The horse with the wedges - continued!

The horse with the wedges, who was Friday's sneak preview, is actually called Dillon :-)

He has come here straight from box rest, thanks partly to the fact that he has an open-minded, interested, up-to-speed vet, partly due to the many fabulous barefooters and ex-Rockley-rehabbers who give their time, advice and support online, and mostly due (as with every single horse who comes here) to a phenomenally dedicated owner who has listened to her horse and refused to give up on him. 

Dillon went lame and was initially shod with wedges in January, which brought him very much sounder, but he went lame again as he came back into work and on MRI was diagnosed with bilateral DDFT damage, navicular damage and pedal osteitis.  The wedges were supposed to improve the hoof/pastern axis and at the time perhaps they did, but if you compare him in the wedges now and straight out of them - even with an extremely weak caudal hoof - its debatable whether they are currently making much difference.  

However a second reason for the wedges was to take pressure off the DDFT.  This was successful in the short term as one good thing they achieved was a very pronounced heel first landing, whereas its probable (but not certain) that he was landing toe first when he originally went lame.  

The problem is that reliance on the bar shoe and pad has led to an even weaker caudal hoof as well as to reduced proprioception.  Like many remedial shoeing options, its given some short term protection but hasn't solved the underlying problem and has weakened, rather than strengthened, the hoof. 

Although this photo was taken on a slant you can see that the lateral cartilages are pinched in and that the digital cushion is weak.  There also appears to be a heel imbalance but that doesn't worry me unduly as it will probably correct as the heels de-contract. 

This is the weaker foot (LF) straight out of the shoe, wedge and pad.  There will be lots more on Dillon over the next few weeks.