Back on, and happy new year!

 Well, I hope you've all had a good start to 2014. Its been wet, wild and windy here - as I think it has in most of the south of England - but that hasn't stopped the rehab horses from sticking to their New Year's resolutions of growing better feet.

Time for an update on Peter, who was the last horse I posted about before I took a break from the blog before Christmas. At the top are his feet the day he arrived, in bar shoes and with a navicular diagnosis which had been made nearly a year before. 

 A photo taken the day after his shoes came off shows a contracted frog and heel, weak quarters and poor medio-lateral balance.

This photo, just over 4 weeks later, is already an improvement though he has a long way to go. Nevertheless, the key areas of frog and heels are responding well to being out of the bar shoes and are strengthening nicely. 

This is critical because its the palmar hoof which is always the source of navicular  damage an so improving the health of that part of the foot is an essential step in improving soundness. 

This will be an interesting angle as Peter's rehab progresses as his toe will shorten still further as his palmar hoof becomes more robust.

For comparison, here are his RF shots. This was his worst foot and again there are already good changes happening with his frog and heels, particularly the lateral heel which was very crushed and under-run in the initial photo above. 

As with the other front foot, this toe will also shorten considerably over the next few weeks. For now another important change is in his landing which has changed on all 4 feet and which means he is now ready for more challenging work on tougher surfaces. 

Peter from Nic Barker on Vimeo.

More on Peter and the other horses soon as I crank the blog back up for another year!