Weekend ups and downs

Its hard to believe that a week ago the RRR had only just finished - we had such a great time but it already seems like months ago!

The slow motion footage which I posted last week has been a huge success, I'm glad to say, and was a really worthwhile use of the time and resources - it has had over 6,000 plays in the 6 days it has been up which just goes to show how interesting people find bare hooves :-)

However, one of the sad parts of this weekend was saying goodbye to the wonderful Freya, the vet student who has been with us for the last fortnight. She came to the RRR and kindly rode Felix for the slow-mo film but has also been invaluable back at Rockley. 

She has spent time updating Project Dexter (and if you are a rehab owner and haven't yet spoken to her, you soon will!), mucking out, shifting masses of hay and haylage, exercising horses and generally proving herself indispensible - we will really miss her now that she has gone back to uni but hope she comes back to see us before too long!

On a completely different note, this stunning photo came from another weekend event - the wedding of Annette and Haakan, starring the gorgeous Pocholo (who was a rehab here some years ago) - the bride and groom don't look too shabby either :-) Congratulations to them and I'm sure they will have many happy years together.

Of course I am still behind with the blog - there are several new kids on the block whose photos and footage are already late - I WILL get on to them this week, I promise!

O'Neil's 8 week update - belated and with apologies...

O'Neil's update should have been posted last week but the RRR got in the way - sorry O'Neil...

He arrived with very long feet and of course has made good improvements in the structure and appearance of his feet. 

Looking lots better, I am sure you agree. However despite the much stronger frog and more supportive heels O'Neil is not yet happy to land heel first on his LF and this is slowing up his progress at the moment though I am hoping he will start to land better before too long. 

 The same good improvements apparent in his LF but this is the foot he lands worst on at the moment and he is still struggling to get comfortable.

His frog and heels are becoming so much better  - all we need now is for his movement to follow suit - come on O'Neil...

The reunion video

Well, the slow motion clip I posted a few days ago has certainly been popular so I decided it deserved star billing with no distractions on the blog this week.

However there was a lot more going on behind the scenes, of course, and I've finally had the chance to cobble together that footage - the back story of the RRR 2013...

Barefoot in slow motion

While we were at the RRR we had an opportunity which was too good to miss. Lots of rehab horses gathered together, lots of different surfaces to film on and for a few short hours some dry weather.

Ross MacKenzie from Firebird Films spent the day with us and was endlessly patient with our strange requests to film horses at ground level and from all different angles. 

The result is this and I hope you think its worthwhile...

All but one of the horses are rehabs - some left Rockley years ago, some a few months ago. All are self-trimming and are now kept not on complicated or expensive track systems but on livery yards or simply at home. 

What they have in common is fantastically dedicated and hard-working owners - they are an outstanding credit to them. 

Very many thanks to everyone who rode or waited around on a chilly Sunday morning to help us get this footage. Apologies to anyone we missed out or didn't manage to capture on film - we will get you next year :-)

RRR 2013

We're back and we had a fantastic weekend!

Old friends looking better than ever...

...and new friends on superb form.

The horses all looked magnificent...

...and seemed to relish the opportunity to try out new skills.

They were all a credit to the hard work, dedication and devotion of their owners...

...and I was very proud that they had been at Rockley!

We took some fantastic video footage  - to follow!

Chester's 12 week update

Chester has now been here 12 weeks and is off on the lorry with us today bound for the RRR, so time for his last update. 

 These are stills from his footage (which is below for those who want to see the whole thing) and chart his progress from toe-first LF, flat RF to heel first on both, albeit more established on the RF than the LF at the moment.

At the moment the objective is to consolidate the progress he has made so far and try and build up the strength in his palmar LF so that he no longer needs to protect it. For a young horse Chester had a lot of damage (to tendons, ligaments bone and cartilage) showing up in his palmar hoof on MRI.

Its a good start that he is now able to load the palmar hoof more correctly but he has months of work ahead of him before his hoof is as strong as it can be and properly supportive of his limb. 

Hoof pics to follow if I get the chance in between loading up the lorry for the RRR...Off later today and of course there will be lots of news from there next week, I hope!

Introducing Arnold

Arnold, like Reine, arrived last week. Its a bit back to front: usually I organise for horses to go home before new horses touch down but because of the RRR (which is THIS WEEKEND!) I wanted the new horses to have a full week here, settling in, with no other comings and goings. 

So Arnold whizzed down from Cheshire last Friday and had lots to deal with. Not only had he just come out of shoes but he had also been on box-rest, which is difficult for any horse and particularly for an active young show-jumper.

Arnold had been competing till very recently but has now been diagnosed with a lamenesss which blocks to the navicular bursa. His landing was distinctly toe first and to me his medio-lateral balance is clearly off, especially on his RF.  

Although he is out of shoes he has lots of dead sole and his feet are relatively long. That's ok, as he is already dealing with dramatic changes to the way his feet are loading and it will not help Arnold to make these changes even faster or more abrupt. The dead sole will be gone within a few days but it will be a more gradual and gentle change. 

The good news is that Arnold's hairline is balanced and though he has long toes his heel is not really under-run. The toe first landing is most likely due to his rather narrow frog but it will be interesting to see how his hooves develop over the next few weeks. 

A similar story on his LF though it appears on the face of things to have better medio-lateral balance. 

Not such a good hairline, however, compared to the RF and again the proof of the pudding will be in how his feet alter over the coming weeks.  

Meanwhile, the good old welcoming committee of Charlie and Felix have done their job as perfectly as ever and Arnold is beginning to enjoy his new hippie liefstyle...