Paddy power!

Today's post celebrates a milestone - yesterday marked 6 weeks since Paddy's colic surgery and after 6 weeks of box-rest and in hand grazing he is finally allowed to be turned loose! So here he is with Felix in our smallest paddock, a tiny triangle of grass below the barn.   

Paddy being Paddy, he fortunately wasn't interested in flinging himself about - and of course Felix is a very steadying influence at times like these - and I'd introduced him to the paddock before by bringing him in there to graze, so when I eventually took his head-collar off he barely noticed the change.

Its a huge step forward and means he can now be gradually introduced back onto the tracks and the rest of the gang.  They've been able to chat to him over his door all the way through, which I think has helped keep him calm and cheerful, but it will be nice for him to mix with them properly again.

Of course this also means that Paddy is rejoining the world of work...shhhhh...we are breaking the news to him gently.... ;-)

What do you do on Exmoor...

...in the middle of winter on a day when the rehab horses aren't being exercised and it starts snowing, hailing and then there is a thunderstorm...Go inside and do the books?

No - you grab Charlie and go hunting of course :-)

Look at those boys go!

Although the snow was lying, the ground wasn't frozen, the dog hounds were on blinding form and we had a brilliant, fast few hours which Charlie absolutely loved.  I haven't hunted him for ages  - he's mostly been Andy's horse this season and Andy was supposed to take him today, and I was supposed to stay at home - but Andy stayed behind and I lucked out...

...and as always, despite the ground being sodden and the hail lashing our faces, it was a privilege to be out and the beauty of Exmoor was undeniable - if a little wintry. 

PS: Texans, I can understand that this may not appeal quite so much to you guys :-)

Shifting balance

Ted, the latest quarter horse to come to Rockley, has now been here 3 weeks and its time for an update.   On MRI Ted was diagnosed as having core DDFT lesions and navicular damage bilaterally, although his LF was the worse limb.  

This is his RF on arrival and it looked to me as though he had a fairly significant loading imbalance as well as his caudal hoof problems.  In this photo, you can see that it looks as if the lateral side of the hoof capsule is flaring outwards and the medial side is collapsing inwards.

His initial blog post and photos are here: http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/2011/11/ted-and-his-bar-shoes.html.

Today his foot is shorter and you can already see a small band of growth at the top of the hoof wall which is at a better angle.  In Ted's case, as well as shortening his toe it will shift his hoof balance medially which should improve the flare/collapse and allow him to load his hoof more evenly. 

The same foot (RF) again, a few days after the shoes came off.  The lateral flare is clearer from this view and if you compare today's photo, the shift in balance is more obvious, as is the much healthier frog. 

Back to the LF, and here are his bar shoes on day one. 

Below, a few days after shoes came off and you can see a weak frog and contracted heels.  

The bar shoes pretty effectively obscure the entire solar view, but again, a few days after the shoes came off things are a bit clearer.

As with the RF, there is a lateral flare in this foot too and the typical weak frog and contracted heels.

Three weeks later and things are improving.  I haven't managed to upload footage for Ted yet but I will do that as soon as I can. 

Finally, a reminder of his under-run heels and long toes - on day one and (below) a few days after the shoes came off.  Its interesting to chart the progress of the nail holes!

Three weeks later and a bit more hoof growth but more importantly growth at a better, stronger angle.  

More on Ted soon...!

The whole horse

This is a post which will be obvious to many of you, but since you know that the horses here all come with foot problems, I thought it might be interesting for me to highlighting some of the related problem areas within the body which are inevitable consequences of lameness in front.  

When horses come here its because they have a long standing problem, usually a lameness which has its source within the hoof - often the caudal (back) of the hoof, although other structures can be involved in the veterinary diagnosis.  

However, it will come as no surprise to any of you that problems in the hoof are never insulated or self-contained and in any animal, especially a four-legged one, inability to use one leg properly affects the rest of the body.   

There are inevitable knock on effects when a horse is unable to load its feet comfortably and correctly.  These aren't sudden, catastrophic injuries but small, niggling discomforts which step by step, day by day, can accumulate and increase.  

