More on thoroughbred hooves...

I was going through some of the paperwork on Project Dexter yesterday and came across Dexter's veterinary report from Liphook Equine Hospital, following radiographs and an MRI scan, from a couple of years ago.

The report was done following his rehab and indicated a good healing progress, but unfortunately we don't have an initial MRI to compare against. What's fascinating though is that the vet writing the report opines:

"The horse has a long toe, thin sole conformation in both fore feet...Physical and radiographic examination indicate that this horse has poor foot conformation which is probably, in part, contributing to his ongoing lameness".

I know that a lot of people are convinced that thoroughbreds have genetically bad feet - maybe they do. A lot of people are also convinced that feet can't change - or at least not much.

Here's the thing, though - given that Dexter has been sound for the last 2 years - competing, jumping and winning - then either his foot conformation has changed, or it wasn't his conformation that was causing the problem at all...