Feet from the desert

We had a new horse arrive at the end of last week all the way from Dubai. She found the 30 degree drop in temperature a shock, its fair to say, and has had to go into a heavyweight winter rug until she acclimatises (which lets face it is likely to happen sooner than it warming up here!).

Her feet are interesting because they are the feet of a horse who has lived on sand. I have heard comments before from owners whose horses were in Dubai that they have extremely concave feet with what look to our eyes like under-developed frogs.

You can certainly see that in this mare's feet and in a UK horse with frogs and heels like this you would expect a weak palmar hoof and a toe first landing.

However in her case the hoof shape is likely to be more to do with the environment she was living in and if so her feet should rapidly adjust now that she is in a different environment with different surfaces.

It will be fascinating to monitor how her feet develop.

Workshops, movement and balance

I spent the weekend at the first of the Performance Hoof workshops, in Yorkshire, and it was brilliant to have a day with such dedicated horse owners. We talked about hoof balance, movement and anything and everything to do with horses and their feet and the sun shone on us as we did so!

I will post later this week about upcoming workshops, with dates and venues, for anyone who might be interested in coming along.

In the meantime on Sunday I managed to get belated footage of Maysie and Mickey, 2 of the rehab horses who have now been here 3 weeks. I'm posting their footage initially as its available and photos aren't (camera trouble, I think it is exhausted after the weekend...!).

Its not the most dramatic footage but it is always useful to chart how horses are landing. In both cases they were landing toe first and laterally loading in front.

Neither horses has an established heel first landing yet but they are landing flatter than they were and the lateral load has also reduced slightly. Its early days but these are encouraging signs.

Mickey's footage

Maysie's footage

Jess' first fortnight

Jess is the next horse to get an update. As usual her initial photos are the uppers ones and todays photos are the lower ones.

She is going to have quite a steep angle change I think as her new hoof capsule grows in - ideal as it will shorten her toes and shift her weight back as her palmar hoof strengthens.  

You can see from this angle how the back of her foot is changing and the footage below confirms this.  

A bit too dark/muddy for good comparison but the digital cushion/hairline is looking better today.  

 The shorter toe is already clear from these photos - and there was no trimming required!

The change is equally clear from the sole shots, and you can see that the heels are more supportive. 

Her landing was flat rather than toe first when she arrived but its improved to become more like a heel first landing today. 

Her footage is here: https://vimeo.com/265178072

Vico's first fortnight

Its update time as the rehab horses who arrived at Easter have now been here for 2 weeks. I'm starting with Vico for no particular reason and will post photos of the others as we go through the week. 

As always his initial photos are at the top and the current update is the lower photo in each case.  For Vico the biggest change so far is that his frogs and palmar hoof are starting to work harder and are loading better than they were when he arrived. 

This IS the same foot, honestly - I am not sure where his white markings have gone but as he is changing his coat pretty fast at the moment maybe he is losing a few grey hairs! 

Terrible lighting I am afraid but you should just be able to make out an improving digital cushion and less under-run foot. 

Looking rather tatty at the moment which is a function of him using the palmar hoof more. It should get prettier over the next few weeks.  

Vico's comparison footage is here: https://vimeo.com/264948505

Hoof workshops

We've now got several Performance Hoof workshops scheduled and at the moment we have a few spaces at each, so if you are interested in bringing a horse or just coming to watch please get in touch: nic@rockleyfarm.co.uk.

Saturday 21st April      Crofthouse Farm, Briestfield Road, Dewsbury      

Saturday 5th May         Park Farm Stables, Otford, Kent                              

Saturday 26th May        Moorwood Equine, Stannington   S6

Sunday 27th May          Unthank Hall Farm, Holmesfield   S18                 

There is more about the workshops in the poster above - if you click on it you can enlarge it. If you've got questions or want to book just drop me an email :-)

Mickey's first blog post

Mickey is the last of the new arrivals, another who has been diagnosed on MRI with damage to the cartilage of the navicular bone and DDFT.

He has quite narrow, boxy feet and like the other new arrivals he has previously been shod and has only recently come out of shoes.

 Clearly his frogs and heels are contracted but Mickey is quite a tough chap and should be able to bounce back from this.

 On video he is landing toe first in front, as you would expect with his weak palmar hoof.

 He is also loading the lateral side of each front foot which typically indicates a medio-lateral imbalance. You can see on the sole shot above how the lateral side of his foot is more developed than the medial side and this is something we would want to see change over the next few weeks.

His footage is here: https://vimeo.com/263472811

Vico's first blog post

I am combining 2 horses today, something I hardly ever do but just because I am running out of weekdays.

First up is Vico, our third arrival, who also came at the weekend.

He is a warmblood dressage horse who has had low level lameness for 2 years which has been treated with remedial farriery and cartrophen. He had his shoes removed about 6 weeks ago and has come to us to see if his lameness can be improved.

He has not had an MRI but x-rays showed navicular bone damage.

He doesn't have bad looking frogs although his feet are relatively flat. He is landing toe first, as would be expected with his diagnosis.

 This is his more under-run foot and it will be interesting to see how it changes.

His initial footage is below, as usual.

https://vimeo.com/263466321