New arrivals, part 1

A busy weekend here with our first new arrivals of 2021 so after a few weeks off we are back and raring to go again! I'll post photos today and tomorrow so we can get all of them up on the blog so brace yourselves for a slew of new feet...

First up is Mojo, who has been diagnosed on MRI with bilateral navicular bone and DDFT damage, more serious on the LF. As you can see from the photos he also has a central sulcus split which is always a trap for infection and often accompanies palmar hoof pain. 

He has been out of shoes for several months and his soundness has improved over that time, to the point that he is now landing heel first on the better foot (RF) and flat first on the LF. 

Although this is a healthier frog you can see the sickle-shaped bars, which are usually an indication of contracted heels. As expected, this is worse on the LF. 

However, there are a some encouraging signs with Moj's feet as well - he is already comfortable out of shoes on tougher surfaces and on conformable surfaces his landing is good. he has already built some good depth to his digital cushion so we will hope for more progress over the next few weeks. 

Mojo's initial footage is here: https://vimeo.com/501425181

Next up is Merlin, our second arrival, who has also come with a diagnosis on MRI of DDFT damage, worse on the RF. He has quite nice-looking feet but it landing toe first on both front feet. 

Merlin is interesting because he bears out the adage that the outward appearance of hooves is not always indicative of well they are working for the horse. 

Merlin has fairly strong looking frogs, although his feet are a little flat, but his landing tells us he has ongoing palmar hoof pain. There is some good structure here though so I would hope Merlin will be able to improve fairly quickly.  

If you compare the shot of his RF (above) with the LF (below) then this looks the stronger and more balanced foot. Although photos are only unlikely to tell the whole story its a fair bet that the left foot has been loading more evenly and working harder than the right, which is borne out by the MRI.

However on his footage his landing is fairly similar on both feet, so again the photos can be misleading.  

Merlin's footage is here: https://vimeo.com/501425474

As during the last lockdowns, I am going to try and post more regular photos on Instagram and Facebook, not least for all the owners who are of course unable to visit at the moment, so do follow Rockley Farm on there if you would like updates.