Dazzling feet

These hooves belong to Dazzle, who arrived last week. He doesn't have terrible feet but like most of the horses who come here he is weak in the back of the foot and this has led to injury and lameness.

He has a better digital cushion on arrival than many horses but it is not yet strong enough for him to be able to land properly on it; he is landing toe first on both front feet at the moment.

Nevertheless there is a lot to like about his feet and I am hopeful that he will improve a lot over the next few weeks. 

His frogs seem basically healthy frogs, albeit under-developed, which is encouraging as frog health is really the key to improving the strength of the palmar hoof. 

 This is where we want to see big changes during his time here!

Summer is a-coming in...

 Amazing light yesterday evening just after 8pm, when the horses are turned out and revelling in the long evenings and lack of flies.

You can spot Jigsaw and Dash, who came over for a close-up...

 ...in fact it was hard to shake them off...

 ...and not to be outdone were the 2 Teds...

New boy Dash

Dash arrived after a very long but smooth journey all the way from Scotland at the weekend. He has been in shoes until a couple of weeks ago, as you can see from the photos, and he has a lameness which blocks to the palmar hoof but has not had an MRI.  

From the outside his feet certainly look rather weak, with under-run heels and not much development of frog or digital cushion, so that means he has lots in common with the majority of horses who come here

I will be expecting a lot of change in these feet over the next few weeks as we try to improve his landing from toe first, as he is currently, to heel first.

This foot looks more balanced  but his frog has certainly not been getting the stimulus it wanted so again this is an area where I will be expecting significant improvement.     

 Dash has settled in well an will be spending the next few days getting to know the other horses while he makes a start on growing better feet.

Updates - part 4 (Ted M)

Fourth but not least is Ted M. He has been here a few days less than the others but like Jigsaw he arrived with feet that were already several months out of shoes and becoming more capable. 

This means he was able to work almost from day one and it shows in the good changes he has made since then. His foot is shorter, stronger and more capable and nearly 8 weeks of work has made a difference. 

There was lots to like about his feet in any case but they really look as if they can do the job now, which is certainly the case. 

A really strong, tough little foot - well done Ted!

He already had some good new growth coming in and once this is all the way down his feet will be even more robust. You can just about see in the current photo that the band of growth which was at the top third of his hoof when he arrived is now nearly at ground level.  

Now quite a business-like foot which is capable of working on all sorts of terrain. 

Well done Ted, and keep on growing those feet!

Updates - part 3 (Jigsaw)

Jigsaw is the next update, again at 8 weeks. I am not sure how the dint you can see in the lower photo came about - it clearly happened at about the time he arrived with us as its not apparent in his arrival photo so it may have been a knock while travelling. 

Whatever the cause it does not bother him in the slightest and is purely cosmetic. It is quite a useful marker though to show how fast his hoof is growing; you can also just about see the line of the new hoof capsule level with the bottom of the dint.

Jigsaw already had quite nice feet when he arrived and had a heel first landing so he has made rapid progress compared with some of the horses who come here.  Nevertheless his feet are still improving and his heels in particular are less under-run and are providing much more support than when he arrived. 

No dramatic changes to this angle as he was already landing heel first, which is what I would expect. 

Its a shame his stance hasn't improved - although maybe I just got him at a bad moment, again(!)... 

Subtle improvements which have come about with increasing levels of work and a variety of different surfaces. 

Again, a foot which is working a bit better but was already on a pathway to better soundness. 

Updates - part 2 (Teddy G)

This is Teddy's update; he has been here 8 weeks and is a lot less hairy than when he arrived, I am glad to say!

He had weak frogs which had most likely played a part in his lameness so its good to see that they are now much stronger than when he arrived. 

This has led to better development in the palmar hoof, as you can see from these shots. 

This is is worse foot but its growing quite quickly as you can see from comparing the change in angle in the dorsal wall. The stretched old toe is now completely gone. 

Teddy was landing toe first on this foot and is now heel first and has a much healthier foot. 

 He does however still have a stubborn central sulcus split on this foot which is slowly healing and which we are treating with derma-gel (thats the stuff you can see in the lower photo). 

 

On the whole though Teddy has done very well to improve his feet so much in such a relatively short space of time and I am hopeful he will have feet to be proud of very soon.