Bryan's updated video and RRR 2012

A quick update following on from his photos yesterday...



Its tricky to lunge him on his blind side (right rein) because of course he has only a limited idea of where I am, but he is much better on the LH than he was and I think is generally more fluid and balanced - see what you think.

Also, there are various ideas and venues being bounced around already for the Rockley Rehab Reunion 2012 on the RR forum: rockleyrehabs.proboards.com/  If you are an owner and think you might be up for a get together in the autumn, do join us  - there is a cool map showing where everyone is and we are trying to work out a central location - the more the merrier :-)

Feel-good Friday Flyer!

I had a lovely video clip sent to me yesterday, showing a smart grey TB doing a lovely clear round in her and her rider's first SJ together.  

I can't post the video at the moment but I've got these stills from it and you can see how much they are enjoying themselves.

This is particularly special for me to watch because the mare is Lucy, who arrived here as a rehab horse with a diagnosis of collateral ligament damage in March 2011.  She went home in June 2011 and has now moved to Yorkshire, where she has carried on going from strength to strength.

She has since gone back to her proper job, as an event horse, and I really hope to be able to post more updates on her over this season.  She is looking fantastic and every bit as good, if not better, than I remember her!

And while we are on the subject of showjumping, I wanted to post some comparison pics of current rehab Bryan, which show how fast his feet are changing.

You've seen this shot before, but its just comparing his LF at day one (above) and 6 weeks (below).

You can see how much growth has already occurred, by the position of the nail holes and mark on his hoof.  You can also (I hope!) see that the foot is stronger at the back and less under-run.

The caudal shot confirms what you can see laterally...

better development and a more robust hoof. 

Sole shots again, same story, different angle...

at 4 weeks (above) and 6 weeks (below) you can really see the hoof "unfolding"...

and finally an interesting one showing the balance shift in his LF over the same time-frame...

Can you see why his collateral ligaments were under strain?!

When Lucy was here she made extremely rapid changes, but she was only 5 years old.  Its all the more impressive that Bryan has made such good progress in his first 6 weeks when you consider that he is 15 and has been in shoes for many years.   Who knows what he might be doing this time next year?

Sunny bays...

...and the living is easy...

or

 Felix, Georgia, Knightley and Charlie strolling and gleaming in the sun!

Rugs off in March (at least while the sun is out and until the fog rolls back in!) is a good sign - let's hope Spring is sprung...

Hound puppies

Meet the latest Exmoor foxhound puppies to be walked at Rockley :-)  They were born at the beginning of January and we picked them up at the end of last week, but until a couple of days ago they didn't have names, and you can't come on the blog without a name!

We walked their uncle and aunt, Griffin and Goldfinch, in 2008 so it's lovely to have the new generation here to cause havoc.  

The dog puppy, who is now called Daniel (they have "D" names after their father, Draper) is the spitting image of his Uncle Griffin and has his incredibly affectionate temperament.

HIs naughty little sister, Delilah, is a complete minx (belying the cute and innocent photo of her at the top of the blog) and has already fallen into the pond, escaped from the yard and enjoys causing trouble especially with Winston, who views her as a potential partner in crime...

Here Winston is about to show them how to jump the yard gate... 

...and here he is telling her to act nonchalant so they can slope off hunting together...

Bailey and barefoot at breakfast

Bailey Griffiths has now been here 4 weeks, and its time for me to update his photos.  I will add new footage of him shortly.  He arrived straight from box rest and for the first day or so, found the increased movement of being on the tracks tiring but he nevertheless enjoyed having more space and company and has settled in really well. 

Over 4 weeks, his hooves have already started to change.  The top photo is the day he arrived...

....this photo is the day after his shoes were removed, and the lower photo is today. 

Bailey has big changes still to make but his frog is healthier and his heels less under-run and his foot is beginning to function again. 

Frogs can't work in a bar shoe!

I will post more on Bailey soon, but yesterday also saw the barn radio (which is always tuned to radio 2) broadcasting news about Chris Evans becoming interested in barefoot.  Not horses, of course, but fascinating nonetheless...You can find it on the BBC iplayer at 2:11:55 onwards...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b01d5nmh

Thanks to Phil Hunter for sending me the relevant snippet specially for the blog, but I can't show it here for some reason, only the link :-(

Something from the weekend

A weekend of contrast at Rockley, with Saturday misty, murky and damp and Sunday glorious - blue sky, birdsong, daffodils and all the other harbingers of spring lined up to make us feel happy :-)

Luckily, though Domino's family came to see him on the wrong day (as far as the weather was concerned),  it was a good day both for him and Georgia, who has known him all her life.

It may sound anthropomorphic, but I often see horses appear to show renewed pride and confidence when they are back in work and get their "old job" back, and Domino is a prime example.

Normally horses don't go into ridden work here within their first 10 days(!), but Georgia was desperate to ride and Dom was desperate to be ridden, so we made an exception and although they didn't go very far, it made them both very happy :-)

You'll have to excuse the sand (? I assume) on the lens of my camera - it was just the point-and-squirt camera that I happened to have in my pocket.  We are also aware that Georgia's stirrups aren't ideal, but there were 3 adults within spitting distance, Dom is an old pro, and next time she will bring proper irons and leathers!

For completeness, here are some quick hoof comparison shots, though as Dom has been here such a short time there is still a lot to do.

How to maintain a healthy hoof

A few of you have asked previously for more info about the tracks at Rockley, how they work and why they are important.

I've posted before about the actual layout...

http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/2010/09/tracks.html

...why they are important for rehab horses...

http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/2010/09/more-about-tracks.html

and how the tracks can help horses to self-trim...

http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/2011/07/celery-and-surfaces.html

but of course that's not the whole story.

 Fundamentally, the tracks are here for 3 reasons, and 3 reasons only.

1 (The most important reason) The tracks provide a supportive but stimulating surface for horses with long term lameness and therefore enable them to be comfortable enough to start moving correctly.

2  The tracks ensure that I can always turn horses out on good surfaces, even when our fields are wet or when grazing is too risky.

3  The tracks encourage free movement and allow horses access to ad lib forage and companions.

They are a lovely resource to have, but what the tracks don't do is create healthy feet all by themselves.  Owners often assume that these surfaces are important for barefoot horses - in fact, they are important only for lame horses with weak feet.

Once horses are sound and back in full work, the tracks are not only unnecessary, but they are no substitute for correct work and miles and miles of exercise. 

And you don't need tracks for that - in fact one of the most important factors in helping a sound horse to grow a fabulous, tough, healthy foot is good, old-fashioned roadwork.  

Its something I always make owners promise to do LOTS of when they get home.  Kate and Storm have been a great advert for how essential continuous work is in restoring and maintaining soundness :-)  As with most things in life, you have to put in the effort to get the benefits!

Of course, there are times when its impossible to do enough mileage - the weather can be icy, roads too dangerous, and sometimes horses or their owners have unplanned time off work.  If that happens, then accept that your horse's hooves will have lost some "fitness" - even if you have the luxury of a track system - and bear that in mind as you start work again, building up steadily and gradually until you are back at the same level as before the break. 

I'll come back to this in future posts, as feet change very quickly when work patterns alter, and both improvements and deteriorations can happen extremely fast.