Friday 10 February 2012

Buster's Big Day

Buster arrived late on Tuesday and as it was getting dark I couldn't take his photos or footage till Wednesday morning.  That meant that his family couldn't be here to see him take his first steps out of shoes so I promised to try and get some footage of him when he went out the next morning.
Fortunately it was a beautiful, sunny day and so, since Buster has a proper coat, unlike my horses, he got to go out in the sunshine with no clothes on :-)  Buster has been on box rest for several months and although he has been very well behaved his owners felt that he was becoming increasingly frustrated.

I always turn new horses out in the top yard, initially, with Felix and Charlie for company.  I was glad that I had my camcorder with me yesterday because Buster provided a perfect opportunity to show how well my boys know their job of keeping new horses calm and making them feel secure.  I am very proud of Felix and Charlie - they are absolutely essential to the smooth running of Rockley.  Buster gives a perfect demo of how quickly horses can integrate, even after box rest :-)



For the hoof anoraks, here are Buster's hoof pics, to finish things off.
He arrived in bar shoes with rather long toes and has had remedial farriery to try and improve the collateral ligament damage which was diagnosed on MRI. 
Bar shoes hide a lot, but it will be interesting as always to see how his hooves change over the next few weeks. 

9 comments:

Charlotte B said...

Buster has the most amazing tail! A great video and even a glimpse of Big Bryan at the end. But the most intriguing thing - sunshine???????

Michelle Jensen said...

Wow Buster is beautiful.... Just my type ; )
What are they walking on? Sounded gravely..?

Lucie said...

Great video - put a big smile on my face :)

Nic Barker said...

Michelle, they are on shingle - great for hoof rehab :-)

Charlotte, doesn't he just? Brushing it is a major exercise! Bryan and Buster are the best of friends - its lovely, and I think they will have a lot of fun together over the next few weeks :-) Sunshine has now disappeared (you know us too well...) and we are back to rain...

jenj said...

Buster looks like he feels awfully good for being lame! And that tail... my goodness, I think that is the thickest tail I have ever seen. What a handsome fellow!

Serendipity Dressage said...

I love Buster's hind leg action - how amazing will he be when sound?!

Pat said...

So cute how he was cat-walking with his new found feet. It must have all felt so odd to him. So sad what we do to horses in our attempts at "healing" them. Four months of stall rest?! That's like forcing an athlete to stay in bed for 4 months after a tendon injury. I can't imagine any physician prescribing that. It would be "Patient meeting the physical therapy equipment as soon as he can stand!" And the frustration of being jailed for that long and a box stall! Maddening for any horse! And those shoes! They slap those puppies on their hooves and say, "There ya go! Good luck feeing the ground now!" We really need to re-educate the veterinary field I think. Their standards, I feel, are still back in the dark ages in many cases.

Nic Barker said...

He does look good, though a certain amount of that was probably due to the adrenaline factor! The shingle does a brilliant job of protecting feet just out of shoes, though!

Pat, I agree, I am not a fan of box rest, especially for these sorts of injuries - they don't always help and there are such significant drawbacks for the horse and owner :-(

Funder said...

Buster is absolutely stunning! Love love love his coloring and his build - I have such a soft spot for drafties. Such beautiful movement, too - he will be a blast when he's rehabbed and sound again.