Bouncing boys!

This should bring a mid-week smile to all of our faces :-) Photos from the weekend of two of last year's rehab boys. So we have Buster and Kirsty out jumping...

...and Dom and Georgia at their dressage test. 

Two extremely competent and gutsy young riders with their faithful steeds - well done to you and the teams behind you!

All the more encouraging when you remember that both of these horses were given poor prognoses when they were originally diagnosed but seem in fact to be going from strength to strength (hope I don't jinx them with this post!) and doing more than ever... 

Polish pals

By complete coincidence our 2 most recent arrivals both have Polish passports. Meet Mina (on the left) and Aleska (on the right) who have only been here a few days but are already settling in.

Both have a lameness which is worse RF, though Mina's lameness has been a longer-standing problem than Aleska's. 

So, on to the feet...

Aleska's shoes came off at the end of April, when she had her MRI but the nail holes are still visible. What jumps out at me is the uneven hairline at the coronet.  This is usually a sign of uneven loading, which was confirmed on her MRI. 

A pretty good frog but everything is a little bit twisted. She has flat feet and there is lots of separation between the hoof wall and internal structures. Now its just a case of seeing if we can help her grow better feet!

Mina arrived in reverse shoes - "normal" shoes put on back to front, with a graduated pad.  On MRI she had lots going on, with damage to the DDFT and impar ligament and navicular bone changes. 

I'm indebted to vet Chris Tufnell of Coach House Equine for the photos of Mina which he sent down before she arrived (I should add that the shoes were not his prescription!). This is the RF and - rather like Aleska  - the deviations in the hairline give a pretty good indication that her medio-lateral balance is wrong and putting stress on her limb. 

More on both of them soon, and in the meantime I am hoping Wiola will give me some key phrases in Polish (in addition to Bez Kopyt nie ma Konia, of course, which was the title she devised for the Polish edition of  "Feet First") to make the girls feel at home. Although, like Wiola, their English is probably way better than mine!

Good news - you've done it again!

Well, thanks to all of you who sent good vibes Wally's way because the shockwave treatment seems to have done its job! He still has one treatment to go but I was so impressed when I put him on the lunge on Friday that I decided to see how he felt under saddle. 

And look - proper step under with his LH - clever boy - as well as a nice stretch out in front. 

I am absolutely delighted for Wally and for his owner, Ruth and huge thanks are also due to our fab vets Anna Ehrle and Gordon Sidlow who diagnosed his LH suspensory injury and have treated it so successfully. 

But back to the front legs - Wally's original problem - and here is a quick recap of how his feet have changed over just under 4 months. 

Look how much the palmar hoof has improved and how much more supportive the heels and digital cushion have become. 

You can see that once the new hoof capsule has completely grown in, he will have a much shorter toe and his hoof will be in a much better position to take the load from the limb above. Clever Wally!

More lessons in "normal" from mustangs

Thanks to Sam Beckett for sending me this great photo taken at a round-up of mustangs!

I love it because - once again - we have some slightly wacky looking feet functioning just fine and seemingly well-adapted to tough terrain and high performance.

Like my earlier post with photos of Wyoming mustang feet these hooves provide a reminder that "normal and healthy" doesn't necessarily equate to "textbook and symmetrical".

Meanwhile, back on Exmoor its another busy day, with a new horse arriving and a big day for Wally as we find out whether the shockwave treatment on his hind leg has done its job. Good vibes his way, please folks and I will let you know how its all gone soon!

Also just time to say GOOD LUCK and HAVE FUN to Lainey and Bailey, who are off to camp and Georgia and Dom who are out and about this weekend. Don't forget to send me pics :-)

Rehab horses out and about

Its just too nice a day to post anything other than fun photos of former rehab horses out and about and having fun!

First up Amanda and Lucy, looking stunning as always out jumping recently. 

Next are Sarah and Solar who went out stressaging and came 4th in their class with 65% - well done both of you and Solar looks amazing!

I have also been told that BBB, another of last year's boys, is out show-jumping 1m 25 - but no pics, so I can't jinx him ;-)

Last but not least, Rachel and Rolo - who has only been home a fairly short time. I had an email updating me on his progress (though sadly no pics!):

"We have been hacking so much he is bursting at the seams ready to go, very jolly, so I thought right, another lesson!

What a legend he was: counter cantering, leg yielding, shoulder in, 10m CIRCLES! 1/2 10 m circles, walk trot and canter and he is raring to go. I on the other hand need a cold towel! 

Very pleased, some of his best work!"

Well done everyone - awesome work!

Summer - remember what it feels like?!

An absolutely gorgeous start to the summer down here - the sort of June that I'd almost forgotten we could have! 

So beautiful in fact that I went out yesterday with my camera (the photos are bigger if you click on them). 

That way, when the skies are grey, the trees leafless and the fields muddy I will have something to remind me that sometimes - just sometimes - it can look like this...

Thomas and Paddy are sunbathing...

Felix, Charlie and Bryher are on the new track

Bryher's insatiable curiosity and friendliness get the better of him...

...and he just has to come up and say hello...

I think Felix and Charlie reckon he is a bit precocious

Bryher proves his point...

...several times. I wasn't even asking him to do this, I just couldn't shake him off!

Charlie enjoying the breeze 

Itsy, Wally and Charlie

Time for a drink...

Wally and Itsy coming in for tea...

Charlie, Bryher and Felix doing the same, less sedately...

Freddie's 6 week update

Freddie the eventer has now been here for 6 weeks. He is a lovely chap but he arrived with very under-run heels, long toes and thin soles. This naturally had led to a toe-first landing and he'd been diagnosed by his vet, Chris Tufnell, as having poor medio-lateral balance and bone damage, particularly on his RF.

Here are comparison stills from his footage - the top is day one, when he was clearly landing toe first. 

Today he has a better landing and this is encouraging because the fact that he is now willing to engage his palmar hoof is what will - over time - help his hooves to develop. 

Looking at his photos its clear that his hooves are growing and changing. The nail holes are gone and his toe is shorter but the back of his foot has a long way to go; however that should now start to change, with this better landing.

You can see the beginnings of a better angle of growth but this is still a very weak foot.

Frog is better but there is a long way to go. 

Here is his full footage