How feet affect the body

I took some new footage of Bailey Griffiths on a circle last week and its interesting to compare it to his footage from 4 weeks ago.

These are a couple of stills from the footage and its pretty clear that the changes in his feet have made bigger differences in his body.

Its common for horses with foot pain to have related pain in the shoulders and neck.  For Bailey, as you can see, this made him brace through his neck and hollow through his back.  Of course, correct ridden work while he is holding himself like this is also pretty impossible.

Although he is still at an early stage, better feet have allowed him better movement: he is now just beginning to relax and can stretch his neck and lift his back for short periods.

The nice thing about rehab is that horses "default" to correct movement once they are comfortable. In behavioural terms, it is self-reinforcing because horses find it easier and less stressful to move this way.  As a result, horses will usually naturally develop a better way of going once they have healthier hooves.

Its not comfortable for horses to continuously brace themselves and its usually a protection mechanism. If you have a horse (as I used to) who constantly goes hollow, head in the air and rushing, then (as well as looking at backs and saddles) its worth considering whether he is comfortable in his feet.