Rockley farm?? Experiences

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Scottierose

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Hi guys,

Having problems with my TBs feet and lameness. She has been to rossdales and they dont know how to get her right :(

Her pedal bone is sinking towards the heel so starting negative rotation and her soles are stupidly thin :(

Vets are talking PTS at the end of the summer :(






However I have stumbled across Rockley farm.......I am thinking with such good success stories they may be able to help?

Has anyone heard of them or got any experience?

I have left them a voicemail but no response as of yet.
 
There have been threads about Rockley - all positive and good results from what I have read so think it worth having a serious chat with them.

Sure if you search HHO for Rockley that you will find these threads
 
Get your horse off grass onto a deep bed and use boots and pads when he's out of the stable .
Put the horse onto a low sugar diet and feed a suitable supplement such as the forage plus performance balancer .
I would buy the Feet First book by Nic Barker it quite old now and some things have changed such as we know now feeding seaweed is not a great idea but it will give a good overview of what the bare foot thinking is about .
It took eighteen months to turn round my TBs feet but the change was dramatic .
 
As Goldenstar - top priority is boots with good pads, and diet. You need to support the internal structures of the feet and stimulate the sole and frog to be able to do that eventually. Read anything you can find by Pete Ramey, there is quite a lot on The Laminitis Site http://www.thelaminitissite.org/. Even if he seems not to have acute laminitis, Pete Ramey maintains that a lot of hoof problems are sub clinical laminitis and the hoof walls and their lamina can no longer carry the weight.
Get a GOOD experienced trimmer/Equine Podiatrist (EP) who will help you find the right boots and environment and trim to realign the hoof capsule in relation to the pedal bone - you can do it at home, no need for Rockley unless you are really really short of time or don't have decent EP in your area.
 
I would want to understand why he has been given the summer, in my thinking it is easier to manage diet with hay than grass ie in winter.
If the horse is in pain and will never improve then you have to decide to make a difficult decision ....
What feed and management advice have you been given.
I assume you do not ride, therefore boots would not be indicated.
Is there a big pen, stabling permanently is not fair, and most horses would go mad when turned out after a few days stabled.
Rockley only take certain horses, and the shoes are removed to allow them to rehabilitate.
 
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Also test for Cushings, whatever her age. A friend successfully rehabbed a horse written off with navicular over the winter and he went footie three weeks ago. She tested him against the advice of her vet who told her she was wasting her money....... until an absolutely conclusive high reading came back.

I am heartily sick of places like the big hospitals and well qualified equine specialist vets writing off horses without considering diet or shoe removal. When are they going to wise up, we've been banging this drum for getting on for ten years now? It's shameful the advice they are giving owners, it really is :(

OP you have a good chance of saving your mare, do what the people above have said.
 
Bonkers2 said:
I assume you do not ride, therefore boots would not be indicated.
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That is so not true - boots form an important part of rehabilitation nowadays. http://www.hoofrehab.com/BootArticle.htm It is vital that a horse moves as much as possible and once the acute stage is over, boots and well chosen pads can give almost as much support as a deep bed while allowing for plenty of movement. Mine is in boots in his paddock and I am about to start in hand roadwork in his boots. Good strong fibrous tissue in the feet is generated by the stimulation of movement, which is impossible on box rest, the only kind alternative to boots, and especially for those horses who don't tolerate endless box rest.
 
JillA said:
That is so not true - boots form an important part of rehabilitation nowadays. http://www.hoofrehab.com/BootArticle.htm It is vital that a horse moves as much as possible and once the acute stage is over, boots and well chosen pads can give almost as much support as a deep bed while allowing for plenty of movement. Mine is in boots in his paddock and I am about to start in hand roadwork in his boots. Good strong fibrous tissue in the feet is generated by the stimulation of movement, which is impossible on box rest, the only kind alternative to boots, and especially for those horses who don't tolerate endless box rest.
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I know Pete Ramey recommends boots ..... for ridden horses..
I don"t think box rest on a deep bed is indicated here, I would want to encourage movement on a flat surface, not a hard rutted field, some fields would be good, some not.
If horses can be booted 24/7 they will not self trim.
I think the flare would have to be removed, but Nic trims minimally,
 
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Sorry I was getting mixed up with a horse that has had his shoes removed, so ...... you need to alter diet: increase fibre and minerals.
Cut out cereals and sugars, add salt.
Remove shoes, DO NOT ALLOW FARRIER TO PARE FROG AND SOLE, and turn out, preferably in an arena size pen, walk in hand on a level surface as much as comfortable.
Do not ride a lame horse or one that cannot stride out.
There are casts which may also be appropriate.
 
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Rockley is excellent, Nic is very straightforward and will give you a clear answer on whether she thinks she can help or not. She doesn't trim at all any more, her rehab is based on providing horses with the right conditions to grow the hooves they need.

As others have said, you can do a lot yourself but you need to read a lot, throw out a lot of preconceptions and be prepared to do things differently (the hardes part of all of it can be dealing with other people - at your yard if it's very traditional, plus vet, farrier, random friends who are suddenly 'experts').

