ON the 13th of December I received a phone call from a distressed horse owner about their pony who had been lame for almost a week.

The local vet, Kieran Cronin of All Creatures Veterinary Group, had attended the pony earlier that day and had carried out X-rays of the pony’s front feet to confirm that there was a rotation of the distal phalanx (see X-ray below), before referring the horse owner to me for treatment.