Monday, 8 July 2013

Wally's 20 week update

Wally has stayed here longer than most rehabs and one of the nice aspects about that is that I get to post more updates on his feet :-) Most horses go home at the stage of having grown in about half a new hoof capsule but Wally is further along than that.
Here is his LF on day one with yesterday's photo for comparison. You can see that the new growth is about 2/3 of the way down his hoof capsule and that at the back of his foot the new growth is just about on the ground.
Despite making big changes to his feet, its important to note that Wally's lameness (very unusually among the horses who come here) didn't block to his feet but to his check ligaments. It was worse on his LF but his RF had also been affected.
This is an interesting photo, taken just before he went lame last year. Look at the angle of the limb flight on his RF. Its a good example of how horses will compensate for an imbalance higher up the leg if they aren't able to compensate in the hoof capsule.
Obviously, Wally was turning in the upper photo so this photo, taken a few days ago, is not a direct comparison, but you can I hope see how much straighter he is able to move now that his foot balance has changed.
Wally's owner came to ride him last week and was the first to ride on the new surface. It got a thumbs up from her and Wally, I'm pleased to say - and it was lovely to see him stepping through with his LH so well - long may that continue!

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