Louie's first 4 weeks

Louie has been here nearly 4 weeks and as Karen came to visit him last weekend we are overdue a photo update. He arrived in shoes and with his main problem being a toe first landing and a nasty central sulcus infection which was worst in his RF.

This is his better foot and as you can see out of shoes he has been in a hurry to start using his frogs and strengthening his palmar hoof. Its less contracted and he is already landing heel first which is great. The long to you can see in the lower photo is his old hoof and he will soon shorten that of his own accord now that he is landing better. 

Apologies for the mud but we had just got back from exercising when I took these photos. Although the split hasn't healed yet his improved landing has made for a much healthier frog and digital cushion.

Its also interesting I think to compare the hoof wall which was fairly unbalanced and long in the initial photo. A healthy hoof has fairly short walls which should be wider at ground level than at the hairline (so level or sloping slightly outward when viewed from this angle).

 

Louie's LF had a better frog from the start  - unfortunately I don't have a photo of him shod but despite the slightly muddy photo I took immediately after his shoe came off you can see that the frog and sole are more robust today. 

Again, there are changes to the hoof wall and digital cushion visible from this angle. Although this foot was not so distorted or as compromised as the LF there are still areas where he needs to grow a stronger foot. In particular I would expect his digital cushion to beef up even more now he is landing heel first.