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Jamie 15.3hh TB 10 years old
Jamie is proof that two slightly hormonal, hung over women should not attend Reading horse sales. Myself and a friend Sally went to Reading Horse Sales on Friday 4th February to try and sell three of her saddles. As viewing for the tack section starts quite early, we were there in plenty of time to have a look around. As we walked through to the auction rooms a small TB, looking a bit sorry for himself caught my eye. The night before the sale we had been joking about coming back from the sale with a horse with terrible feet, when we went and looked at the little horse he had some of the worst unshod feet I have ever seen. He was very friendly, happy to be handled all over and accepted a polo with relish. Next to the little TB was a mare, she was an eye catching sort, and we discovered that she had been entered for the sale. We kept an eye out for her and she duly came into the ring, she had fantastic movement and we thought she was a really classy animal. For some reason she never met her reserve which was only around £500. We carried on mooching about the sale, I bought two saddles and a few bits and pieces and Sally failed to sell her saddles. When we were about to leave we discovered that both horses that we had seen first thing in the morning were tied up together at the lorry, we went over to say goodbye to them. A man came out and said that they had both been sold, then a younger man came out and said that they had been sold, but if we wanted them we could still buy them. We were a bit confused by this until he said that the meat man had agreed to take them both, but if we wanted them we could up his offer and have them. I asked to see the gelding move and the chap said that he was lame, which he was, but not hopping, and due to the state of his feet it really wasn't surprising. The owner then gave us a bit more information about them, the gelding was younger and had all his papers with him, the mare was a bit older, a lot more sensitive and had no papers. The owner was very honest with us, he makes his living buying up cheap TB's which he sells on to a man that sells them to Potters. Potters like TB's as the quality of the meat is good, they knacker them and the carcasses get frozen and sent to France. I'd heard this story before, in fact I was pretty sure I had come across this dealer before. By this point we were determined that we wanted to save them, however we only had enough cash to save one of them. The gelding had paperwork with him and I already have geldings, plus I had an empty stable. The mare had no paperwork, seemed a more challenging proposition temperament wise, Sally had a mare, but her yard is very expensive to keep a horse at. Eventually after much soul searching and a few tears we decided on the gelding. A deal was struck and the dealer agreed to deliver him for us. When he dropped him off he unloaded him and said 'now be nice to these ladies and behave yourself, you don't realise how lucky you are.' He was actually quite a nice chap, I can't agree with how he makes a living but he handled the horses nicely. As a racehorse Jamie is the worst racer in the history of racing, 14 starts, no wins and the only time he ever beat a horse was when he came 13th out of a field of 17. This is Jamie the day after we got him (5th February 2005).
And after two days.
You can see how over at the knee he is, this is because of his feet, at this point they have still not been trimmed. Apart from this the only thing we could find wrong with him was a couple of sarcoids near his sheath. After we had had him a few days the equine dentist was at the yard, along with a vet. Jamie wasn't particularly pleased about having his teeth done so he was sedated. It was a good job as his mouth was among one of the worse the dentist has ever seen, lots of hooks, a huge wave and damage to the inside of his cheeks. He took to sedation very well, was only given a light dose and was quite wobbly. The dentist thought that if someone had tried to ride him as he was, he would be rearing and spinning, so perhaps behavioural problems were part of the reason why he ended up where he did. As luck would have it the 9th February was also the day the farrier was in the yard. As there was such a lot to come off we asked the farrier to do it, at that point Neil wasn't very confident with his nipper skills and it would have been a long and uncomfortable process to get his feet to where they should have been. Even though he was still under the sedation, he wasn't happy at all about having his feet done by a farrier, perhaps another reason why his feet were in the state they were in? This is Jamie with Sally on the 12th Feb, eight days after we first got him. You can see he is already much straighter in the front legs, and this was just with a pasture trim.
