The interaction between backs and feet and a bit about hoof/pastern axis (aka Russell's update)

Russell has been here 8 weeks and has been really interesting. He arrived with only a mild lameness and had a reasonable landing - flat/heel first but with a medio-lateral imbalance on his RF. He also had clear muscle wastage on his right side - compare the shoulders in this initial photo.  

Because he was landing adequately its been possible to work him on fairly tough surfaces from day one and that has helped iild up his muscle as well as improve his landing. Its interesting, but not surprising, to see how quickly a poor landing will lead to less use of the affected limb - and conversely how fast it can re-build once the foot is more supportive. 

This is the offending foot and look particularly at the hoof pastern axis when he arrived. Very often you will hear this discussed when shoeing but critically the hoof pastern axis rights itself once a horse has a stronger palmar hoof and better balanced foot, as you can see from today's photo below. 

Not  a bad foot at all when he arrived, which has been a big factor in how fast he has progressed. 

Today the biggest change is in his more robust frog and the stronger medial side to his sole where the bar and hoof wall are now less prominent.   

Russell Landing from Nic Barker on Vimeo.

Here is Russell's footage, showing the changes more clearly (and yes, he is as cute as a button!).