Beckie Mabbutt

Below are pictures of a veteran Southern Endurance Champion Arab called HT Hatzala.

I have shod HT for many years and she has good strong Arab feet with consistently good foot growth. Six weeks ago she had a very unusual onset of Laminitis affecting one front foot and causing it to founder (sink and rotate) pretty much over night! We've since found out this was due to metabolic issues, but still rare in just one foot so suddenly.

Horses with this amount of sinking don't often recover but due to her heroic nature, good pain threshold and the fact she lays down a lot of sole it was 100% worth giving it a good go, even if it is just one shoeing attempt.

Firstly here is her right front (normal positioning of the pedal bone) followed by the left front both taken at the same time!! Look at how little sole there is under the tip of the pedal bone, also the sole has started to bulge where is is trying to push through.

Now how EXCITING is this the picture below is just 6 weeks after and look at how much more sole we have under the tip of the pedal bone!! INCREDIBLE. Also thanks to the support system on her feet consisting of a clog, nailed, screwed and glued in place, with a supportive hoof packing underneath, then the whole lot being cast on to lock up the foot and aid healing.

HT has gone from not weight baring to barely being 1/10 lame in trot. I'm looking forward to next time having it look even better, as there are still a few tweaks but I'm sure you'll agree what a fast turn around.

I would like to publicly thank HT's owners Dorothy and Martin Chuter for putting their trust in me and believing in me. Also Alistair Mc Vicor (Anvil vet) for letting me run with what support system I felt would be most affective. This has been such a rewarding case and I'm lucky to have been involved.