Six Week Update

There have been a lot of good changes since the shoes came off July 13th. Shorty is walking flat and heel first on flat concrete! Still a bit careful/compensating when turning in a tight circle, and still slightly off on LF, but in the last 2 weeks I have also stopped giving him Equiox. It’s about time to order more and I have enough left to start him back on it if needed, but I thought since he’s not being worked and he’s now comfortable enough to turn out barefoot, that it is important not to hide anything or make us think we were making more progress than we actually are. I also want HIM to know where he’s at in case he gets a little frisky and hopefully doesn’t over do it!

For the record, I am following diet and rehab done by Rockley Farm in Europe. It is owned by Nic Barker and she’s done amazing things for horses with compromised feet. I also follow on Facebook the Barefoot Method for Navicular, and Pete Ramey’s Hoof Rehab group. (Edit March 2020: Hoof Rehab is now ‘Hoof Care and Rehabilitation’)

Here are some photos of our progress:

Sole and frog have developed quite a bit. The frog has widened and the central sulcus crack gets filled with Red Horse Artimud to prevent infection and stuff getting packed in there.

Most exciting is how much wider his hoof is overall! I had thought this wouldn’t happen until he had grown out a new hoof capsule, but obviously without the limitations of a shoe, his hoof wall has expanded a lot while walking on the ground surface!

  

Here are still shots from a video this weekend to see how he’s landing. Definitely shows that he is no longer landing toe first, but I do think he will have even more confident heel landings and a longer stride as we continue to develop a stronger hoof. We haven’t even grown out all the nail holes yet! You can also see that he loads the outside hoof wall on the right front on landing, which can and should also improve to become more level with a healthier functioning foot.

Handsome Shorty, always willing to clean up the hay dropped from the last feeding! 😜