Wednesday 18 May 2016

Hooves over 4 weeks

Maybe its because of the long daylight hours but the days and weeks seem to be passing even faster than normal - I could have sworn it was only last week that Thomas arrived but he has actually been here 4 weeks today. 
Comparing the photos I hope you can see how his feet are changing - the toe shortening and the palmar hoof building up, which is always good to see. 
These caudal shots are the best way to assess the digital cushion which - with the frog - is slowly getting stronger. The hoof walls are shortening which is another good sign of a more stable hoof. 
As always, this has been done without trimming, by using different surfaces and lots of movement to get his feet working harder. 
Its still not a frog to be thrilled with but its less contracted and starting to rebuild and at the same time his bars are normalising as well. 

The same picture on the left foot - still lots to do but he is doing everything right so far. 


The aim now is to get a lot more miles onto these feet and build up is muscle as well, since he has been out of work for a long time. Understandably Thomas was a bit confused about coming out of retirement initially but he is now getting the hang of it again. 

Rather than the digital cushion and frog collapsing to the ground its good to see them developing and taking a more active role in supporting the back of the foot. We need plenty more of that over the next few weeks. 

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