. 

Although this is a healthier frog you can see the sickle-shaped bars, which are usually an indication of contracted heels. As expected, this is worse on the LF. 

However, there are a some encouraging signs with Moj's feet as well - he is already comfortable out of shoes on tougher surfaces and on conformable surfaces his landing is good. he has already built some good depth to his digital cushion so we will hope for more progress over the next few weeks. 

Mojo's initial footage is here: https://vimeo.com/501425181

Next up is Merlin, our second arrival, who has also come with a diagnosis on MRI of DDFT damage, worse on the RF. He has quite nice-looking feet but it landing toe first on both front feet. 

Merlin is interesting because he bears out the adage that the outward appearance of hooves is not always indicative of well they are working for the horse. 

Merlin has fairly strong looking frogs, although his feet are a little flat, but his landing tells us he has ongoing palmar hoof pain. There is some good structure here though so I would hope Merlin will be able to improve fairly quickly.  

If you compare the shot of his RF (above) with the LF (below) then this looks the stronger and more balanced foot. Although photos are only unlikely to tell the whole story its a fair bet that the left foot has been loading more evenly and working harder than the right, which is borne out by the MRI.

However on his footage his landing is fairly similar on both feet, so again the photos can be misleading.  

Merlin's footage is here: https://vimeo.com/501425474

As during the last lockdowns, I am going to try and post more regular photos on Instagram and Facebook, not least for all the owners who are of course unable to visit at the moment, so do follow Rockley Farm on there if you would like updates.  

 

Rockley - locked down, still working and moving online!

Its a beautiful, if cold, morning on Exmoor and there is a lot going on a Rockley. Like everyone else in the UK, we are in lockdown but as with the first lockdown we are fortunately able to carry on working safely, which is a great relief. 

We have new horses arriving next week and will be taking all the usual precautions to keep their owners, the horses and us as safe as possible. We can't allow visiting, as we would normally do, so I'll be posting as much as I can on here and on social media to try and make up. 

In the meantime, I've been planning a new series of webinars all about the barefoot horse for the New Year. These will build on each other over online sessions of about an hour at a time and would be for a small group only, so there will be a charge, but I'll post more details shortly. Until then, hug your horses and keep smiling!