He's a Legend!

Legend went home yesterday and his feet have been so sensational to watch as they changed that I knew you'd all want an update ASAP.

17th April

As you know, his feet were pretty wild when he arrived - flat, thin soled and pancaked as a result of both navicular and mechanical laminitis. I've added dates so its clear what growth and angle changes were happening when.

24th June

Rapid improvements once he was back in work - here are his feet in June; by yesterday - below - there is only a small amount of long toe left to grow out. I didn't trim his toe back because it would have overloaded his weak palmar hoof, as I explained here. 

These photos show clearly, I hope, that the old stretched growth does NOT lever away the new, healthy hoof. He hasn't been trimmed at all and he has maintained and grown a better foot in short order as a result. 

9th August

It won't be long until that toe has grown out and worn away, giving Legend time to adjust to his new hoof balance without sudden changes or disruption. He has been going really well and I am hoping for great updates on him before too long.

Abbey - partway down the road

Abbey has set off on the long trip back to France. He arrived in May with a diagnosis of sidebone as the probable cause of his lameness. He had been shod with remedial shoes and pads, as you can see.

He was actually landing heel first but was tipping rather than loading evenly. Its most likely that this was a factor in the sidebone developing and its changing this balance that is the key factor in improving his hooves and soundness. 

Here is the same foot today, after 12 weeks. I've highlighted the key areas in the photo below but you can see that the heel is less under-run and the new angle of growth is about a third of the way down his hoof. 

However, it won't be until that new angle has grown all the way in that Abbey will have the foot he needs on the ground. 

Here is his sole shot with his remedial shoe and pad on - hard to spot what is going on but once the shoe was off its a bit clearer. 

For comparison, below is the same foot today - a much better frog but you can see that the medio-lateral balance is not yet quite right - if you were to draw a line through the middle of the frog the sole isn't symmetrical.

He's not doing badly though for his first 12 weeks. From now on he should steadily get more capable as he grows more and more of that good hoof.

Caudal shots to finish - again, you can see that the digital cushion was not symmetrical suggesting that the medial side (on the right of this photo) was not loading as much as the lateral side. 

Today there is better digital cushion development and the two sides are beginning to even up - in another 12 weeks Abbey should be a lot further down the road!

Interesting hooves

We had 2 new arrivals last week, Baloo and Eliza, both of whom came with very interesting hooves. I had a manic weekend so no chance to sort out their photos till now but finally here they are.

Spot the difference - here are shots of Baloo's LF (above) and RF (below).

No prizes for guessing which is the foot he is sounder on. 

This is the angle to compare from - LF above again and RF below. Its striking from this angle that the LF is loading fairly evenly despite being under-run but the RF clearly isn't.

Despite this, Baloo is landing heel first though he is loading the lateral side of his foot so its a case of finding out what is happening and why...

Here are Eliza's feet - very different and with another range of issues. Obviously there is a very under-run heel and long toe but there is also distortion of the hairline at the quarters.

The sole shot of the same foot shows lots to work on - a weak frog, under-run heels and in particular a huge ridge of sole running round the frog which is often a sign of thin soles and unbalanced hooves.

 The caudal shot confirms what we can see from the other views - weak, under-run heels and a frog which is desperately lacking stimulus. 

More on both of them soon...

Puppy show!

We took the afternoon off yesterday to go to the EFH puppy show - always a brilliant afternoon but it usually rains - not yesterday!

Must have been the Olympic spirit stretching even as far as Exmoor in honour of the fantastic Team GB showjumping gold :-)

It was great to see last year's puppies - now extremely grown up and (especially in Nelson's case) absolutely massive

Though some couldn't resist the urge to play to the crowd...

...the Stig had it all under control...

...as of course did the wise judges...

[Proof that it wasn't raining - amazing!]

A quiet word with the judges to ensure the right result?!

Of course - Princess Nettle (one of our puppies from last year!) was the last girl standing, though she was never still enough to get a good photo...Well done Nettle!

Blue sky and bowlers - the order of the day!

8 weeks - M update

Scarily its already 8 weeks since M, the scholarship horse arrived at Rockley. He is a TB ex-rachorse with a good history of complex lameness problems(!) which of course is one reason he was chosen.

He has had long term lameness issues and also had terribly thin soles and weak "typical TB" feet when he arrived despite an excellent diet, treatment for ulcers and the best possible care from his owner. These photos compare him on arrival and at 8 weeks (below).

M has not been in work as fast or to the same extent as some horses, because he was so uncomfortable when he first arrived but nevertheless he is growing a good new hoof capsule and making some nice changes. Its a huge relief that we can't flex his soles with thumb pressure any more, for a start!

Here is his LF day one - the semi-circle at the toe is bruising.

The same foot last week. Bruising gone (thank goodness!), straighter bars and a better frog though lots of improvement is still needed and those heels need to move a lot further back.

Caudal shots, same foot (8 weeks ago above and last week below); its all about digital cushion development and shorter hoof wall. There is no doubt that ex-racehorses are compromised not only by the injuries they tend to suffer during racing but more importantly from the fact that they are shod months - often years - younger than other horses.

Still, lets not write M off just yet, as he is trying so hard and being such a good boy!

I know I need to post updates on Abbey, Dali and Legend this week as well as posts on the new kids - it will be a busy week!

Medio-lateral balance - where to look?

I seem to post a lot about medio-lateral balance, probably because (second only to a toe first landing) its a massively common problem among horses who come here.

Incorrect medio-lateral balance stresses the collateral ligaments and makes it much more difficult for horses to cope with uneven ground.

You can see the problem on x-ray and on MRI but there are also ways to check balance from the outside of the hoof. 

Its logical if you think about it - its best for the hoof (in front - there are different rules for hind feet!) to land so that both sides load evenly. The key areas of the hoof which reflect how the foot lands are the frog and digital cushion and its here that you need to look. The hoof above was overloading laterally when the horse arrived - the lateral (RH side) is more developed than the medial (LH) side.

Here is the same foot more recently. Its not perfect but the 2 halves are much more symmetrical.

For me, there are 2 places where hooves SHOULD be symmetrical and thats from this view and from the solar view. If you've got that then you are probably heading towards even loading and decent medio-lateral balance.

We have a new arrival who is a fascinating demonstration of this - and it will be exciting to see whether, and how, his feet start to change. More on him soon :-)

Rehab - Vet's Briefing Paper

I get a lot of enquiries about rehab from owners and one of the essential precursors to a horse coming to Rockley is their vet's consent. 

The vast majority of vets are happy to refer horses here once they know a bit more about what we do, but a lot have no real idea of what our rehab consists of, or how its different from simply taking the shoes off a horse. 

Others have had bad experiences of incompetent trimmers laming horses and are understandably wary or simply have questions about the research we do and our results so far. 

So, as a way of providing some (I hope) useful information I've put together a short briefing paper for vets giving details of how our rehab works and how it differs from conventional treatments, information about research and our facilities.

I am sure it will develop and be added to in time but its currently available as a PDF so if you would like a copy please email me: nic@rockleyfarm.co.uk