Norman's update

Norman is going home at the end of this week so time for a quick update. He arrived in bar shoes and pads which had given him an exaggerated heel first landing - he still has a heel first landing but with out the leverage action which his shoes had given him. 

I much prefer his hairline out of shoes and you can also see the band of new growth in the top third of his hoof capsule. As with most horses, Norman is going home with only the first part of his new hoof capsule grown in and until the new growth is the whole way down the hoof capsule his foot won't be as balanced as it can be, so he should continue to improve over this time.  

With the frog doing what it is supposed to do he can develop a stronger digital cushion, though the back of his foot was already stronger than many rehab horses as he had spent a lot of time out of shoes. 

If you compare the distance between hairline and the ground surface of his feet in shoes and now its also clear that his foot balance is changing. 

In his bar shoes you couldn't see a lot but immediately out of shoes (below) things didn't look too bad.

However his frog is now not only much bigger but so are his heels. He will benefit from being allowed to grow his feet as he likes rather than having the shape imposed on him, I suspect.

As you can see, there is an untidy white line which is currently a trap for tiny stones. This is largely because what is on the ground at the moment is old growth. As the new growth grows down this should resolve and his toe will also shorten. You can see that his breakover is already behind the white line, in line with where his toe will be once the new growth is complete. 

Again, the new growth is clear in the lower photo as is the deeper palmar hoof. 

Still some work to do on hoof balance - this is his worse foot - but a whole lot better than it was! 

The photos are straight out of shoes (above) and now (below). Lots of people would want to chop off that flap of frog but its not doing any harm and he needs all the frog stimulus he can get at the moment. Ragged white line, as with the right front, but that will sort itself out as the new, tighter growth takes over.