Ambers Echo
Still wittering on
She is not just unlevel. She is clearly if mildly lame on that foot. She also looks unhappy when circled. She puts her ears back and pulls one of her best bitch face expressions!
She is not just unlevel. She is clearly if mildly lame on that foot. She also looks unhappy when circled. She puts her ears back and pulls one of her best bitch face expressions!
I've sent the BEVA conference abtract Ester dug out on the DDFT thread from Rockley Farm about barefoot rehab to my vet. I'll see what he says. I feel like I have to try something. At this point I really have nothing to lose but any sort of rehab without guidance is scary as I don't want to make things worse.
I feel numb. I go from thinking 'oh she'll be fine in the end' to realising that actually she may not be. That this is REAL. I was clearly in denial before. But watching her trot up on the lunge and seeing her the same totally broke my heart. It is on soft surfaces she struggles on the right rein.
You're a long way from no options yet, AE. I really don't understand why your vet has even put that idea in your head at this point. Most horses with Amber's symptoms having an MRI will comeback with a soft tissue injury diagnosis. And even if conventional treatments for that fail, which they are sadly quite likely to, you will still be left with the option of a barefoot rehab.
I think the problem is that barefoot rehab can take a long time to yield good results, and it is also bl00dy hard work! So it might be cheap and effective, but it's by no means an easy option and it is only effective if the work is put in and the horse is able to be kept in the right conditions/ fed the right diet. You are looking at 6 months minimum, and you are never really "done" in the sense that you will still need to manage diet/ workload. My sister's horse went to Rockley and I know a number of other owners through attending a Rockley Rehab event and have them on Facebook, so I know how hard people have to work to continue Nic's good work even when their horse has had a great start at Rockley. It's not an easy option at all, especially when you are keeping a horse at livery and don't have your own set up. And as with any treatment, it doesn't always work.I am hopeful but not optimistic. I just can't get away from my belief that if there really was a cheap, effective treatment for common and career endfing injuries, it would be more widely recognised. And I have worked on enough research trials to know that promising avenues often yield disappointing results when looked at more closely.
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I think the problem is that barefoot rehab can take a long time to yield good results, and it is also bl00dy hard work! So it might be cheap and effective, but it's by no means an easy option and it is only effective if the work is put in and the horse is able to be kept in the right conditions/ fed the right diet. You are looking at 6 months minimum, and you are never really "done" in the sense that you will still need to manage diet/ workload. My sister's horse went to Rockley and I know a number of other owners through attending a Rockley Rehab event and have them on Facebook, so I know how hard people have to work to continue Nic's good work even when their horse has had a great start at Rockley. It's not an easy option at all, especially when you are keeping a horse at livery and don't have your own set up. And as with any treatment, it doesn't always work.
I think the problem is that barefoot rehab can take a long time to yield good results, and it is also bl00dy hard work! So it might be cheap and effective, but it's by no means an easy option and it is only effective if the work is put in and the horse is able to be kept in the right conditions/ fed the right diet. You are looking at 6 months minimum, and you are never really "done" in the sense that you will still need to manage diet/ workload. My sister's horse went to Rockley and I know a number of other owners through attending a Rockley Rehab event and have them on Facebook, so I know how hard people have to work to continue Nic's good work even when their horse has had a great start at Rockley. It's not an easy option at all, especially when you are keeping a horse at livery and don't have your own set up. And as with any treatment, it doesn't always work.
I'd still MRI in your shoes. The not knowing what it was would eat me up.
I've done 3 rehabs and none of them took anywhere near 6 months to be wtc ridden sound. They were dressage competition sound in 3 months for 2 and 4 months for a really bad one with terrible flat feet.
Yes some take longer but Amber really doesn't sound like a severe case, she's already field soundto look at.
we`ve had dramatic improvements, taking on balance 2 months, sometimes in two or three trims, 2 weeks apart, it just involves a change of routine, for us no big deal, but the rewards have been enormous
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Yes some take longer but Amber really doesn't sound like a severe case, she's already field soundto look at.
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Sorry I should have been more specific - I'm not saying that it takes 6 months for you to notice a difference. I was thinking more in terms of hoof growth and how long for the new growth to come through fully (or near enough), at which point you might consider the rehab "finished" (if that makes sense).I've done 3 rehabs and none of them took anywhere near 6 months to be wtc ridden sound. They were dressage competition sound in 3 months for 2 and 4 months for a really bad one with terrible flat feet.
Yes some take longer but Amber really doesn't sound like a severe case, she's already field soundto look at.
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Sorry, I think I have confused people. As i said above, I don't mean that it takes 6 months for you to notice an improvement. I was thinking more in terms of the horse growing in a new hoof capsule and you being able to consider the process "completed". Everything on the website is true, though obviously it differs for some horses - our chap was vastly improved within 4-6 weeks at Rockley and he was ready to come home after just over 3.5 months. But he was quite a complicated one and had very odd feet. But the work went on once we got him home, we couldn't just sit back and relax. I was mainly trying to illustrate to you why it might not be a more "popular" option or have had more studies done, not to say that it is ineffective. Our chap hasn't been lame in front for years (his diagnosis was navicular), though he had to be retired for other reasons.This is not what their website says! It says the horse should be clearly improved within 4 weeks and ready to go home to 'normal' livery set ups within 12 as they recognise that maintaining what they do is unrealistic. Your post reflects exactly what happens in those disappointing research treatment trials. You start looking into it/implemting the protocol and then all the caveats come out and things are nowhere near as promising as they initially seem. I am going into it with full commitment and an open mind. But it is a trial. Just as the trad approach was a trial. I will do the 12 weeks and see what happens.
I really do appreiciate the advice though. Thanks for posting. Ir would not surprise me if the maintenance is much harder work than it looks on paper. But if those 12 weeks leave her sound that will be worth doing. But if she isn't I need to think again.
I'd still MRI in your shoes. The not knowing what it was would eat me up.