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Bamroc
Name: Bamroc
Livery Type: Retirement
Arrival Date: September 2021
Age: 16
Breed: Welsh
Height: 14hh
Medical Issues: Laminitis and EMS
Rehabilitation: Shod to barefoot, hoof rehabilitation, EMS, Laminitis and extreme anxiety, specially around other horses and resources
Bamroc's arrival in September 2021:
Bamroc is here for retirement but due to the nature of our set up, will naturally go through a rehabilitation period anyway. He has arrived not long having his shoes removed and as you can see, has some old Laminitis to grow out. Although he's not over weight, he does have EMS and so fat pads can be seen over his bum (giving off a very square look), over his shoulders, above his eyes and he also has a crest too.
Behaviour wise, Bamroc has fairly severe anxiety mostly around hard feed, hay and bonding with other horses.
First Hoof Update - September 2021:
Bamroc has his first trim quite soon after his arrival in September. We can see he has some thrush, slightly contracted heels and some separation at the toe from a bout of Laminitis he had earlier on in the year.
EMS Update - March 2022:
We didn't think to take a photo of Bamroc's face when he first arrived but after being with us for a few months now, we have noticed a huge difference. If you look closely, you can see in the top left image Bamroc had some fat pads sitting just above his eyes. The other 3 photos are very recent - again, not the best photos but you can see he's lost the fat that once sat there.
Second Hoof Update - May 2022:
A combination of before and after trim.
Body Update - June 2022:
Bamroc has now lost the fat pads that lined his shoulders, eyes and neck (crest). He also had fat pads along his bottom which gave him bum a square appearance which you can see have now disappeared. Although Bam has lost the fat pads, he isn't putting on the healthy weight he should be gaining, with access to adlib hay and a bucket feed daily. We are going to have his teeth examined to see if there's any issues causing this plateau in progress. This weight loss was achieved given Bam the freedom to move, not by restricting his food intake.
Third Hoof Update - August 2022:
In comparison to the photos taken on arrival in September 2021, you can now see there is no longer any laminitic stretch and his heels and hoof in general have widened. You can also see his hoof has continued to grow at the correct angle and his heels have lowered. He no longer has any signs of Laminitis in his feet.
Body Update - August 2022:
After a visit from the dentist, it was found that Bamroc's teeth needed some work doing which meant he hadn't been eating the amount of hay he needed. When horse's are taken off grass which is normally easier to chew, and put onto a hay only diet (no grass), it can highlight some problem areas with the teeth that may have been missed before when on grass. You can see Bam is now starting to gain that healthy weight we were looking for and is also building and defining the muscle along his bottom and shoulder. We are hopeful that in a couple months time he will have gained even more weight in a healthy manner that doesn't risk his metabolic state or his history of Laminitis.
Body Update - November 2022:
As suspected, Bamroc's weight issues were resolved by the dentist visit we had in June 2022 and he is now at a healthy weight without the added EMS fat pads. You can see his bottom is a completely different shape now in comparison to the first photo, taken upon arrival in September 2021, where his bum almost formed a square shape with a bulge above his tail. You can also see he no longer has an obvious, hard crest or bulges of fat above his eyes.
Anxiety Update - December 2022:
A really big win for Bam today! Bamroc is an incredibly anxious horse with many of his issues surrounding resource guarding and difficulty integrating into a herd. We first introduced Bamroc into Herd 2 where we hoped he would settle into a relaxing, laid back group that have proven time and time again to be accepting of newcomers. Unfortunately Bam didn't settle as we had hoped so we made the decision, with the consent of his owner, to try him in Herd 3 later on.
Bam has now spent just over a year with Herd 3 with his anxiety around his herd members and resource guarding varying in severity throughout the year. We did however start to see a gradual improvement with his behaviour around hay but he still seemed on the out skirts of the herd for the longest time.
Fast forward to today and we stumbled across Bamroc and Finbar grooming. I watched for 20 minutes whilst Finbar tried time and time again to get Bamroc to groom him, licking his neck, pulling at his rug and nibbling him gently. Bamroc looked very panicked for a short while, not quite knowing how to react and seemed very jumpy. After 20 minutes of watching, Bamroc finally started to groom him back; the first time we've seen him groom another horse in the entire 15ish months he's been here. We can't assume all horses know how to groom or how to be apart of the herd but today Bamroc made us really proud. Here's to the horses learning to be horses, way to go Bam.
May 2023:
March 2024:
Previously the worst resource guarding horse we have ever had with us, Bamroc used to run around in circles guarding his hay from any horse that came near him and refused to move from the hay, only leaving when he desperately had to. Although Bam still has resource guarding issues around his hard feed, which is carefully managed, he can happily share his hay with his friends without anxiety or stress.
He has been happily sharing for quite some time now but as we took a video the other day, we thought you'd all like to see how far he's come.