Ted and his bar shoes

Ted is a quarter horse who arrived on Saturday - in a nice piece of synchronicity he was brought down by Nicky's owners (she is another quarter horse) who took her home on Sunday.

 As you can see, he was shod in remedial shoes with gel filler and a wedge and he had also been on 5 weeks of box rest. Ted was diagnosed on MRI with bilateral DDFT damage, worse on his LF, and he has undergone surgical treatment as well as the farriery.   

He is on a fairly strict regime of limited exercise, as horses often are when they first arrive, but he is allowed out on the tracks and to mix with the other horses which he seems to enjoy.  With the rest of the horses being very relaxed there is no great incentive for him to dash about and I hope he can now (literally!) start finding his feet.

Ted has an underrun heel and the focus out of shoes will be to improve that, and the whole caudal hoof.  I suspect (as you can see from this photo) he also has some issues with medio-lateral balance but it will be easier to assess that when I have photos of him out of his shoes...

Busy weekend and more on Thomas

Its been a very busy weekend here, with Nicky going home and another quarter horse, Ted, arriving - there will be more on both of them later in the week but I've had an email from Terri to say that Nicky arrived home safe and sound and stomped across the stony carpark (which she used not to like!) so I'm hoping she goes from strength to strength.

As well as that, Debbie came to visit Paddy and was delighted to see him so chipper; as she said, its hard to believe that he has just undergone massive surgery.  He was on such good form and it was such beautiful weather that she had to work quite hard to restrain her enthusiasm and keep his daily outings to no more than the permitted ambles out to graze...We are both desperate to let him do more, which would be better for his hooves, but he can't be too active until his muscles have re-knitted after the wound has healed.

Last but definitely not least, Sophie and her Dad came to visit Thomas and were pleased to see him looking - in their words - "sparkly", though Sophie didn't entirely approve of the fact that I had trimmed a few inches off his tail.  I never normally trim manes and tails but his was dragging in the mud - it will grow back, honestly ;-)

As you can see from his initial photo (above) he had a weak frog and high heels, like so many horses, and its changing that which is the key for him, as he otherwise has good hooves.


More importantly, even in the 2 weeks that he has been here his landing has improved, as you can see from the footage.  There is a long way to go before his front feet land as well as his back feet but he is getting on track and the improvement means that he can start proper work.

Thomas has a huge work ethic and wants nothing more than to be busy, so I think he will be thrilled to have a proper job once more.

Solar power

The latest horse to arrive at Rockley is Solar, who made the trip from Berkshire with his owner Sarah last Sunday.  Sarah has known him for several years and recalls that he has had periodic lameness, usually when the ground is hard, but it was only once she owned him that she was in a position to do something about it. 

As you can see, there is a pretty clear issue with his medio-lateral balance especially on this - his worst - foot.  There are also lots of growth rings and evidence of times when fairly dramatic shifts in his hoof loading have occurred.  

He is reluctant to load his RF and Sarah correctly assumed that this was because of ongoing discomfort even when some people were telling her is was just habit or that he was being awkward.  As always, you rarely go wrong if you listen to your horse(!).

 Solar's farrier was well aware of the balance issues and the fact that he was loading incorrectly and was doing his best to correct it, as you can see by the fact that he has left the medial wall on both hooves much higher.  However it does seem to be extremely difficult to rebalance feet this way, whereas if you aim to centrally load the foot through the frog, the hoof capsule usually has a better chance or adjusting.

Despite the balance issues, there is a lot to like about Solar's hooves, and he has a fantastic frog and a pretty good digital cushion, so I am very hopeful that he will be much more comfortable soon.   Footage to follow...!

Yesterday and a hundred years ago

Last weekend I couldn't hunt on horseback (much to the irritation of Felix and Dexter!) but it was such a stunning day that I went on foot to the meet and took my camcorder.  Hounds met in the Brendon valley and - if you overlook the presence of the odd car and quad bike - it was a scene which could have been last week or a hundred years ago.

Charlie and Andy had a lovely day, of course, as I think everyone did.

