Monday 24 August 2015

Dakota's 10 week update

Another belated update, but here are Dakota's 10 week photos, starting off with her worse foot, LF. She was as you can see unhappy to load it properly when she arrived. She has had ups and downs on this foot but is now landing heel first on it and is much happier to stand square. 
You can see the angle of the new hoof growth and that her hoof wall will be shorter and stronger once it has fully grown in.
She is also building a better frog although again it will be another few months before the changes are complete. 

There is a significant difference in the strength of the palmar hoof  - the digital cushion is less crushed, hoof wall is shorter and her frog is able to make ground contact as it should. 

This was a healthier foot to start with and so the changes are less dramatic but there is an improvement in the hairline, which no longer collapses towards the back of the foot. 
Again, there will be a shorter, stronger hoof capsule once the new growth is complete. 
Her heels still need to come back more and her frog will develop further but the sole and frog are already healthier and responding to better loading rather than the whole weight being confined to the periphery of the foot, as it was when she was shod. 

Nice to see a digital cushion and frog which are recovering! It never ceases to amaze me how they pop out and build up as soon as they are given the chance. 


3 comments:

Karen B in so california said...

I'm learning so much from your blog and am a HUGE believer in having horses go barefoot. I knew that I liked it for horses, I just didn't know * I liked it.

I tracked with everything in the above post except for this sentence: "but there is an improvement in the hairline, which no longer collapses towards the back of the foot."

Can you explain what you mean by the hairline no longer collapsing toward the back of the foot?

Many thanks,

Karen

Nic Barker said...

Hi Karen, Thanks for the kind words - much appreciated :-) I mean that if you look at the earlier photo the hairline slopes downwards towards the floor as you look toward the back of the foot. By contrast in the more recent photo the hairline is more level - usually a sign of a more well-balanced hoof capsule.

Hope that helps,

Nic

Karen B in so california said...

Yes! Very cool. I see now what you're talking about. Thank you.