It was around this time that we discovered something interesting. Jamie had been bred by a person called Helen Yeadon. A Helen Yeadon was the founder of Greatwood Rehabilitation centre for ex race TB's. It couldn't be the same Helen Yeadon could it? It was!! Helen was very pleased to hear from us. She had lost touch with Jamie when he went out of training as a four year old. She was a small scale breeder, had only bred Jamie and his brother who she still has at the centre, she also owned both his mother and father. His mother unfortunately has died but his father and brother are still alive and well. It seems a weird quirk of fate that we have rescued from the meat man a horse bred by someone so committed to the welfare of ex-racehorses. Helen has offered us a home at the centre for him should we ever need it. And this was Jamie in June 05, some five months after we first had him. Neil is doing some Baucher flexions with him. There are a few thing wrong with this picture, firstly Neil has asked for slightly too much flexion, I will forgive him this though, this is a stretching/flexing exercise so I will accept slightly more behind the vertical than ridden. Secondly Jamie has his mouth open. This is a remnant from his racing days, he has a very shallow mouth and a small tongue and is actually quite hard to bit, we are still playing around with bits at this point, possibly a drop noseband may have been beneficial. Thirdly and most importantly Neil hasn't made sure that Jamie is standing square, to fully get the benefit of this flexion standing square would have helped as it would have bought the back into play a bit more. This was actually more of a 'playing' session to see how he responded to the bridle than a 'working' session.
We have now discovered from various bodyworkers and his reaction to significant weight over a saddle, that he has a sub-luxated vertebrae. This means that it's unlikely that he will ever carry a rider in comfort, which means that's he's probably never going to be ridden. At the moment he enjoys his walks in hand around the countryside, he no longer wears boots out on the road. He does bits of groundwork in the school which he enjoys, he is also boss of the field which is a surprise as he is a very unassuming character. Peter Laidely thinks we should break him to drive, I know he was a slow racehorse but I've seen him galloping around the field, I'm not sure I really want to be sat behind something capable of going that fast!! He is a good boy and the horse everyone wants to be around if they are having a bad day. He is easy to handle, takes most things in his stride and even if he has a 'thoroughbred moment' it's forgotten about very quickly. He's the horse that made me start thinking about horses more positively again, and for that reason, he is worth his weight in gold. Jamie's feet were in a terrible condition when we got him, they were very long and the heels had wrapped around underneath the hoof so he was walking on outer hoof wall instead of sole. He found it difficult to have his feet picked out and to stand on three legs for any great period of time. Where the hoof had chipped it was better, the hind feet were much better than the front. I don't have a problem with unhealthy wall chipping away, it's probably going to go anyway and if you keep the edges smooth it's usually not a issue. Near Fore Solar View 5th Feb 05. This is not the best picture in the world, ideally I would have cleaned the foot off and the camera is not at a brilliant angle to the sole, however it's not easy holding up a leg and take a picture by yourself, when the horse is struggling to stand on three legs at the same time!! The heels are contracted and very underun, the frog is weak, the wall is folded in on itself and in places has chipped away. I may be holding it at a bad angle but the hoof looks to be drifting outwards. Now it's actually not a daunting prospect but in Feb 05 it was all a bit scary.
Near Fore Lateral View 5th Feb 05. This picture shows the underun heel and flare at the toe, you can clearly see the change in angle in the hoof.
Front Feet 5th February 05. The feet don't actually look so bad in this shot, the camera angle is not great but it shows the tendency for the feet to point outwards, this along with the compensation of being over at the knee could cause all sorts of other problems elsewhere in the body. Jamie still suffers from shoulder tension, after we had him about three weeks his muscles went all soft and floppy, it was like his body had finally decided to let go.
9th February 05. On the 9th Feb our farrier was in the yard, the was the earliest opportunity we had got to get any sort of foot expert out to see him. I didn't trust Neil to do the initial trim, particularly as it really needed nippers and at this stage we didn't have any. The hoof care professional we wanted to use was many miles away and could not come out for several weeks. Near Fore Solar View 9th Feb 05. We asked the farrier to trim off the excess hoof, not to rasp the sole and that was pretty much it. This picture shows that he has done just that, there are a few rasp marks showing just off centre at the toe, this has been caused by rasping the heel and having the rasp on the diagonal, which is how farriers are taught to rasp, always working across a diagonal. This is very light rasping though and would not have made much difference. The point of the frog has been trimmed, it probably had a flap. The heels have been taken down and that's it. This picture clearly shows how weak the frog is, the heels are contracted and also weak. It's a black foot so white line disease isn't as visible, especially as the foot has not been scrubbed clean. There are a couple of areas of separation showing.
