A quick update on Wiggy, technology delays and news on Itsy, one year on!

Another late blog today - a computer crash caused by I-know-not-what but probably the fact that I have waaaay too much video footage and photos on here - even though they are all stored on separate hard drives...

Anyway, I have lots of updates so apologies to the owners of Russell, Ruby, Felix and Filly - I will get there I promise, by hook or by crook.

Meanwhile I wanted to post some quick comparison photos of Wiggy, the smart intended-to-be-an-eventer who arrived here a couple of weeks ago.

This is him on arrival in shoes and the lower photo was taken a few hours after his shoes had come off. Lots of dead sole, stretched white line and folded over heels, not uncommon when a horse comes out of shoes. 

Here is the same foot as at yesterday. Still weak and flat of course - that will take more than a fortnight to begin to change - but already a better ratio between the frog and the toe and although his heels are still contracted and under-run they are creeping back to a better position. 

The LF for comparison - again on day one, after a few hours and as at yesterday (apologies for the out-of-focus second shot).

This foot was better balanced than the right so the changes are less dramatic but still an improvement in the heels and sole particularly. A horse like Wiggy who already has reasonably healthy frogs has a massive headstart over a horse like Columbo, whom I posted about on Friday, and it shows in the different rates of progress too. 

As you can see, his toe has already become a lot shorter and his foot is in a better place underneath his limb than it was. This is pretty impressive for such a short time and its in a large part due to the fact that Wiggy's palmar hoof was much stronger than that of many horses when they arrive here. 

 Wiggy's footage is here - I would say he was landing flat rather than badly toe first when he arrived but he is already clearly heel first, which is great news. He is short-striding on a hard surface due to his lack of concavity but that will improve over the next few weeks. 

Wiggy Landing from Nic Barker on Vimeo.

Finally a snippet of fantastic news on Itsy, who was here last year and is the lovely coloured mare in the headline banner of the blog at the moment. Here's Amanda's email:

"Itsy sound a year down the line and starting to learn to jump ! Never thought I'd see the day !"