Tabby's first photos

Our final arrival of the weekend was Tabby, the only horse to arrive in shoes although the others had all been shod fairly recently.

As you can see, the shoes are intended to provide "support" for the palmar hoof but in fact simply mean that the foot becomes more under-run.

Given that the palmar hoof is the area needing support, its clear from this angle that the shoe is counter-productive as it loads the foot towards the toe and leaves the heels and digital cushion unsupported, in fact.

The other issue, common with pads and wedges, is that the underlying frog and sole are prone to softening and infection. You can see the central sulcus split on this frog which is impossible to clean or disinfect in pads. 

 This is Tabby's worse foot, in terms of her landing (she is landing toe first on this foot and heel first on the left front). On MRI she has bilateral damage to navicular and pedal bones and DDFT damage.

Again, for me the remedial shoes are not really helping this foot, even though I am sure they were put on with the best of intentions.

However the frog underneath is ironically in better shape than the frog on her left foot, so we shall see.

Tabby's footage is here: https://vimeo.com/242030383