We have some new arrivals among the rehab horses for November. I will get their photos up over the next few days and I am starting with Wales who appropriately enough has come from Wales.
He has a long term left front lameness and this is clearly his weaker foot. It has a central sulcus split and his digital cushion is also less developed.
Its no surprise he is landing toe first on this foot but he does land better on his right foot which he is sounder on.
Nevertheless this is also a foot in need of work so I will be hoping for some dramatic changes to his feet over the next few weeks.
His footage is here:
https://vimeo.com/241408258
Hi Nic, another logistics question here. We live in a very cold climate, winter has started here, the beginning of winter being November and the end being in May. So roughly 5-6 months winter, with lots of snow and ice! The low tomorrow night is 10 degrees F. The gravel along the roads has already frozen here making it difficult to find good abrasive surfaces to ride safely/comfortably(she is ouchy on the frozen gravel, as it has no give anymore). Many of the blacktopped roads are too unsafe, people don’t slow down and in the winter the snow and ice piles in the ditch get very, very slick. So...if a theoretical person ;) were to build an indoor arena to be able to keep moving forward with hoof rehabilitation, what sort of footing would you recommend? Something abrasive, I think, like a stone dust/sand mix? Would pea gravel be too slick on the turns? But yet it needs to have some degree of cushion. Just curious to your thoughts on this.
ReplyDeleteI’ve also had to revise my padddock/track situation, as the reality of picking manure out of several feet of snow in subzero weather is just not possible. It freezes so fast here, and stays frozen all winter. So they will get moved to a sacrifice paddock once snow gets to the “treasure hunt” stage. Then back to the track come spring melt off.
I got to wondering if snow was actually abrasive...we have noticed that their hooves slow down growth noticeably in the winter, and were thinking it is a mix of factors-no green grass, hay diet only, less movement..now...I wonder if the snow actually helps abraded the hoof surface as well. Hmmm.
Snow certainly does a magnificent job of cleaning hooves so I am sure there is some abrasion going on there. However I would suspect that the low growth rate is as you say a combination of feed and less mileage.
ReplyDeleteI am not experienced in indoor surfaces but I would suggest pea gravel is not a great choice as its not at all absorbent so stinks unless you have a very good draining surface underneath. I imagine it could also be very dusty indoors. Sand might be good but again you would need drainage inside so maybe a combination of different layers? If you are going to clean out the whole lot at the end of winter I think some sort of wood/straw pellets option might be best as it will rot down but not stink in the interim. Let me know how you get on!