Lazing on a sunny afternoon...

Apologies to those of you who didn't have great weather over the weekend, but hey - we get our fair share of torrential rain and gales up here, so its not as if we don't sympathise! 

By contrast (and boy it makes a nice change!), we have had beautiful weather for the last few days and the horses have been loving it...

Freddie, demonstrating his film star good looks...

....not to be outdone Wally tries for the wistful, gaze-into-middle-distance pose...

Ruby wants a drink...

Charlie wants to eat ash shoots...

Paddy wants his tea and Itsy's not sure what she wants...

The next day...

The morning after the night before - Bryher, Felix and Bailey just want a longer lie-in...

Paddy's 8 week update (or sometimes feet can change despite backs)

Paddy has now been here 8 weeks and Emma came to visit him this weekend. Now that we have an explanation about his back its helped enormously as we can work on his feet and help him get stronger within his comfort zone. 

These photos show his feet changing over 8 weeks.

His bars and heels are particularly interesting - still a work in progress but less contracted and pinched and beginning to work properly. 

You can clearly see the new angle of hoof growth, of course. The straighter hairline and more robust digital cushion are also encouraging. 

Here is his LF - again the better frog and heels are obvious.

The LF shots confirm rapid growth over 8 weeks  - the band of growth in the top photo developed in the first 6 weeks he was out of shoes but work on surfaces has helped it speed up even more. 

Caudal shots finally...

...and again over 8 weeks we see the start of a better digital cushion.

Comparison shots from Paddy's footage show the difference in his landing

 This is day one...

...and after 8 weeks. 

Interestingly, there is nearly as big a change in his hind feet as his front feet - for the hoof anoraks, Paddy's complete footage is here:

Book review: "Joe and the Hidden Horseshoe"

I would imagine I am not alone in still having shelves full of the favourite pony books I read as a child. 

Since I didn't have my own horse when I was young but was an avid reader I couldn't get enough of books like "King of the Wind" by Marguerite Henry, "The Horse and his Boy" by CS Lewis, the "Jill" books by Ruby Ferguson, KM Peyton's Flambards and Fly-by-night books and so many others and even now I get a nostalgic thrill when I occasionally re-read them.

So it was really exciting on Saturday to receive a parcel containing this...

...the first in a new trilogy by Victoria Eveleigh. She has written several other stories involving horses and ponies - including the Katy's Exmoor trilogy - and is a friend and almost-neighbour, as she and her family have a farm not a million miles from Rockley.

About a year ago she got in touch with me because she was researching a new book and was wondering whether the rehabilitation of a pony by taking it barefoot might be worked into the story. She and her husband Chris came over one day; we talked horses, hooves and rehab and they met some of the horses (and their owners) who were here at the time.

I'm not going to spoil the story by giving too much away but I will say that I absolutely loved reading this book. Its in a modern setting (one of the traumas of moving to the countryside is the appalling lack of internet connection and the perils of having a patchy mobile signal and no TV reception ring oh-so-true!) but as a story it took me straight back to being a kid again.

It has the right combination of the mysterious and the down to earth and its impossible not to identify with Joe, who is a really likeable hero. A nice touch is that its not a "girly" story and doesn't gloss over the fact that keeping horses is hard work - Joe is much more of a grafter than his sister which is why he ends up looking after the ponies!

As a bonus, one of the central characters is a sympathetic farrier who gives hoof-friendly advice about grazing and nutrition and recommends that Joe work his pony without shoes to improve her feet - so what's not to like?!

If you have children, grand-children, nephews or nieces who are into horses and ponies (or if you are an adult who wants a bit of escapism) then I would highly recommend this - its available on Amazon here and no, I am not on commission, its just a thoroughly good read :-) I am already looking forward to the next book in the trilogy, which is out in July...

Charlie B's 8 week update

Charlie B has now been here nearly 8 weeks and the time seems to have flown since I last posted his update but here we are again.

Charlie arrived in shoes and with a diagnosis of ringbone. He was landing heel first but his medio-lateral balance wasn't right, causing him to land on the lateral side of his front feet rather than loading evenly.

These comparison shots give a good illustration of how his loading has changed - and how much stance is dictated by hoof balance!

