Hello, It’s now been three months since PoleStar had his shoes removed with the goal to grow a new hoof capsule, strengthen his internal foot structures & improve his way of going.
He had an appointment with Debbie Crosoer at the weekend and he has improved another point which means that he has gone from a 3, being able to have 20 mins walking in his boots to a 5, meaning hacking booted or not and schooling etc, up to an hour!
He no longer picks his way over the stones in the yard and again his stride has lengthened with good elevation and he’s extremely relaxed.
The angle of the new growth is noticably different. I guess we’re looking at another 6 months before we are dealing with virgin foot. This will coincide with the hunting season… ideally I would love to have him barefoot for the hunting season but having to be realistic means he will probably need to be shod for the season and then remove them again. Whilst I don’t want the internal structures to weaken from being shod I too don’t want him to suffer foot pain/bruising due to hunting.
However for now we can push on and enjoy the fine weather and the joy of starting to have good strong feet! The picture is from the beginning of March, left hind. You can see his weak under-run heels and bulge at the front of the wall from pressure inside the hoof capsule…