The arrows point to the sites of the most common problems:

• The big muscles surrounding the shoulders are almost inevitably sore when horses are lame in front.  It may seem obvious, but this can lead to horses being "sharp" when saddled or mounted.  The problem will usually be worse on one side than the other which will be particularly apparent to equine chiropractors, osteopaths and masseurs.

• Horses can suffer from restricted neck flexion as they brace to take weight off the worst leg.  They will be one-sided on turns, of course, and again the problem will usually be obvious to a bodyworker. 

• Lumbar and sacro-iliac problems are common because most horses are lamer on one front leg than the other.  Inevitably, front limb problems affect hind limbs and restricted movement in - for example - the left front will lead to a shorter stride on the right hind.  Over time, an unequal thrust in the hind limbs will lead to discomfort as one hind leg pushes harder than the other, resulting in a twist in this area. 

• Hooves with a medio-lateral imbalance can strain check ligaments, particularly in faster work or on uneven ground. 

• If front limbs aren't loading correctly, there are often knock-on problems behind - the most common are hock spavins or hind suspensory problems.
  

What I tend to see in the horses here is that as the front limbs become stronger and sounder the related problems also improve - as you'd expect.  But of course, where body issues are secondary to the front limb problem, then if you haven't sorted out the limb first, the other issues will keep recurring, no matter how many times a vet or bodyworker attempts to "fix" them.  

Weather...

They are moaning in Texas about the fact that its raining... truly - have a look at Jen's blog if you don't believe me :-)

Even worse, the temperature there has got down to only the mid 50s fahrenheit  (that's still in double figures when you convert it to celsius, folks).  So here is something for the Texans, those in Dubai, and anyone else who reads this blog from somewhere other than the west coast of the UK...

...and we are getting much better weather than lots of the UK (hard to believe, sometimes, but of course hail just bounces off)... Oh, what fun it is putting miles on hooves in December...

PS: They were lying about it not raining on Friday - what a surprise...

Time for Thomas and a Paddy update

Thomas has now been here for a month - a month which has shot by but has seen him change from toe first to a heel first landing and to start working properly again.  He has now been in work for just over 2 weeks and so far all is going well.  

Thomas' feet looked pretty good when he arrived but if you compare the same foot today you can see that already he has a shorter toe and I am sure this is one of the factors that has helped to improve his landing.   

You can also see on the more recent photo above that he is beginning to grow in a better hoof capsule.  I've got to get some better sole shots as the ones I've taken are too dark to see anything (well thats Exmoor in winter for you) but I'll get those up as soon as I can. 

Meanwhile Tom is very happy to be out and about again and although we are building his work up slowly, as he has been a very long time out of work, he is making good progress so far. 

The last month has also, as you know, been a very eventful one for Paddy, who had his colic surgery 5 weeks ago.  He has made a fantastic recovery and has coped with his ongoing box rest extremely happily.   His opinion seems to be that  - since box rest consists of ad lib haylage, no exercise and numerous opportunities to graze on the front lawn in hand - why is there anything to complain about?

It has made his recovery much less stressful for all of us and when his vet came to see him yesterday she was delighted with how well he had done.  He now has the all clear to come back into very gentle work and can come off box rest next week - well done Paddy!

"You didn't mention work did you?! I'm an invalid..."

Calling all owners...

I'm looking for feedback from you guys on an idea that's been bubbling away since the Rehab Reunion last September...(this photo is nothing to do with that, but Adrian posted it on Facebook and I love it - Felix, Charlie, Stacy and me on Saturday!).

It seemed to me that one of the aspects of the RRR which was most rewarding and useful was the chance to talk to other owners, compare how your horses are getting on, swap tips and advice and give each other encouragement and support.

So, I was wondering whether you would you be interested in having the odd weekend "get-together" - without horses but with other owners - when you could do just that?

It would be a good chance to go into some of the most important aspects (like nutrition and biomechanics) in more detail and to brainstorm about how to improve things.  If you were up for it, I would try and get an interesting speaker to come - there would be a charge but I would keep it as low as possible.

I'd love your thoughts and if it seems like a good idea I'll try to put something together for 2012...