Ups and downs...

I love this photo!  Sarah Farnsworth, who is an ace hunting photographer, came out with us and has just posted the photos on her Facebook page.  I'm going to order a copy of this one because it really captures the terrain :-)

Its always more relaxing going down somewhere like this when you aren't on a young horse(!) - luckily for me I had Felix out - he is the first bay horse in the top group - who thinks nothing of it :-)

A hoof for you to ponder...

Here is a Friday puzzle for the hoof anoraks out there :-)

What do you think about this hoof - why it looks as it does, whether its a good thing or a bad thing and whether you would want to do anything to change it?

Answers on a postcard, or in the comments section for the technologically able, and have a lovely weekend :-)  

Personally I am hoping it stops raining and that I get the chance of a dry day's hunting on Saturday...I've stopped counting how many inches of rain we have had this year because its just too depressing - and its still not even February...

PS: Oh all right - bonus points straightaway for anyone who has already said that you can't comment usefully on a photo without seeing the whole horse - you are all too clever by half...With that caveat, feel  free to say what you think ;-)

Hoof boots and why I don't use them(!)

Someone emailed me recently asking what sort of hoof boots and pads I use for rehabilitation and I am afraid the answer is none :-)

Before I go further, I should say that I have nothing against (proper!) hoof boots, and there are of course situations when they are very useful BUT I think they need to be used with care and (as with everything) with awareness of their drawbacks, and thats the reason for this post.

When not to use boots

When rehabilitating a horse who has had long term lameness, I need to know precisely what that horse's feet are capable of.  If I simply slap a pair of boots on a horse with weak feet it would be easy to over-estimate how sound they are and therefore over-estimate what work is appropriate.  Without boots I can see and feel if a horse is genuinely comfortable and landing correctly or not, and adjust what we are doing accordingly.

There are also several practical reasons behind my dislike of boots.  They don't always fit terribly well - and some of the ones which DO fit well are difficult to get on and off.  Boots have a tendency to twist on horses who don't move perfectly straight and can rub if they aren't a good design and a close fit.  Some designs, particularly the older ones, have poor traction and can be downright dangerous on the sort of wet, slippery ground which is common with us.

With rehab horses particularly, their feet often have angle changes and wall deviations which are not factored into the design of the average boot.  Most boots are made with a symmetrical hoof in mind but many rehab horses simply do not have this type of hoof, making well-fitting boots nearly impossible.

There are physiological drawbacks too, as working horses in boots results in less stimulation to the hoof.  Stimulus is essential for strengthening the feet so working without boots will tend to result in a stronger hoof.  Its essential with rehab horses for the frog and caudal hoof to remain as strong as possible and roadwork without boots is a good way to ensure this.

Last but not least, boots (in both horses and humans) reduce proprioception but actually do not provide much additional shock absorption.  Without awareness of a hard surface (ie: proprioception) stride length increases and so does concussion.   Using boots on a hard surface can therefore increase concussion without increasing shock absorption - trotting on tarmac is not necessarily a better idea just because your horse has boots on.

When boots can be a good idea

By using the tracks and surfaces here, I can usually ensure that horses can move comfortably even when they have weak feet and I don't need to work them on tougher surfaces until they are ready.  However if you have no choice but to work on tough surfaces but you have a horse whose feet aren't able to cope with that, then booting is a better option than not working at all.

Similarly, if you have a horse with hooves which are weak because of circumstances outside your control (for instance a metabolic problem or illness or simply being on a yard where there is too much grass) then boots are a good way of boosting what that horse's feet are capable of even when you can't improve the overall health of the hoof.

Hoof balance - essentials

This is a follow on from the Movement  - essentials post and from the post on balance and its effect on tendons and ligaments, last week.  Its really just bullet points but it just crystallises what for me are the key elements.

• Balance is NOT necessarily the same as symmetry.  Feet can be balanced for the limb but appear asymmetric when viewed from the top. 

• The frog will normally be fairly central in a balanced front limb and the sole will be fairly symmetrical.   Comparing these photos of Ted, one of the current rehabs, taken a few weeks apart, you can see that the foot is now more evenly loading - a sign that his medio-lateral balance is improving. 

• Collateral groove depth will be fairly symmetrical in a balanced front limb.  If one side is shallow and one side deep its a fair bet that the foot is unbalanced.  This is the x-ray of a horse who had very uneven collateral groove depth when he arrived.   Again, this evened up as the foot became more balanced.

Solar, Nico and the new forum lives!

We spent some time this weekend updating the footage on Solar and Nico so this post is all about their progress.

Solar goes first.  He has been here slightly longer than Nico and has also been out of shoes for much longer so is understandably further ahead than his mate, though I am pleased with them both.



Solar has made some dramatic changes, most importantly to his RF which he pointed continuously when he first arrived.  Now he stands and - even better - lands properly, as you can see from the footage.



Nico started with more disadvantages than Solar - major hind limb problems as well as front limb issues, and a weaker digital cushion - so his currently weaker landing should definitely not be held against him, nor taken as a measure of how he may improve in the future :-)

At the moment his hind limb placement are much better and he is just about landing heel first in front though with less confidence than Solar.

Meanwhile, thanks to everyone who has joined the RR forum  - its alive and you can put whatever you want on there - no holds barred :-)  Rehab owners are some of the nicest people on the planet so it should be a good place!

So much going on, and lots of rehab news...

A busy weekend, with Flynn the Second going home after a last minute change of transportation...(though it worried Stacy more than it worried Flynn), and he arrived back in Essex in style last night

Flynn has made great progress while he has been here and I am really pleased with how his hooves are changing.  He has been back in work for many weeks now, instead of still being on box rest, and has gone from strength to strength...

...and today he has functioning hooves, though he still has several months of improvement to go. 

Then we had visits from Sarah (visiting Solar) and Emma (visiting Nico).  They have been here in fog, in rain, in gales and today...finally...in sunshine - or partial sunshine, which is the best we can usually do...

I have footage to upload but it will be a few days before I manage to do that, probably, though you will see it here first :-)

In the meantime, I had an idea...

The owners who have had horses here are fantastically supportive of each other, whether on Facebook, HHO or elsewhere and have been wonderful in the past in sharing information and incredibly generous with their help for other owners too.

But there are people who aren't on Facebook or don't want to post online on a big public forum, so I though it might be useful to start a small, private forum just for rehab owners.  I've just set it up and you can find it here, so owners past and present, feel free to jump in - its only us ;-)

http://rockleyrehabs.proboards.com

I hope it will be useful not just for sharing news but for arranging get-togethers, passing on helpful info and having a moan about the rehab rollercoaster - as well as getting inspiration when its all going well.  I will email everyone over the next few days and let me know if you have any problems joining.

And talking of inspiration, how about these clips from Hannah and Patsy, who was here as a rehab last year...

Hannah has made a tremendous commitment to Patsy and its wonderful to see that dedication paying off, and how good she looks now, a year later, in Hannah's latest video...

Blog topics for the future...

Quick question for you all - I am going to do some more on medio-lateral balance for the blog for next week to answer Jen's comment from yesterday, plus a post on wall deviations and limb stability, plus a post on peripheral loading.

Someone else has emailed me a question about hoof boots and wraps, so that will also go on the list for future, and Amanda has asked about wall ripples.

Are there other topics you want to see discussed? If so, get your requests in here :-)