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.

I got involved with this 7 year old warmblood that was 2 weeks down the line having had a Keratoma removed from the inside of his front foot. A Keratoma is a rare benign tumour of the horn producing cells. This horse needed a support system put on to lock up the foot and provide him with as much stability as possible as the foot was lacking all the essential structure on the inside.

People must think I'm as stupid as I look.....Please don't look me in the eye and tell me this horse was kept in last night. Unless you meant IN the field!!

One of my clients with two small children and a 13hh Connemara phoned asking when I come to do there pony they have another one just a trim, could I do teddy as well. I looked down over the stable door to introduce myself to their new pony to find Teddy was not what I was expecting. Ha Ha you know who you are Tanya Leese :-) He is only 3 and as light as a thoroughbred.

Below is picture of a satisfying abscess. With all the wet weather we've had the feet are so so soft that I'm nearly seeing an abscess every day.