Rachael Bishop - Student Equine Podiatrist

28/05/2025

When your own horses are usually on a four week trim cycle but i’ve been waiting for rain!

25/05/2025

Who recognises these beautiful toes ?🦄
A year’s progress for one of my original pathology case studies!
He’s a reluctant but fully signed up member of weight watchers, but is doing amazingly well and is now ridden and happy hacking over lots of surfaces!

24/05/2025

Great offer on finer forage this weekend if you’re looking to try it !
My two love this feed and are doing really well on it, no fillers or processed ingredients and you can adjust what they need throughout the seasons by adding and changing the herbal bags without a big change in their main feed.

16/05/2025

Can’t beat a New Forest! (I may be a bit biased!) Lucky Quest had the pick of a few types of boots, but as he has lots of very stoney tracks to negotiate and he’s not yet ridden, his owner chose to start with the Equine Fusion Active Jogging shoe.
They are easy to put on and off and have a nice thick sole so are perfect for keeping the sharp stones away from sensitive feet!

A really lovely review from one of our many happy customers 👇🏼🤎

“Just wanted to say thanks for creating a chance for people to be able to fit boots for you! Rachael Bishop - Student Equine Podiatrist came out to us a few weeks back and fitted some lovely Equine Fusion. He’s taken to them so well and it’s just so rewarding watching him walk out so happily, a week or so later and still just as pleased ! As is he ! ☺️🩷

The quick shipping was really appreciated☺️you’ve made a youngster learning about life much easier for him!”

11/05/2025

Confused about feeding your horse? Want to make the right choices but bamboozled by the marketing and packages? Next Tuesday evening (13th May at 7.30pm) I am hosting a webinar with the fabulous Nia Cooke of Essential Equine Nutrition by Nia Cooke MSc Animal Nutrition on the topic of Species Appropriate Feeding.

This is not to be missed as Nia demystifies the horses diet and gives sensible information on how to feed your horse for health and performance.

Join for FREE!

Sign up now to get your Zoom invite via the link below :-)

https://areionacademy.systeme.io/webinar1-9d717310

08/05/2025

Very interested in the paperwork this week! Love these girls 🥰

30/04/2025

🥂 Celebrating a whole year of Hoof Boot Fitting with The Hoof Boot Shop this month by adding Scoot Boot Adjust (Enduro) to the collection of fit kits! These are great for those whose heels might struggle with the back of the Scoot boot classics, and need a little more adjustability at the back of the boot.

The other new addition this week is the lovely Luna, who helped today by sniffing all the shells and adding a nice paw print to the brand new bag 🐾 😄

28/04/2025

I have one in my car if anyone wants a closer look at visits! 🧐

23/04/2025

Lots of good info on their site, worth a follow, especially if you have a horse or pony that struggles with the grass at certain times of year!

A few daily checks that may help early identification of laminitis:

Hard ground - does your horse decrease his/her stride length or seem "footy" or "pottery" when going from soft to hard ground? Does he/she seek out softer ground?

Turning - is your horse happy to turn in a tight circle each way? He/she should move as fluidly as usual with no reluctance.

Digital pulse - is the digital pulse in the pastern or fetlock more bounding than normal?

Fat pads/regional adiposity (linked to insulin dysregulation/hyperinsulinemia-associated laminitis (HAL)) - is there any increase in the size or firmness of neck crest, supraorbital (above the eye) hollow filling (NB these hollows fill when horses are eating - check when the horse has his/her head up and isn't chewing), fat around the tailhead and mammary glands/sheath swelling.

If you are at all worried that your horse or pony might be at risk of HAL, talk to your vet and book an insulin test. The oral sugar test gives a good idea of whether a horse's insulin response to sugar is normal or abnormally high (and therefore the horse may have an increased risk of HAL). A basal/resting insulin test after eating their usual forage or grass will help assess their normal insulin response to their diet, but be aware that sugar levels in fresh grass can fluctuate considerably so a resting insulin test carried out after eating grass in the morning of a cloudy wet day could be considerably lower than if carried out late afternoon on a sunny day.

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The Laminitis Site rescues, cares for and rehabilitates horses and ponies with laminitis, and provides information and support for owners of horses with laminitis (and navicular), EMS and PPID all over the world.
Please consider supporting the work of The Laminitis Site: www.thelaminitissite.org/donate.html
For more information and support, join Friends of The Laminitis Site (£12 annual donation payable): www.thelaminitissite.org/join-friends-of-tls.html

18/04/2025

17/04/2025

🐣 Happy Easter! 🐣

Hope everyone has a lovely break! I’ll be catching up with messages and back out trimming on Tuesday.

16/04/2025

It’s been a busy few weeks with lots of new horses to trim and boot fittings!
Nice solid hooves and soles have been the theme due to all the lovely sun and dry weather 💪☀️

These are now due a trim (so not at their tidiest !) but wanted to share the pics to show how the sole is starting to loosen and exfoliate now we’ve had a little drop of rain! The extra protection laid down for the hard ground is starting to shed from the toe.
If I’ve been chatting while trimming about your horse or pony having solid soles like concrete, they may do the same now there is a little more rain around! 🌦️
I might let a bit more drop out before I trim him!