Undoing the twist

A quick update on Ruby, as her owner was here at the weekend and we spent a bit of time assessing how her movement has changed.

One of Sarah's concerns was that Ruby had started to dish before she went lame. Some horses just do dish, of course, but Ruby had previously moved straight and Sarah suspected the dishing in this case was related to her problematic foot balance.

As with all horses, we filmed Ruby when she arrived and the dish was quite obvious, along with a landing which was off balance in front  - she landed on the lateral side rather than completely evenly and flat rather than heel first. 

Six weeks down the line and we are beginning to see a straighter limb flight and the start of a better landing. These are stills taken from the footage below, for those who are interested in seeing the whole thing. 

Of course, it took quite a while for Ruby's problems to develop and it will take quite a while to resolve them but its nice to know we are heading in the right direction!

Weekend news and congratulations!

I had a particularly nice email come in over the weekend, with news of Rolie who went home last year. 

He and Katy went out competing for the first time in ages and as you can see from the photos, he looked a million dollars!

Katy said: "It was a large class with over 25 in it & some nice horses, well he only went and won the class!! 

The judge's comments included 'smooth through turns', 'pleasing rhythm & outline' and 'well balanced' as well as the final comment of 'Beautifully presented, lovely polite harmonious test, super. Well done'. 

I was totally thrilled and so proud of him, I honestly never thought I'd get to compete him again, let alone win a class!"

Rolie and Katy are familiar with the downs as well as the ups of rehab and its a testament to her hard work and dedication that he has done so well - many congratulations to them both :-)

There's also this cracking photo of Lucy, who was here in 2011, out jumping and looking absolutely stunning. Well done to her and Amanda!

Proper cob!

Rolo - or "Mr Mohican" as SB calls him - has been here for 6 weeks and has proved to be a total dude. I'm putting his hoof pics and landing footage up below, but first take a look at these stills from his circle footage comparing day 1 with now.

Rolo wasn't terribly lame when he arrived - he was slightly unlevel on the left rein but if you didn't know him (as of course I didn't at the time) you might not have thought there was too much wrong. 

However his owner, Rachel, who knows him extremely well, had been unhappy about his movement for several months and now I can understand why, because today he moves like this... 

If this is him after 6 weeks, Lord alone knows how he is going to move once he has grown in a whole new hoof capsule!

He had pretty nice cob feet when he arrived but although he was landing heel first on his RF he was landing flat on his LF and loading both fronts laterally rather than evenly.

The hair is hiding a fairly steep new angle of growth - but I suspect it will only become visible if his hoof grows down faster than his feather!

He had been out of shoes for 6 months before he came and he already had a pretty good frog and digital cushion but look at how much stronger it has become - and compare the length of the hoof wall - so much shorter today!

And RF shots for comparison...

His toe of course is much shorter now and despite his hairiness you can (I hope) see that there is on both feet less of a deviation in the hairline at the coronet - a sign of better balance.

Here is his landing footage - a big improvement both in heel first landing and even loading over such a short time. As I said, Rolo's a dude!

Bryher grows up

It was a big day for Bryher yesterday as I took Tegan, his mum, down to stud in Cornwall. He is 9 months old now and has Bailey, Felix and Charlie as his best mates - his mum had got rather bored of his antics truth be told.

We brought everyone up to the barn and good old Tegan loaded straight onto the lorry as if she travelled every week, not once in a blue moon. She travelled like a pro and I think will love her holiday in the much warmer climate of Cornwall - so far so good :-)

Once we had left, Andy turned Bryher, Bailey, Felix and Charlie out in his yard and field and they strolled off totally peacefully. No stress, no panic, just perfect...Phew! I took these pics last night - its tricky to get decent shots of Bryher because he is just way too friendly and inquisitive - they all tend to come out like the top one...!

Wally's 8 week update - hoof growth and balance

Racing on through the horses who are due updates this week, its time for Wally who has also been here for 8 weeks. Regular blog readers may recall that he was unusual because his lameness blocked to the check ligament rather than the hoof but nevertheless his landing on his worst (LF) foot was unbalanced and he landed medially and toe first.

You can see that over 8 weeks this foot has started to change. The nail holes chart how fast his hoof is growing, as does the new angle of growth at the coronet which is much steeper than his old hoof capsule.

You can see that he is developing a stronger palmar hoof and despite his lameness not blocking here, I am hopeful that better foot balance and loading will lead to sounder movement. 

Interestingly, although his heels on the lateral shot are less under-run there isn't so dramatic a change on the sole shots - possibly because his toe is still long. The sole is healthier but not enough change yet in his frogs, which is likely to be partly due to his split central sulcus which we are still struggling with. 

I like to think, however, that his landing on this foot has begun to change even though he still has a lot of challenges to face. Let me know whether I am imagining things!

Beanie's 8 week update (or Stance, stride length and all 4 legs)

This is a slightly belated Beanie update but better late than never. I thought it would be interesting to start off with some comparison shots of him standing, as he was particularly wonky on day 1. The left hand photo is then; the right hand photo is today. Not perfect by any any means, but improving, which is the important thing!

Beanie arrived having been lame for a long time - a matter of years rather than months. His feet had begun to improve after he came out of shoes 6 months before he came here and it was our job to continue the improvements and try and bring him back into work. 

 Here are the comparison shots of his LF from day one til 8 weeks later.

Clearly the biggest change is in the strength of his palmar hoof but there is also a fairly steep new angle growing in which will bring his toe much further back - easier to see where I've marked it in red. You can see that his hoof/pastern axis will also be more correct once this new hoof capsule is in place.

There is an argument for trimming his dorsal wall back to where the "new" breakover wants to be and many hoofcare practitioners would do this. It would certainly make the hoof look prettier and since its where his breakover will be in future, what would be the harm in that? 

Probably nothing in a horse with a robust palmar hoof but for Beanie - like most of our rehabs - palmar hoof pain was one of his main problems and backing up a toe will automatically put more weight onto the palmar hoof. That's fine for some horses, but for Beanie it would be too much too soon and would almost certainly make him lamer, not sounder.

On arrival (above) Beanie had weak, thin soles which were quite prone to bruising, and he had needed hoof boots to keep him comfortable on hard ground.

Now I am glad to say he has begun to build a much more concave foot (as you can see from the new collateral groove depth). His frog is much more substantial at the back but the shorter toe (drawn in on the dorsal wall above) is not yet evident from a solar view - although he has already begun to break over in line with where his toe will be when the new hoof has grown in. 

He has made great progress in strengthening his heels, frog and digital cushion already and its important to be patient and let him continue to improve at his own pace without setting him back by changing his foot balance faster than he can cope with. 

His movement is already improving, even on a hard surface, and you can see from these stills that the better stride length is not just in front but behind as well. An interesting illustration of how lameness usually has an effect on all four limbs. 

Ruby - more stills footage

More stills, this time of Ruby who has been here 5 weeks. Her owner, Sarah, is down this weekend and it will be really helpful to have her feedback on how Ruby's movement is changing. 

She does seem to have better stride length in front but the key thing with Ruby is her medio-lateral balance, which was causing her to land on the lateral edge of both front feet when she arrived.

There are lots of changes going on in her feet, of course; her feather makes it hard to see the angle changes but you can certainly feel them. 

You can see from the sole shots that her heels are becoming less underrun, particularly on the lateral side, her frog is more engaged and she is developing better concavity.  From these photos you would also say that her foot is becoming straighter, relative to the limb.

This photo isn't terribly clear but she is already beginning to break over at the point where her new, shorter toe will be once the better connected hoof capsule has grown in.