While I was at New Bolton they took radiographs of Ri's left front foot. As I said in an earlier post, they said that the heel needed to be lowered--almost 7 degrees -- and they said to shorten the toe. Out of curiosity, I dug out an old x-ray of Riley's same foot from 2009, when he was barefoot at age 3.
The 2009 shot is pictured left. The toe was really long then, the top of the coffin bone is slippered, and the coffin bone is not quite parallel with the hoof wall. In 2011 (right) you do see the issues with the coffin bone angle more clearly, as well as a dish to the front surface of the hoof. But overall, considering the change in farriers, passage of time, and addition of shoes, not a huge difference. You can see the front of the horse shoe has been rolled to help with breakover.
Since this last picture was taken, Ri has been reshod. The toe has been shortened, but the lowering of the heel has to be done with care, and across several shoeings...
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Is that the quality of the photo or his actual bone density? Crazy!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. It almost looks a little "clubby" with that angle. Apparently, he is one of those horses that needs regular trimming/shoeing and care to get those angles just right as he's going to grow them "his way," if left alone. And it seems that "his way," definitely affects his soundness. Amazing.
ReplyDeleteI see arthritis. Cranial portion of the coffin joint and caudal portion of the pastern joint. New from the past two years and it looks as though calcifications have occurred.
ReplyDeleteJean, that's his clubby foot for sure; Checkmark, I think wearing shoes affects the radiograph but other than that I'm not sure what you're referring to; Suzie, New Bolton didn't mention it at all, and they were charged with finding reasons Ri might be lame on this foot. FWIW.
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