The Foundations of Soundness blog has been running for quite some time now, with several recent articles and interviews generating incredible responses worldwide. Given the feedback about my anatomy articles and photographic posts, I’m very excited to announce a project that has been in the works for months and months.

Back in May 2013, I shared some images of the bones belonging to a dressage warmblood I’d had the opportunity to meet and palpate prior to euthanasia and dissection. The pathologies found on his skeleton inspired the ‘Secret Life of Bones’ article that went viral last year, as well as the suggestion from my good friend, Caroline Larrouilh, of producing a documentary about the process of putting his skeleton back together.

I’ve been mulling over the best way to share this content for some time, and have come to the conclusion that I want this information to be freely available to those who dearly want to take an interest in their own horse’s wellbeing and how it relates to what lies beneath the skin.

So…here’s what I’ve decided to do.

I will indeed be documenting the process of cleaning and articulating this horse’s skeleton…but that’s not all.

Since originally discussing the idea, I have acquired another complete skeleton, belonging to the mare you have seen in the recent cervical vertebrae posts – another subject I was touched by when spending time with her prior to euthanasia. While the first gelding came with only a partial history, I have spent much time speaking with this mare’s owner, who has been able to provide detailed insights to her entire history from birth to death.

For privacy reasons, I won’t be using the names of the first two horses, but I will certainly endeavour to share as much about their lives as possible, to put the findings I can share with you in perspective.

However, the third subject of my recent posts was a horse I had known for some time. His owner allowed me to keep his cervical spine and front pedal bones, and has also bravely appeared on camera to give us a look into his life and the problems that he suffered from. What’s more, she has also agreed to share his name, and the portraits I took of him, in the hope that putting a face and identity to the images I share will allow others to grasp how some of these physical problems really impact on our horses in life.

While I work through the process of mapping and articulating the bones of these wonderful horses, I will also be sharing exclusive interviews with leaders in equine health and wellbeing, creating short educational videos with live horses to demonstrate some of the things often found on dissection, and much, much more.

This content is going to be shared as an ongoing series of video episodes, right here at the original Foundations of Soundness blog. And, in the name of improving horse welfare by improving knowledge, it’s going to be free.

Without further ado, here is a preview of the very first episode, and I am delighted to finally be able to introduce you to a horse named Travis, who now joins the ranks of my other subjects – teaching from the other side.