Rockley Farm

Tuesday, 18 April 2017

Seventeen days

Jigsaw has been here since April 1st and so its time for an update. I am in the process of sorting the photos and video for all the horses who arrived that weekend and hope to have them all up during the rest of this week.

As always, the original photo is at the top and the update is the lower photo. Jigsaw had been out of shoes for some months before he came here which has given him a good head-start. His frog and heels have improved already and he is now confident enough to land heel first.

Not the best comparison shot but you can see his frog is working harder than it was and is helping to regenerate his palmar hoof.

Jigsaw does not seem to photograph well from this angle but you can at least see that his heel is less under-run.

There is an interesting medio-lateral imbalance on this foot which will be worth keeping an eye on. At the moment it looks as if it is, if anything, improving but lets see what his next update looks like.

I like the stronger and more balanced frog and digital cushion which he is developing now that he is landing better; its a very encouraging sign.

Again the heel is looking more supportive although there is still a long way to go.

Jigsaw's footage is here - Vimeo seems to be behaving again so I hope it will display properly or you can see it directly on Vimeo here: https://vimeo.com/213630593.

Monday, 17 April 2017

Truth, consequences, regenerating feet and happy endings

I posted before Christmas about a horse whose feet had started to fail due to too much stabling, too much grass, not enough minerals and not enough exercise. It was proposed to shoe her to solve the problem but fortunately her owner disagreed and brought her back here.

It has taken several months to get her feet back on track and even now it will be another 4 months, I reckon, before she has truly healthy feet again but I am pleased to say that instead of being shod and lame she is barefoot and sound and is making great progress.

The top photo was taken the day she arrived back here. Not only had her toe become long but her heels had under-run quite dramatically and if you look at the back of her foot it had also weakened in the few months she was away. She had gone from having a strong heel first landing to having a flat landing and was even lame from the pain in the back of her foot at one point.

She is a horse who grows hoof capsule more slowly than some so it has taken 4 months for the new growth to reach halfway down her hoof capsule but you can see how much better her foot will be once it has grown in completely.

She now has enough good foot to be back to her old self, happily hunting at the end of this season and back in consistent work which is allowing her feet to fully recover. She's a good example of a horse who thrives when her feet are taken care of but deteriorates quickly if you take your eye off the ball.

Tuesday, 11 April 2017

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.

Monday, 10 April 2017

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...

Friday, 7 April 2017

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.

Thursday, 6 April 2017

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.

<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>