Helen & Romeo

I purchased a horse from Spain in March 2007. He arrived (shod) on the Monday, lost a shoe later that day and was immediately lame. My farrier came and removed the 3 remaining shoes the following day, Romeo was so hideously lame it was heartbreaking to see. He was kept in on soft, deep bedding until he was x rayed later that week. The x rays showed that the pedal bone of his off fore was sunken and rotated, also that his soles were paper thin. 

 The vet and remedial farrier suggested shoeing as a matter of urgency to offer support to the feet and to protect the soles. I was told not to expect to be able to ride Romeo in the near future and that possibly he may never be sound enough to be ridden. To say I was devastated would be an understatement.

Initially this was the route I followed but I quickly realised that although Romeo was a marginally easier on his feet he was by no means sound at all.....so I rang Trevor and cried down the phone to him relaying the awful story.

Romeo had his shoes removed the following day. Trevor spoke to the vet at length and gained her support for what was to be a potentially difficult transition to going shoeless.

Initially Romeo was turned out in boots and pads to both protect and stimulate the soles of his feet and was seen by Trevor every 3 weeks for a whole year. I had a strict conditioning regime to follow and by keeping in touch with Trevor constantly he was able to monitor Romeos progress in-between visits. 

Romeo's feet have undergone such a massive transformation it's sometimes hard to remember just what a dreadful state he was in. To my absolute delight Romeo is now sound and being ridden. 

I hack him out (in boots) over the rockiest and roughest terrain imaginable, he is learning to jump and has has just started competing at preliminary dressage. We qualified with a win of 72% for the Cotswold Dressage Championships first time out. He was 5th(!)in the Championships and has just won two more classes this weekend with scores of 71 and 65.5%. I could not be happier with the progress that Romeo has made in such a short time and I know too that Romeo is a happy horse with feet that just keep going from strength to strength!!

I honestly believe that if I had chosen to keep shoes on and there was no such thing as AEP, Romeo would not be sound today and may not even be here at all.

I can't thank or recommend Trevor and AEP enough!

Sincerely

Helen