Monday 20 June 2011

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.

4 comments:

Dare Gothic Clothing said...

Good luck Dillon and hurray for his very cleaver human for sending him to Rockley :) He'll be feeling better in no time away from horrid box rest :)

jenj said...

Fingers crossed that Dillon makes some brilliant changes in the very near future!

sarahh said...

Can't wait to see the changes he makes for himself. Will there be footage of him moving?

amandap said...

Good luck Dillon, I can't wait to see your progress and well done owner for persisting in finding ways to help him.