Horse of the week: "Dillon with the wedges"

Dillon went home last week after being here for 12 weeks and I got a couple of lovely photos on email from Nicky to show how well he has settled back in - this one should probably be captioned: "Nicky and Dillon setting off on their barefoot journey" :-) 

Dillon is of course famously - or infamously - known as "Dillon with the wedges" because his initial photos when he arrived caused a minor blog sensation(!).  

Dillon ticked just about every box on MRI - DDFT and ligament damage, navicular syndrome and pedal osteitis - you can see earlier photos of him in this post or by searching for him in the box on the right.  

For comparison, here is the same photo on the morning he left (apologies for the lighting but he left rather early!).  There's the typical clear angle change and his heels are much more robust.  He is not "finished" yet by any means and Nicky has at least another 3 months of patient work before his hoof capsule is right. 

As you can just about see from the caudal shots (again apologies for the lighting) his frog is now better developed and stronger as well. 

 In shoes you couldn't see his frog or sole at all because of the pad and wedge but out of shoes his frog was contracted and his soles thin and weak. 

Another far from perfect comparison shot but you get the idea - this is foot which is improving but still has some challenges to overcome and for whom the next few weeks will be critical.  Dillon may well still have some downs as well as ups ahead of him but they should become less and less of a problem.

Nicky has found that he is so much happier and more relaxed than he used to be and you can't really ask for a better picture than the photo below, after all!

Good luck Nicky and Dillon!

PS: - for Flynn (and maybe Matt...)