The owner, Nina Strand, has another horse, Promise, that needed a setup trim scheduled for a week after Leaguer's set-up trim, but I would have visited him anyway. .When I have horses that start off as imbalanced as Leaguer, I keep in touch with the owner after the trim and schedule a re trim the following week to ensure that he's doing okay. In Leaguers case, I wanted to see if he was moving comfortably and make any necessary corrections.
His feet looked great and he was moving *very* nicely - particularly for a horse that was very uncomfortable when we started! He was managing to get from his stall to the arena and trimming area without boots, and was walking very well in his new Epics too.
I was also considering doing a toe rocker using Gene Ovniceks methods as described to my by Claire Vail from the barefoot list.
Clair had visually described a rocker for another horse, Scout, and it had helped increase the quality of Scout's movement, so I hoped it would help Leaguer as well. I didn't have X-rays of his feet, but rockered based on other information that Claire has shared over the past few months, and the effort was **EXTREMELY** successful!
Nina was thrilled with his movement the week following his set-up trim, telling me that Leaguer was, by nature, a very cheerful and active horse who loved getting out and going trail riding. As his feet got progressively worse, he began moving less willingly and he became very depressed. His movement and attitude improved immediately after his setup trim.
I was careful when I rockered his toes not to trigger a set back... it's hard to know how far we can go with horses who have been uncomfortable for long periods of time. I rockered Leaguers front toes and brought back his rear toes a but, then we led him to the nearby sand arena to hang out while we worked on Promise.
I waited at the arena, watching him, as Nina went for Promise. He had covered the grassy lawn from the trimming area to the arena with long easy strides, and once in the arena he began cruising from one end to the other at a brisk but relaxed walk, taking nice long strides and having a great time moving without pain. Ears up, he checked out everything around him with interest and walked and walked and walked.
I was thrilled to tears, literally. He looked awesome! He didn't stop walking until we pulled him out 2 and a half hours later!