Tuesday 28 February 2012

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. 

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."  

5 comments:

juliette said...

Thanks Nic, for sharing that post link about the stallion. Hard to look at the photos, but only because I am a stupid human. Sometimes, (probably always) Nature knows exactly what to do if we just get out of her way and let her do her thing.

smazourek said...

Dave Fitton is in California, central to northern I think.

Emily said...

I'm CA based so would be happy to help. Where in California is she based? I'm bay area and know of a couple of really good trimmers locally.

Nic Barker said...

Brilliant, thank you!

Mojo'sMomma said...

Thanks all! I'm the owner of the gelding that Nic is posting about in CA. I picked him up 6 weeks ago as a desperate freebie from a race track. His feet are HORRIBLE to say the least! I'm a firm believer in barefootedness and am willing to give anything a try to help this poor guy get back to soundness.

Since I'm new to this blog and Rockley I'll be diving into the info provided with great relish as I work on trying to solve the puzzle that is Riley.

Feel free to email me @ indirandol@gmail.com or find me on facebook.

Thanks again for offers of assistance!