Monday 16 December 2013

Peter...and pause

I wanted to post updated photos of Peter because I know both his owner and vet are keen to see what he has been doing over the last couple of weeks. As always, with a horse I haven't seen before he steps off the lorry, its important to set a timeline for initial changes so I normally use the first 4 weeks as a trial period. If we see positive changes, then owner, vet and I can go forward with the rest of the rehab here.
Usually, horses begin making changes in the first couple of weeks and though that's only the first step on a long road, its always encouraging to see. With Peter, one of the first things to change has been his stance, which was wide and wacky when he arrived in his remedial shoes. 
Two weeks later and he is usually happy to stand much more square. At the moment he is looking as if he is toe out but as his medio-lateral balance improves I would expect that to alter. 
You can see he is already growing hoof at a reasonable rate (compare the nail holes and the ridge just below the hairline in the top photo) and more importantly his heels are if anything less under-run now than they were in his shoes.
Importantly, Peter is stomping around very happily out of them and its comfortable movement which will make the most difference to him now.

 This is the same foot the day after his shoes came off and today. The biggest change for now is in the lateral heel which was very unbalanced in the initial shots.
Lots of work still to do on his frogs but that should come. 



 Some nice changes starting to happen in his LF though he has a lot to do, of course.

I'm now going to take a break from the blog for a couple of weeks. Its been an incredibly busy year and its been fantastic but I feel like now is a good opportunity to take time out from the blog - after all we've all got better things to do over Christmas and the New Year :-) 

Have a great one, and see you later! 

6 comments:

Molly's hoof blog said...

Happy Christmas, Nic! Keep up the good work! I am looking forward to all the changes the horses made, in the new year!

amandap said...

Looking good Peter.

Happy Christmas to all at Rockley and thank you Nic for this wonderful blog.

Nic Barker said...

Thanks guys :-) Hoping to come back better than ever in 2014 - have a great one yourselves!

cptrayes said...

Merry Christmas!!!

C

Nic Barker said...

and god bless us every one, as tiny tim would say ;-)

AmandaB said...

Have a great Christmas will look forward to next years posts .