Help in California and some other things

I had a post on Facebook from someone in California who is looking for hoof help for her TB, and I thought the blog would be the best place to get it broadcast :-)

As always, there are dangers in trying to draw conclusions from photos, but my first inclination with this horse would be to look in detail and fast at what he is eating, and stop any sort of trimming until the dietary jigsaw pieces are in place. Flat feet can have a multitude of causes but are generally exacerbated by metabolic or nutritional problems, which can be anything from high sugar levels to inadequate dietary magnesium or copper to toxins like wormers to pollutants in the environment.

For his owner, there is a short form piece of info here http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/2012/02/feeding-essentials.html and you can find a lot more either in the book Feet First or - with a more US bias - on the ECIR forum (don't let the title put you off - much of what is posted there is more widely applicable).

If any of you regular blog readers is based in CA or can recommend a hoofcare practitioner there, please jump in and say so :-)

Meanwhile, there is a lot on at Rockley this week and I may not get through it all on the blog, but I just had to add this fascinating snippet that was drawn to my attention on Facebook by Liane Rhodes - its a fairly mind-blowing article, and certainly puts my posts on the puzzling hoof into a cocked hat...Here is someone who is certainly listening to the horse in front of him loudly and clearly. 

http://www.simplysoundhorse-news.com/2012/02/24/the-value-of-a-life/

And while we are on mind-blowing and puzzling things, here is Wiola's latest update on Kingsley - who has gone lame  - initially looked like a fetlock injury and now in true K fashion its just a mystery...But some good news at least, since he was diagnosed on the basis of x-rays and nerve-blocks nearly 18 months ago...(!)

"Hi Nic, just to let you know we re-Xrayed Kingsley's feet and they looked like..new! Vet was impressed with how the navicular bones looked like and to me they looked denser than a year ago. Apart from tiny weeny changes on the right navicular bone (which vet thought would be highly unlikely to cause any lameness) he pretty much had "no navicular changes". Now, that of course doesn't explain lameness but thought you might like to know."