The best place to start is the 'essentials' section of Nic's blog: http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.co.uk/p/hoofcare-essentials.html?m=1
 
FW is right, Nic doesn't trim at all. There are quite a few members on here who have sent horses to Rockley, so I'm sure you will get plenty of insight OP. My sister's gelding went back in 2012 and it was the best thing we could have done for him. Now we would rehab at home, but at the time we definitely didn't known enough and I think we would have struggled to do it ourselves. He had navicular - remedial shoes helped at first, but the improvements didn't last and one final attempt to get his feet right resulted in a bout of mechanical laminitis that we really thought might be the end of him :(. However, he pulled through and we took his shoes straight off and sent him to Nic. The changes in his feet were amazing - I'm not we'd have had the courage to keep going at home, they went through some seriously odd phases! But they did sort themselves out in time, without a rasp in sight. Now, this horse has a whole host of other problems so he isn't out doing XC and hunting like a lot of former rehabs, but he is sound and does very well as a light hack. Which is quite impressive for a horse who was on his last chance four years ago!

The one thing I would say is don't expect Rockley/ barefoot rehab to be an instant fix-all. It requires a lot of hard work and there may be some damage that is too advanced to be fixed. And like others have said, diet is important - Nic's blog (and/ or book) is a great place to start.
 
Speaking from personal experience, Rockley is excellent.

A horse of mine went a few years ago, his feet were appalling and he had multiple lameness issues. He was there for about 12 weeks and his feet had begun to improve significantly. Sadly as his feet improved other lameness issues became apparent once he was home and he was pts a few months later.

Nic Barker has a wealth of knowledge, the track system there is amazing and I believe has been extended even further in recent years. The Rockley blog is a mine of information - I think you can get it on Facebook too - and the Phoenix barefoot forum is also very very good, very friendly and supportive and lots of good advice and info.
 
FfionWinnie said:
What leads you to say Nic trims minimally. Everything I've read on their blog says they don't trim anything.
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I am getting a message across here ... ie barefoot trimming is not going to be the solution......

I have studied this barefoot business, it takes a while to come to a good understanding and a leap of faith to commit.


Yes, and she would not be able to use boots on some of these horses even if she wanted to due to the shapes of the hooves.
Yes an experienced person may be able to re-hab if they have suitable facilities and knowledge, but the Rockley experience gives the horse its best chance, in this instance the veterinary profession have given a poor prognosis.
 
FfionWinnie said:
What leads you to say Nic trims minimally. Everything I've read on their blog says they don't trim anything.
Click to expand...

I am getting a message across here ... ie barefoot trimming is not likely to be the solution......

I have studied this barefoot business, it takes a while to come to a good understanding and a further leap of faith to commit.

Nic would not be able to use boots on some of these horses even if she wanted to due to the shapes of the hooves.
An experienced person may be able to re-hab if they have suitable facilities and knowledge, but the Rockley experience gives the horse its best chance. In this instance the veterinary profession have given a poor prognosis. It may or may not be suitable for Rockley re-hab, we don t know.
 
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The veterinary profession usually give a poor prognosis on foot lameness, bonkers. The reason for that is that with the treatment they prescribe, shoes and drugs, there normally is a poor prognosis!
 
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ycbm said:
The veterinary profession usually give a poor prognosis on foot lameness, bonkers. The reason for that is that with the treatment they prescribe, shoes and drugs, there normally is a poor prognosis!
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I know that conventional vet ideas are often contra-indicated, but OP is new to the Rockley "formula", and some of the suggestions on here must seem very confusing.
 
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Bonkers2 said:
I know that conventional vet ideas are often contra-indicated, but OP is new to the Rockley "formula", and some of the suggestions on here must seem very confusing.
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None more so that yours which contain incorrect information!

The OP has found Rockley by herself and presumably has half a clue what they do. She's asking for experiences. The experiences on this forum of Rockley are top notch.

Your comment that they only take certain horses implies this is a bad thing, would you rather they took every horse and charged the owner regardless of if there was any hope?

The OPs horse has a death sentence hanging over it from the vet profession. What has she or more importantly the horse, got to lose from pulling it's shoes, speaking to Rockley or looking at doing her own BF rehab?
 
I am very sceptical about barefoot, as I have mentioned on here before. I have a 17hh 12 year old gelding with dreadful feet, flat, collapsed heels, no frog, went through shoes like water through a tap. He had time off due to me not wanting to ride and I got rid of my old farrier, who said he had to be shod every 5 weeks, and got a new bloke who asked why he was wearing shoes. He has now been out in the field for 2 years - so ad lib grass but it is old ley and not fertilized - with a decent supplement and had his hinds off first for a few months then fronts too. His feet are now a great shape, hard as nails, he grew a frog and now has a natural concavity in his sole. The farrier has been once this year just to rasp the front where he got a bit of a split. He is charging about my rock like, uneven fields, sound as a pound.
I am not saying shoes wouldn't be a good idea now if he came back into work but he fixed himself using the dreaded barefoot method. ;-)
 
FfionWinnie said:
None more so that yours which contain incorrect information!

The OP has found Rockley by herself and presumably has half a clue what they do. She's asking for experiences. The experiences on this forum of Rockley are top notch.

Your comment that they only take certain horses implies this is a bad thing, would you rather they took every horse and charged the owner regardless of if there was any hope?

The OPs horse has a death sentence hanging over it from the vet profession. What has she or more importantly the horse, got to lose from pulling it's shoes, speaking to Rockley or looking at doing her own BF rehab?
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I am pro barefoot and Rockley, but they do not just take a horse without considering the problem, the vet reports etc.
 
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My horse went to Rockley last year and is completely sound now. She had foot inflammation and navicular damage. Nic will look at the vet reports and see if she can help. I am not 100% laminitis is something she can help. But she will certainly help with appropriate diet (which is one of the main factors in building a great hoof) and movement. I had to take a days holiday each week for 3 months (during the winter) to ensure my horse got the appropriate amount of road work for the hoof to work properly. As soon as the entire new hoof was through (about 6 months) from going to Rockley she was sound.
 
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