Near Fore Lateral View 9th Feb 05. This picture shows that the bottom part of the hoof has been lightly rasped. No roll has been applied. The heels have come back somewhat but still have a way to go.
Front Feet 9th Feb 05. The finished trim on both front feet. They already appear straighter now the heels have been trimmed.
This was a fairly good example of a conservative pasture trim. Usually in a pasture trim sole is removed but in this instance the farrier left them as we asked. Near Fore Solar View 22 Feb 05. This is how the near fore has naturally worn following the first trim. There is some natural exfoliation happening to the sole. The toe has also naturally worn, the walls and bars have grown. The heels are still contracted, miracles do not often happen in 13 days (although it has been known!). I think the frog is looking a bit healthier, it looks slightly fuller.
Near Fore Lateral View 6 March 05. By this point Jamie has had his first trim from a AANHCP hoof care professional. The toe and heels have come back somewhat, a small roll has been applied. There is still some flare at the toe and a small crack has appeared, just off centre of the toe. There is also flare at the quarters. It's a very different foot from a month earlier though!
Off Fore Solar View 28th August 05. Off fore this time as for some reason I didn't take any of the near fore. Both feet are quite similar at this stage, the sole and frog has hardened, the summer weather has definitely helped. The frog looks more like a functioning entity, the heels have decontracted and the whole foot is much more workmanlike. Neil is trimming Jamie full time at this point.
Off Fore Lateral View 28th August 05. The lateral view shows that the heels can still come back and that there is some uneven hoof wall thickness and flare still on the foot.
The main problem with Jamie at this stage is that he is not doing enough work on the tarmac, we have built up to 45 minute walks in hand in the boots, but ideally he needs to be working on a hard surface without boots. Near Fore Solar View 22 Jan 06. A terrible photo unfortunately but it does show that we have some concavity, again it looks like a functioning foot.
Off Fore 22 Jan 06. Still a bit of flare that needs to be addressed but all in all, not a bad looking foot.
January 2007 I can't believe it's been a year since I have taken any hoof photos of Jamie. If I have I can't find any so these are almost exactly a year on. This pictures are taken half way between his trim cycle, he will probably be trimmed again in a couple of weeks time. Near Fore 27th January 07 There is not a huge amount of difference in this photo and the off fore above taken a year previously. I would say that there is less flare on this picture and the roll is more established. Neil has evolved his trimming style over the last six months and is expecting these pictures to be very different. I'm not so sure, there is a reason for this which I will explain on the solar picture.
Near Fore Lateral View 27th January 07 This picture shows that there is still a tighter foot to grow in, if you project a line from the coronet band downwards, following the angle of the top inch or so, the line would end with the toe of the hoof in front of it. We have still got forward toe and underrun heels. The flash has caused a white spot on the picture which looks like there may be some flare here as well, this could just be an optical illusion.
Near Fore Solar View 27th January 07 I'm really disappointed with this picture. If you compare this to the off fore solar view of the 22nd Jan 06, there isn't really much difference. If you compare it to the solar view of the off fore of the 28th August 05, the frog there is much healthier. The comparison there is between two different feet and the near fore is Jamie's dodgy foot, but even so to me there hasn't really been much progress made from a year previously. The frog is very weedy, the toe is forward and the heels are still underun. All this proves is that trim and diet alone can only do so much. Jamie is not currently doing any work, there are no real excuses for this apart from he can be a little sod to catch and Neil turns him out at 5am in the morning, in the evenings it has been to dark to do any road work with him. I could have worked him in the school though, although it's not sand the stimulation would have helped, even hand walking him around the concrete yard would have been useful. He is comfortable in his environment, but I know these aren't the best feet he could have.
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