The advantages of a never-shod hoof

I know quite a few regular blog readers have been intrigued by Gemini, who arrived here just over 2 weeks ago. Because she has never been shod its natural to assume she should have very healthy feet. 

That's true, as far as it goes, but a healthy foot doesn't mean a horse will never suffer injury. After all, athletes suffer injuries all the time but - here's the important thing - they will probably recover pretty quickly as well. 

This is exactly what has happened with Gemini. She has feet which are used to loading and working normally and which are basically robust.

However, despite everyone's best efforts her feet became unbalanced and she suffered an injury which prevented her from landing properly - her landing on arrival was toe first, as you can clearly see from the still taken from her initial footage.

But here's the difference between Gemini's feet and those of a horse who has been in shoes long term. Its only taken 2 weeks for her to start rebalancing her feet and landing heel first. 

These are also interesting comparison shots for those who think horses should be fine landing toe first. Compare the extension (what biomechanists would call the cranial phase of the stride) and stride length between her landing toe first and heel first - and feel free to show these to anyone who thinks that a toe-first landing really is ok ;-) 

Gemini from Nic Barker on Vimeo.

Easy like Sunday morning...

 After a busy night partying with the herd, Brigitte clearly had to catch up on her beauty sleep come Sunday morning...

...and as you can see, she has an admirer.... 

 All she needs now is a "Do Not Disturb" notice to hang on her door...

Roger's 6 week update

 Roger has now been here for 6 weeks. He arrived with multiple problems including a DDFT tear and a check ligament injury and had most recently injured his LF when he arrived as well.

Today I am pleased to say he is gradually improving in soundness and has been working well for the last few weeks. 

 His LF shows the biggest changes. It didn't look too bad when he arrived but was flat and under-run and he was landing very evidently toe first.

Today his palmar hoof is wider an stronger. His foot is still under-run but the balance of the foot is steadily moving to a more supportive place. 

From the lateral shots you can see how collapsed the palmar hoof had become. The stripe is a useful indicator of how the foot is growing and the dorso-palmar angle. 

Today the stripe indicates a less collapsed foot and you can see from this angle (and from the improved hairline) that there is beginning to be better depth to the digital cushion. A shorter toe is another encouraging sign.

Cheshire Chester's 3 and a bit week update

Time for an update on Chester, who arrived here at the beginning of February. When I posted about him initially I said that I wanted to see his frogs and heels develop and his toe to shorten. 

 Comparing these photos, with the original shots at the top and today's below in each case, you can see that he is starting to do precisely that. 

Although Chester isn't yet capable of work on tough surfaces time spent on the tracks has already shortened his toe and increased his hoof growth, as you can see from the line which is today much lower in his hoof capsule. 

It looks to me as if Chester's frog had been thinned with a hoof knife before he came here. It will take time to recover fully but in today's photo - below - this is already a better looking frog.

Just goes to show that trimming isn't the only way to shorten a toe - and doing it this way has benefits for palmar hoof strength too!

How much can we cover in a day...?

I am putting together the seminar I an running with Helen Spence on 8th March and thought it might be worth putting up as a blog post what we want to try and cover in case there are comments or requests for topics that people want to highlight here.  All feedback is welcome, whether you are coming to the seminar or not ;-)

•   Assessing hoof health and basic biomechanics

We'll work with a variety of horses with differing standards of hoof health. The aim will be to learn to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each hoof, how hoof problems may be affecting the rest of the horse and his movement (or vice versa) and what the causes of those problems might be. 

• Troubleshooting and owner power

Of course multiple factors can affect hooves, from conformation to diet, from tack to teeth, from the surfaces the horse lives and works on to metabolic issues. 

Diagnosis of illness or lameness is strictly a veterinary remit but once a diagnosis has been made there are many ways in which owners can use these factors to influence hoof health and biomechanics for the better.   

There are also some very simple ways in which owners can monitor their own horse's hooves and whether these are improving or not. 

• Nutrition

We'll cover some nutritional essentials and its also a great chance to brainstorm about what does and doesn't work for different horses in different areas of the country. 

• Management

We'll spend some time talking about practical management techniques which can enhance hoof health - using tracks, yards and "dead" areas, how to increase movement, reduce boredom and give horses the best possible management system with what you have available.

There are many ways in which the work our horses do impacts on their feet and we'll look at what types of exercise is useful in rehabilitation as well. 

We may even get onto the question of trimming  - when it can be helpful and when it may not be! Hope to see you there :-)

Why bar shoes don't work - or Peter's 12 week update

Peter went home yesterday so these are his 12 week update photos. The important points to compare are the heel and digital cushion, which as you can see are much less under-run and more robust today (below) than when he was in remedial shoes (above). 

As always, I find it ironic that the shoes which were supposed to be supporting his palmar hoof had actually prevented it from strengthening and developing as it should.

With sole shots of the same hoof in his shoes...

 ...immediately after the shoes came off...

...and after 12 weeks. His foot was very contracted and still has a way to go before either the medio-lateral balance or the palmar hoof is as good as it can be. Nevertheless, contrasting his frog and heels, particularly the lateral heel, this is a foot which is now heading in the right direction. 

Comparison shots of his LF show the same. 

 Again, ironic that the shoes which were aimed at "support" had in fact contracted and weakened his frog and distorted his heels.

After 12 weeks, the palmar hoof is beginning to recover but it will be another 3-4 months before his foot is as strong as it can be.

The caudal shots also show some interesting developments. The digital cushion is more stable and the foot much more balanced though there is still some uneveness which should improve as the new hoof capsule grows in fully. 

The RF is certainly much more evenly loaded and again, its clear from this angle that the bar shoes, far from providing support, were actually distorting the structures of the palmar hoof. 

Let's hope Peter continues to go from strength to strength!

Gemini - the sole shots

You asked for sole shots for Gemini and here they are. A good frog, on the whole, but not a perfectly balanced foot.  

 Some might call her feet flat but in fact they aren't. The soles may look flat but the collateral grooves are deep which is normally a sign of good depth in the hoof capsule.

There are still lots of aspects which need to improve and it will be fascinating to see how her feet change over the next few weeks.