Poppy

 Poppy is the next of the new rehab horses. She is an event mare from Ireland who has had recurrent lameness since 2017. MRI showed DDFT, collateral ligament and navicular bone damage which had worsened over the period to October 2018.

She has been out of shoes since November of last year which has certainly given her a head start in her rehab. Her landing has reportedly improved over that time and at the moment she is landing heel first (which was not the case a few weeks ago), meaning we can progress with her in hand work more quickly than usual.

Looking at her feet there are clues that the new landing is relatively recent as her frogs are still contracted and there is evidence of historic media-lateral imbalance in her uneven heel bulbs and hairline.

She also has a tendency to thrush, probably again because of the contraction in her frogs and palmar hoof. This is under control now and should improve with her better landing. 

Overall there is a lot to like about Poppy's feet and she has made a good start to her rehab before she even arrived here.

We will want to see further improvement in her frog and digital cushion and a rebalancing of her feet as well but she is on the right track.

Her footage is here: https://vimeo.com/321432273

Billy

We have had a new intake of rehab horses arrive over the weekend so I will be posting all their new pics and videos over the next few days.

First up is Billy, the only one who has arrived in shoes, and who was diagnosed in August last year on MRI with DDFT and navicular bone damage in both front feet although he is lamer on the right foot.

He has been shod in bar shoes with pads but his lameness persisted.

 I filmed him on arrival in his shoes and these photos are of his feet straight out of shoes, starting with his worse (right) foot.

There is the fairly typical long toe and contracted frog - the bar shoes and pads had enabled him to land heel first but had of course prevented the frog and back of the foot from receiving any stimulus so it is not surprising that they look weak.

As ever, this is the business end which we will hope to see improving over the next few weeks.

Although he is not as lame on this foot there are obvious issues and as with the right foot the palmar hoof is under-run and has effectively collapsed.

 A slightly better looking frog on this foot but looking at the heels the level of under-run is clear.

Billy's footage is also up on Vimeo for those who are interested: https://vimeo.com/321219317  

We are on Instagram!

I've put Rockley Farm on Instagram and I will be posting lots of extra pics on there so please come over and find us - just search Rockley Farm and we should pop up looking like this...

The foundations of soundness

This is a post, fundamentally, about how to keep a horse sound.

It will come as no surprise to most of you, I suspect, that in my experience soundness in a horse is built from the ground upwards.

In other words, a horse has to be able to load its bodyweight  - that great mass of several hundred kilos, several feet up in the air - onto its relatively tiny hooves in the most balanced way possible in order to avoid injury.

Even when a horse is simply standing, there is a tremendous load - his whole bodyweight - being transferred to a very small surface area - his four hooves. Once you add in movement the load immediately increases and the faster the speed, the greater the load and the greater the force on the tendons and ligaments of the limbs.

Other factors, such as hard ground, jumping or uneven surfaces can also put further stress on soft tissue.

For all horses, whatever their work level and whatever stage they are at in their training, it is essential to ensure that their feet are as balanced as possible.

On a balanced foot the risk of injury is reduced because the tendons and ligaments of both the hoof and the limb are able to function as effectively as possible and provide the maximum support.

When I film horses (either at my workshops or when horses come here) it is dynamic balance I am looking for - does the horse land heel first, is his medio-lateral balance correct, are his hooves supporting his limbs and body in the best possible way?

Very often there is a problem which can be seen in slow motion and the horse has a history of lameness. It can also be a warning sign that something needs to be improved before the horse is asked to work harder or faster.

On a couple of occasions a horse with less-than-perfect foot balance has been sound at the time of filming but has developed an injury a few months later. Like us, horses can compensate for a while but a compensation causes strain on other soft tissue and is rarely sustainable in the long term.

So do take the time to check how your horse is landing -  film on your phone and assess his foot balance. Check it in motion because hooves are built to move and it is once a horse is moving that his foot balance either starts to help him or make him more prone to injury.

Rehab horse places

At the moment my horses are enjoying the snow  - they are unclipped this winter and are revelling in the winter weather, stuffing themselves with haylage then mooching off to the fields for a roll in the snow!

I will be taking horses in again for rehab from the 1st March this year. We only ever have a small number of horses here at any one time and we are almost booked up but there are 2 places left at the moment so if you would like one of the last spaces do get in touch with me on the usual email -  nic@rockleyfarm.co.uk

Workshops for 2019

Since I've been back from my awesome NZ trip I've been working on the workshops for this year which is really exciting. 

The format for the workshops will be similar to last year, with people welcome to bring shod or barefoot horses and we will spend time looking at each horse individually.

The idea of each workshop is to give owners skills which they can use to assess their horse's movement and tools which they can use to improve their horse's health.

So far the dates we have are: 

2nd March 2019: Writtle University College, Essex

Contact Cloe Lambert for information and to book: cloe.lambert98@outlook.com

6th April 2019: Long Island, NY, USA

Contact Jeannean Mercuri for more information and to book: neanpiggy@me.com

19th May 2019 Aberdeen, Scotland

Contact Julie Bradbury for more information and to book: juliejcb@hotmail.com

There will be further workshops for May onwards and I will post the details here as soon as they are finalised. 

In the meantime if you are interested in hosting a workshop during summer 2019 please get in touch: nic@rockleyfarm.co.uk

Thanks everyone - looking forward to seeing you all!

An experiment: self-trimming hooves on a horse not in work

First of all, Happy New Year and I hope that 2019 is a kind one to us all.

I'm now back from an incredible trip to New Zealand and although I am missing the summer sunshine and the wonderful people it is fantastic to be back home.

While I've been away there have been no rehab horses here and our own horses have had a holiday - free access to the fields and the tracks and no work at all.

One of the questions I am most often asked about self-trimming hooves is how horses cope if they are not in work - its a common assumption that self-trimming is only feasible when horses are doing significant road mileage each week.

Well, I must admit I have never tried giving our horses quite as much time off as they have had this year and I thought you might be as interested as I am to see how the feet have managed.

I never trust photos to give a true picture of hoof health so I will add straightway that his landings are still good - heel first and with good media-lateral balance. I don't think I have ever seen him so hairy but I rather like the teddy bear look for a change!

The hoof wall is a little longer than when he is doing high mileage on roads but the white line is tight and the frog and heels are solid and in great condition.

Despite the fluff still a beefy digital cushion. For reference, this horse has not been trimmed for 10 years and has been out of work for 3 months.

 I can't abide the feather (ack!)  - that may have to go fairly soon...

As with the LF, basically fine and ready to do more or stay the same, whichever is an option.