Time for an update on Nicky, the little Quarter Horse mare.
Nicky has been here 4 weeks now and after being lame on and off for 2 years, her hooves are starting to change. Here are her feet on day one, and below 4 weeks later.
Nicky was landing very toe first when she arrived and although she has improved on conformable surfaces her landing on concrete is still not correct.
Nicky on a circle from Nic Barker on Vimeo.On a circle though you can see the beginnings of an improvement so I hope it won't be long before she can land correctly on all surfaces.
I'm always impatient for horses to recover as quickly as possible but they all have their own time-lines and its impossible to predict exactly how long each one will take. Importantly, Nicky's owners are pleased with how well she is doing and are able to give her the time she needs:
"I have been wanting to contact you for a while to see how shes doing but I kind of thought there wasnt much point as she would be unlikely to have improved very much yet - but wow! what a difference ! She looks so much more comfortable and relaxed through her whole body. It seems hard to believe that her lameness has improved so much."
What an interseting change in hairline at the heel ......
ReplyDeleteIn spite of being a long way off having the much more upright foot she is going to have, she has beefed up the bulb immediately under the hairline and pushed it up straight, when in the first picture it dives downwards over her heel.
That's got to be a really good sign, eh?
C
How wonderful for Nicky!
ReplyDeleteDo you know what the very large event line is from? It's about an inch down in the first picture. It's the sort of line we usually see when their shoes come off, but it looks like she arrived with no shoes, so I'm curious!
She is lovely. I glad to see the improvements.
ReplyDeleteVal, she is lovely, isn't she? A very elegant little mare.
ReplyDeleteC - absolutely - looking at the hair line is a much better indication of whats happening in her hooves, thanks for highlighting that :-)
Jen - I don't know, TBH - she came unshod and has been out of shoes for some time - nearly a year I think - so most likely its a nutritional change but I'm only guessing.