Well they’re not the best pictures but these are sole shots as Bruno’s shoes were removed. Matt my farrier of many years suggested trimming only the bars away so as to avoid pressure points. Apart from that the approach has been less is more…and time will tell.
The first pic is Bruno’s near fore. It’s the more concave of the two and is the more upright and contracted foot with correspondingly contracted frog, the heels are less under run but there’s still not much of them. He’s most comfortable on this foot straight away but even when he moves on a soft surface this is definately not a heel first landing and the stride looks slightly shorter on this limb. To be honest I think it always has (he had suspensory issues as a youngster and it was worse on this limb so I had assumed scar tissue) but now I’m wondering…is the foot more contracted because he’s historically compensated for other issues (i.e loaded it less than the other) or does he move short on this limb because the more contracted foot is not as good at absorbing concussion!? As you can tell – this is a huge learning curve for me.
Near fore day 1
![20141007_093943[1]](https://ridgefieldstables.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/20141007_0939431.jpg)
Off fore day 1
The second image is the off fore – the ‘problem foot’ where the intermittent lameness began. Throughout treatment there has been heat in this foot and it’s the one he’s been pointing. Moving on a soft surface or in boots now the breakover is better on this foot and it’s landing flatter (at least to my naked eye). The sole is practically flat though, no concavity at all and he’s struggling on gravel and the hardcore to the field on this foot. The worst thing about it to my eye is the way the heels are so under run…everything seems to grow forwards rather than down and the toe is long. Significant change needed here I imagine before we can expect major impact on soundness.
healthy, happy horses 