I am so excited that I may finally be able to get Remi back to being a barefoot horse. The shoes with the fill in pad material seem to have done their job of letting him build up some sole. His last radiographs show his sole thickness has almost doubled in the six months he wore the shoes.

I still have a good way to go to get his feet where I want them to be but I feel the rest of the work will come best if he is a barefoot horse. Remi still has some separation between his wall and sole and the last inch of his wall is still brittle. His landing is flat or toe first and until I can get him consistently landing on his heel first I don’t see his wall improving.

I believe it is not heel pain that prevents a heel landing in Remi but tightness in his shoulders. This tightness is also responsible for his tendency to over reach and pull his shoes. I have been doing some acupuncture, body work and ground exercises to help free up his shoulders. I am also considering a supplement from Fortheloveofthehorse that is designed to free up the meridians around the shoulder.

Unfortunately, Remi has very small feet for his size so I feel I may always have a challenge with him wearing his sole down faster than he can grow it. I am pleased with the boots I am using on him now. I have him in the easy boot gloves and they are staying on fantastic. I have had a set on him for 3 days and today is the first day his feet seemed at all damp. My plan is to let him wear the boots as much as possible considering the weather conditions and take them off as needed to prevent any rubbing or softening of his sole.

We are in severe drought and heat conditions right now so mud is not an issue. I was pleased that other than a small amount of dirt that worked in at the toe I have no twigs or small rocks finding their way into the boot. With the nice low profile at the back of the boot and the minimum gators I have no rubbing either. Remi still does not have much digital cushion but he is building some really healthy layers of tough frog tissue. What little frog tissue Remi had when I got him was infected and extremely tender.

I am looking forward to riding in the glove boots but I suspect they will do great. I got them from Steve Karshner at www.navicular-founder-rehab.com. He was out of the size I needed and went on a search and found the boot for me and shipped to me overnight. His service and communication was fantastic. Madalyn

Remi is building a tough frog