Dolly's first fortnight

On to photos of Dolly and at last the sun has come out again which has made everything so much easier, even if its still absolutely saturated underfoot! Dolly had cosmetically the worst feet when she arrived a couple of weeks ago but she was far from the lamest horse here.

Her palmar hoof was very under-developed but is beginning to be more balanced, an encouraging sign.

Although her frog looks narrower now its actually healthier with the split gone. Her heels are of course very contracted but are moving back so her foot is now more supportive than it was. 

This foot more clearly shows the improvement in her palmar hoof which is less under-run and more upright.

 

This foot has a central sulcus split which is healing but which will take time. Frog stimulus will play an essential role in helping this to resolve.

 A weedy foot, there is no doubt, and she is still landing toe first but its very early days and she is showing some signs of improvement.

Brandy's first fortnight

I've only been able to get a partial selection of Brandy's comparison photos because the weather has been so gloomy for the last couple of days. I will try to take new comparison shots later today and post the remaining photos then. 

As usual, the top photo is from the day he arrived and the lower photo is yesterday. The biggest change is in his frog and the placement of his heels which is exactly what we are wanting to see at this point. 

He was landing worse on this foot when he arrived and he still has a toe first landing today but that is not uncommon at this stage as horses would normally only manage to change from toe first to heel first within 2 weeks if they have better-than-normal palmar hooves.  

The toe on his right foot is also shortening and his frog and heels loading better but he already had a better landing on this foot when he arrived. 

I'll update the rest of his photos as soon as I can. 

Edited to add his missing photos: 

 

Wales' first fortnight

Wales and the other "new" rehab horses have now been here for 2 weeks so I will post updated photos this week. Unfortunately the weather yesterday and today is pretty gloomy so the picture quality is not as good as I would like and has also made filming difficult.

 Still, here goes; as usual the upper photos show him on arrival and the lower is now. He of course has a very long way to go but there are signs of improvement in his frog which is the starting point for any rehabilitation of the palmar hoof. 

He has not been trimmed so the shortening of the toe and the slightly less under-run heel have been achieved naturally. Importantly the toe is only moving back as fast as the palmar hoof strengthens.

The central sulcus splits he has in both front feet are going to take some time to heal; a better landing and lots of movement should be the best way to prevent them recurring in future. 

This was Wales' worst foot and he was landing very toe first on it when he arrived. Today his landing is better - a best fractionally heel first, at worst flat. 

 There are no dramatic changes from this angle at this stage; it will normally take 4-6 weeks before a change in hairline is visible.  

More on Wales soon, with footage to follow once its not so dark!

Tabby's first photos

Our final arrival of the weekend was Tabby, the only horse to arrive in shoes although the others had all been shod fairly recently.

As you can see, the shoes are intended to provide "support" for the palmar hoof but in fact simply mean that the foot becomes more under-run.

Given that the palmar hoof is the area needing support, its clear from this angle that the shoe is counter-productive as it loads the foot towards the toe and leaves the heels and digital cushion unsupported, in fact.

The other issue, common with pads and wedges, is that the underlying frog and sole are prone to softening and infection. You can see the central sulcus split on this frog which is impossible to clean or disinfect in pads. 

 This is Tabby's worse foot, in terms of her landing (she is landing toe first on this foot and heel first on the left front). On MRI she has bilateral damage to navicular and pedal bones and DDFT damage.

Again, for me the remedial shoes are not really helping this foot, even though I am sure they were put on with the best of intentions.

However the frog underneath is ironically in better shape than the frog on her left foot, so we shall see.

Tabby's footage is here: https://vimeo.com/242030383

Dolly's feet

These feet belong to Dolly, another arrival from Sunday. She has been diagnosed on MRI with a DDFT tear to the left foot and bilateral navicular bursitis and DDFT anomalies.

Of course the contracted frog and heels are obvious and of course she is landing toe first on both front feet but she is actually not as unsound as you might expect, at least on a soft surface.

 However this is not  an issue which has suddenly occurred overnight and so logically its going to take time for Dolly's feet to improve and strengthen.

As you can see from his angle she also has splits in her frog's central sulcus which have been difficult to deal with, particularly given the way she is landing. 

 Lets hope that there will be some good changes from Dolly in a few weeks' time.

Her footage is here: https://vimeo.com/241672181