Millie's 4 week update

 Time for Millie's 4 week update and I am pleased with her progress so far. Generally horses improve more quickly when they arrive already out of shoes as they are starting from a higher benchmark and Millie is no exception. 

As usual. her original photos is at the top and the recent photo is below. You cans see some significant changes to her feet with heels much further back and more supportive and a developing frog. 

You can see from this angle that her limb is weighting more towards the back which is really good news. This will protect her DDFT from further stress and promote healing. 

The palmar hoof is also beginning to get stronger and her heels are naturally lowering as a result. Good job Millie!

Goldy's 8 week update

 I'm struggling with video at the moment so I will keep this post just to photos, as Casey's was. 

This is his worse foot, in shoes as he arrived and immediately out of shoes. 

He has only recently gained the confidence to load the back of this foot and start landing heel first but he is steadily becoming more comfortable on tough surfaces. Its good to see that his palmar hoof is stronger - you can see how much further back his heels are now and the widest part of his foot is back as well. 

Some nice changes here with a foot that is more underneath him and a shorter toe. 

As you can see, this was not a foot which was loading centrally in shoes and it will take time for his hoof capsule to fully remodel but it is encouraging that it is a more balanced foot today. 

I'll upload some video when I get the chance!

Casey's 8 week update

It is like old times writing blog posts, and I must say I prefer it to just posting photos because it gives some much needed context. On the downside it takes longer but perhaps that is no bad thing. 

Here are his comparisons, with the original at the top and 8 weeks later below. 

Casey's feet were not bad to start with and he had been out of shoes for several months but his heels are frog are more balanced. There is some old hoof wall growing down medially (left of the photo) but this is not causing any issues. It may well disappear as his new hoof capsule grows down. 

His right foot also shows stronger heels and again there is some medial hoof wall which is not problematic and will grow out over time. I like the fact that his palmar hoof is generally more balanced and even.

His lateral shots show a shorter and stronger foot with better balance overall, which is a function of more work and should continue to improve. 

The lateral shots show a shorter and stronger foot but again he was already in better shape than many horses when he arrived and did not have a terrible landing.  

With Casey it has been more about building his feet up than needing to completely turn them around.

The interesting factor from this angle is the change in digital cushion depth, which is a product of more work. 

More on Casey soon!