Finally this weekend, a break in the fog and a couple of days of sunshine before we had rain and gales sweep in yesterday - lovely...
However, there was just time to get some updated footage of the horses - Ginger and Isha go first today, and I will post Solomon and Kingsley's footage tomorrow.
Ginger from Nic Barker on Vimeo.
Ginger's footage is here. He is an interesting horse because, despite a shockingly weak caudal hoof, with a wizened little frog and split central sulcus, his landing on arrival wasn't too bad. He is now growing a much better hoof capsule which will bring his toe back and give him a lot more strength but looking at his original photos, you would certainly not have expected as good a landing as he has :-)
By contrast, Isha when she arrived had strong, correct looking hooves with a robust caudal hoof (you would have said), good heels and a short toe. And yet her landing was diabolical. With her, I wouldn't expect her hooves to change much in appearance, but her landing is transformed.
Isha from Nic Barker on Vimeo.
It just goes to prove that you can't predict hoof capability just from appearances.
Yay! I was wondering if Kingsley's mane got so long that he isn't allowed to be on videos anymore :-P
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could shorten it 1mm a time so Pauline doesn't notice? Looking forward to the footage tomorrow :)
LOL! He does look a bit of a hippy at the moment :-) I never touch manes or tails on the rehab horses because for everyone who likes them short, there are an equal number of people who want 'em left flowing(!)
ReplyDeleteI just got a chance to look at the x-rays you sent this morning, so will email you about those :-)
I am much more used to looking at what the joints are doing than what the feet are doing. What I see in Isha's walk is that the fetlock has gradually come into play, going from a stiff legged walk to one with some flex and spring. This must be caused by a change in how the foot is striking the ground, but I am not sure what I am looking at. Can you help me out?
ReplyDeleteBarbara, thats very interesting - its always great to have new pairs of eyes look at this stuff :-) I suspect that the softer flexion is because, with a heel first landing, the foot is better able to shock absorb and is biomechanically more efficient.
ReplyDeleteWith a toe first landing, the fetlock would be subject to much greater concussion and might be braced to resist this? Plus the whole limb is working back to front so joint flexion would probably be reduced because of that. Do you agree?
That does make sense and looking at the video again I can see that that is what is happening. Thanks.
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