Summer at Rockley

Ella's first 4 weeks

Gawd, how the time flies - I thought Ella had been here 3 weeks but checking on her dates she arrived on 6th May so has been here 4 weeks already and its time for an update. 

As you can see from the comparison shots, her foot has already shortened a lot and the nail holes are almost gone. To my mind her foot looks more stable and supportive now than in a shoe but she still has a long way to go.

She had quite a distorted and shut-down palmar hoof and its good to see that both frog and digital cushion are developing nicely. She is not quite landing heel first on a hard surface but is doing so on softer ground and her landing has definitely improved. 

The upper photo is her in her shoes, the lower is the day after they came off. 

Comparing that with today the frog is looking more engaged and healthy and although her bars and heel are still under-run they too have strengthened.

The toe looks long here but, as ever, its counter-productive to back up the toe on a horse who cannot yet land heel first. I am pleased to see the better depth of digital cushion though and the less distorted hairline. 

As with the LF, the most significant changes are happening at the back - to the frog and digital cushion. Notice also that her hoof wall is much shorter than it was in shoes. This is not a result of trimming, just her natural wear. 

The long toe is evident in this shot too. It will shorten over the next few weeks and by the time this has happened she should also have a healthier palmar hoof and be able to fully load her heels.

More on Ella soon. 

Welcome to Mordor

No, not that Mordor. This Mordor is our latest arrival, a fell pony whose regular job is driving, which makes a fun change as we haven't had too many driving horses (or ponies) here before.

Mordor arrived in Natural Balance front shoes and there was already lots to like about his feet. 

You can't see too much but he has a reasonably good frog and, like many ponies, a good digital cushion even in shoes. He is landing toe first however and also has a medio-lateral imbalance which means he is landing on the lateral edge of his feet, particularly the RF.

Fortunately Mordor does not live up to his name and is a very charming fellow who has settled in and made lots of friends even though he has only been here a few days.

 Out of shoes he is quite comfortable on our tracks by day and turned out in the field overnight and it will be interesting to see how quickly his feet start to change.

More on Mordor soon, of course. 

Better off bare

Here's a little something for your Monday morning. I heard the song a while ago and then happened to find a load of old photos which I thought had vanished into the digital ether (are there multiple kinds of ether?).

I see a lot of horses who seem to me to be wishing they could get what the hooves they want, for once in their lives, so it seemed appropriate.

Better off bare from Nic Barker on Vimeo.

Feel free to share - the link is here for those who would like it https://vimeo.com/129297149

Flat TB feet

A new horse arrived yesterday and as usual her photos are going up on today's blog. She's different from the last few arrivals we have had (though very similar to many horses who have come here in the past) as she is a thoroughbred with classically flat feet.

Along with a weak palmar hoof come under-run heels and long toes - something which is extremely difficult to remedy with shoes.

She has a better frog than you might expect from the previous shots which is a very good sign.  

This is where the problems are of course - heels and digital cushion both under-developed but that is something I would expect to start changing fairly quickly. 

On MRI she was shown to have navicular and coffin bone changes, worse on the RF, and some navicular bursa inflammation. This in itself isn't surprising given the lack of structure in her palmar hoof but its encouraging that she has little soft tissue damage. 

Again, a flat foot though not quite as extreme as the RF. Once again her frog is cause for optimism as a functioning frog is an essential first step to improving feet!

Happy bank holiday everyone!

Just time to post some bank holiday photos of some of the characters here - this is Lad and Max, now best buddies...

...exploring the track...

Max meeting Bryher and Bailey...

...and so tired after a busy night socialising that he had to have breakfast in bed...

I also wanted to post this gorgeous photo of Ennis and Katie - Ennis went home a couple of weeks ago and looks SO happy to be back with her - absolutely perfect :-)

Equus Maximus

New boy Max, another Belgian warmblood, arrived yesterday. He was, like many horses, in remedial shoes but that wasn't the biggest worry for either his owner or me. The issue we had was that Max in the past hasn't been able to be safely turned out with other horses so his first day was going to be a challenge for all of us. 

First of all, Max had to be filmed and photographed and once we'd assessed his movement his shoes had to come off. 

Bar shoes always make it difficult to assess the health of the underlying foot, particularly the frog and heels, but out of shoes things became a lot clearer. 

Not too bad a foot - there is some medio-lateral imbalance but the frogs are a lot healthier than I thought they might be which is always a good starting point.

It will be interesting to see how Max's feet change over the next few weeks and as usual I will post new photos in 3 or 4 weeks.  

And now for the moment of truth; unshod it was finally safe for Max to meet my boys, Felix and Charlie, who are always on duty meeting and greeting the new arrivals. They are incredibly good judges of character and Max ticked all the boxes by being equally polite to them.

So he has taken his first steps towards better feet and a better social life - not a bad day's (and night's) work.