Where's Wally? Nearly there...

Many of you blog readers will already be familiar with Wally, the smart dressage horse who arrived here in February. 

If you search the blog for Wally you will find a lot of posts, not just because he has been here longer than most rehab horses but also because he decided to add to the mix by throwing in a new problem - a LH suspensory strain - on top of his original front limb lameness. 

Our own vets did a great job of treating that and, combined with the fabulous good vibes from the blog readers, at 20 weeks things were looking good. 

So back to his feet. Thanks to his wonderful owner, I have the luxury of having Wally here for 6 months - long enough to just about grow in a full new hoof capsule. These photos were taken at around the 5 and a half month mark. 

Looking at the sole shots the biggest difference between day one and today is the much healthier frog. Wally had a persistent and stubborn central sulcus infection when he arrived but after a few months its in retreat. Another critical difference is how much further back and more supportive his heels and bars are today. 

Looking at his toe things look a bit messy but a glance at the lateral shots explains why...

 

Day one, a long toe, under-run heel and weak, collapsed palmar hoof even though the hoof capsule didn't appear conventionally weak (nice strong hoof wall and a good hoof pastern axis, for instance). 

Today, you can see the last little bit of old hoof capsule at the toe together with a much stronger palmar hoof. I hope you can see that the natural strength that he is developing in the back of his foot is giving him more "support" than a remedial shoe ever would. 

The rest of his hoof capsule has grown down and the half inch of toe that is left isn't bothering him at all. It would make the hoof look prettier to trim it off, but as you can see from the sole shots, Wally already has his break-over in the right place and even though his palmar hoof is much stronger there is no need to put extra load onto it before Wally is ready - he will get there in his own time within the next few weeks.