I've compressed a lavish 45 minute meet into 3 minutes of film but I hope you enjoy the clip - it makes for a fun Thursday film anyway - not much action but a timeless occasion when Exmoor and the foxhounds looked fantastic.

Four weeks with Mr Knightley

I had a visit from Kate, Deborah and Mel - my lovely former students - last week, as they were keen to catch up on the progress of the rehab horses they already knew and meet the new guys.

They always get roped in to helping me photograph and film the horses and this time was no exception.  We started off with Mr Knightley who had at that stage been here for 3 weeks.



An improved landing, going from toe first and intermittently flat to flat/heel first.  Its still early days for him and he still has weak frogs so I would not expect a more definite heel first landing until he has a lot more good mileage under his belt.

For good measure here are his hooves, above on arrival and below at 4 weeks.  They bear out the changes you can see on landing and of course the healthier the hoof becomes, the better the landing should be.

Although we are still fighting the central sulcus infection in his frogs, there is are also progress here, along with his high heels.

No trimming required, of course...

Its interesting to see from this angle how high heels and long hoof wall were actually causing a medio-lateral imbalance, shunting the hoof capsule sideways and reinforcing the vicious circle of weak frog/caudal hoof pain  - and of course putting strain on internal ligaments.  With a healthier frog  - or the beginnings of one, as we have a long way to go before that central sulcus infection will really be a thing of the past - the balance improves as well as the rest of the caudal hoof.

Finally, I also have some footage of him on a circle - at just under 4 weeks into his rehab - so that Debbie his owner, who is in Dubai, can see the virtual Knightley even when she can't see the real one.



As you can see, he was struggling with the fact that there was a howling easterly wind and the dogs of course chose the moment we started filming to have a wild, fast and extremely noisy game round the arena which he found rather alarming.

Over time I would want to see a much more relaxed frame and better straightness and suppleness but the important thing for now is that he is happy to extend in front and land heel first, which is a crucial precursor to any sort of rehabilitative work.  The rest will come with time and work.

Widescreen tv for horses

The foxhounds met up the road this morning and by the middle of the day they were hunting round and round Rockley :-)  Its always lovely to hear them even if I am not on horseback.

Charlie, Dexter and Felix were a little bit miffed not to be in the thick of it but they and the rehab horses all enjoyed the chance to watch the action from the track.

L to R: Charlie, Nicky, Thomas, Felix, Solar, Flynn, Knightley, Dexter

Hounds coming through is just like widescreen tv for our horses - they don't gallop about, they just put their feet up and enjoy watching someone else doing the work.  I am delighted, because the rehab horses are just where they should be - stomping on the pea gravel track and getting the best possible movement.

Of course, Paddy (who is on box rest) and Zan (who was keeping him company today) had to stay in the barn but so they didn't realise they were missing out, they had Radio 2 on very loud with Satus Quo to drown out the bitches...

The rollercoaster rolls on...

Talk about a weekend of ups and downs...

On the plus side, the weather was glorious and the autumn colours are spectacular so when Andy took Charlie hunting on Saturday they were both very happy and it was an incredibly beautiful day.

As I went to the meet on foot I took my camcorder and I am glad I did as it was one of the most picturesque on our calendar.  I have some fun footage (quintissentially English, for all you Texans!) which I will upload later in the week. 

On the downside, much more seriously, Paddy had a bout of spasmodic colic late on Saturday, which has thankfully now resolved but which entailed another emergency vet call out and of course masses more worry for Debbie and the rest of us.  

There is a high chance for horses to colic post surgery - not surprisingly, as having your guts opened up, bits cut out, stuck back together and everything being stuffed back in leaves inflammation and adhesions which can cause issues over the subsequent weeks.   For now, Paddy is feeling fine again, but please keep sending those good wishes because we all still need them(!).  

Taz and Paul went home yesterday (Edward said the barn is half empty without Taz  -at 17.2hh - to fill up the space!) and a new horse, Solar, arrived so there will be lots more footage and updates on all of them over the coming week. 

Its been a rather tiring few days, as I am sure you can appreciate, and I know you will excuse the short post today - more soon :-)