 This is his LF on the day of his arrival and for comparison today, below - a much more comfortable looking stance and a more robust hoof.

Sole shots of the same foot, again 8 weeks apart, show how much the palmar hoof has de-contracted.

Charlie of course has a way to go before he has grown in his new hoof capsule but he is on the right track and I'm very pleased with him.

Stills from his footage show how his landing is changing. It will continue to improve but he's done well so far. 

The Rockley Rehab Reunion 2013 is GO!

Last year's RRR was a complete blast. It helped that we had a mountain of cake, endless XC jumps, sunshine, indoor and outdoor arenas, wine, stabling for 50 horses, 3 huge meals a day, perfect going, brilliant company and our own campsite...well, you get the picture. 

This year we are going back to Milton Keynes Eventing Centre, who were so good to us last year, and as the old lags know, the dates are Thursday 12th Sept - Sunday 15th Sept 2013.

Everyone who has had a horse here is welcome and it would be wonderful to see you all again. 

You can do as much or as little as you like (jumping is not compulsory!) and there is great hacking  - there are as many horses and riders who want to just go for a pootle as there are adrenaline speed junkies!

Huge thanks to Krista and Rachel who are looking after admin and bookings this year and as from today you can book via the swanky new RRR 2013 website:

http://rrr13.weebly.com/

See you there!

Wally's 12 week update (or Two steps forward, one step back)

Wally has now been here 12 weeks and despite terrible weather has made good progress with his front feet. He arrived with a lameness which was related to his check ligament but to me it looked as if his feet needed quite a bit of improvement as well, especially when I saw how he was landing.  

Here is his LF on day one. Not too bad but with a contracted frog and underrun heels.

Its taken a long time for Wally to start landing heel first on this foot but finally his frog is ready to work as it should. You can also see at the toe that this will be a LOT shorter - around an inch further in - once his new hoof capsule has grown in.  The shots below give a better illustration of this. 

Day one his heel was obvioulsy extremely underrun. 

Today his heel is slowly coming back and there is a clear new angle of hoof growth. Project the new growth down and his toe will be about an inch shorter - its growing the new hoof that will bring his toe back. The nail holes, which were half way up his hoof capsule, have now grown out but Wally still has at least half a new foot still to grow. 

For an explanation of why it wouldn't be a good idea just to chop his toe back - and why the new growth won't be pulled away by the old, long toe - have a look at the feet in these links: http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/bizarre-feet-of-legend.html and http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/hes-legend.html).

These stills from Wally's footage show how his landing has changed from being toe first LF in February to the beginning of a heel first landing in May, below. 

The other factor which has changed but which is harder to show (thanks to Barney the vizsla getting in the way while we were trying to get footage) is his medio-lateral balance. 

You'll have to trust me on this (or take Newmarket's word for it, as they picked it up when he had his MRI!)  but Wally was landing on the medial side of his LF, which is very unusual and may have been a factor in his check ligament strain. 

His landing today (again, a still taken from the footage below) is better and confirms the heel first landing but there is a problem...Despite (or perhaps because of) his front feet improving, Wally has a problem with his LH. 

Its not in his foot, it blocks to his hock, and is only apparent on tight circles but its a worry. He is going to have shockwave treatment on it and we are able to carry on working him in the meantime, as long as his work is within the range where he can move soundly. 

Still, we and his owner would appreciate lots of good vibes from you guys  - it seems very unfair that no sooner has he begun to sort out his front legs than his back legs let him down...

The complete footage, for those who are interested, is here:

Freddie's first 3 weeks

Freddie has been here nearly 3 weeks and its time for an update. He is an eventer who has competed to intermediate level but had suffered intermittent lameness over the last 6 months. 

The top photo of course shows him the day he arrived and the lower photo is today. Clearly this is still at early stages but its encouraging to see his frog begin to develop and his heels to de-contract.

Freddie had come out of shoes a few weeks before he arrived here and you can see that he had already started to grow in a hoof capsule at a better angle. 

Three weeks later and the nail holes are gone and the new growth is more apparent. You can also see from this angle that the foot is becoming less under-run. 

 Freddie's worse foot was his RF and he was also lamest on this side.

The lateral heel and digital cushion were particularly weak and although thats still the case its good to see them starting to improve.

More on Freddie soon...