Are small feet a cause for concern for future lameness?

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neighsays

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I've just gone and looked at a 3 coming 4 year old Oldenburg who was lovely to ride (dressage), but small feet compared to the size of his body, and I imagine he still has quite a bit of growing and filling out to do. Apparently he has clean xrays from December, but I've yet to discuss with my vet. I'm a bit gun-shy on anything that could potentially lead to soundness issues down the line after the saga I've gone through with my current one, so does anyone have positive/negative experiences with small feet?Screenshot 2025-04-15 at 1.56.19 PM.png

(sorry for photo quality, it's a still from a video we took of a walk and trot-up). I do have a more official conformation shot but I didn't want to post it out of privacy for the seller.

He's only got shoes on the front and apparently was backed barefoot.
 
I have only positive experiences with small feet, they are usually strong. As long as they aren't restricted by poor shoeing they can also get a lot bigger as the horse ages. If shod you'd be well advised to have 3 months a year out of shoes.
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I have 2 wb who look very like this one, with feet which appear a bit small for their body. One is an Oldenburg, one a kwpn, the kwpn is barefoot although he's only 5 so not in a lot of work. My other wb has large flat feet and I've had to put shoes on the front. IME the feet are less of a problem than the spine, one of mine has turned out to be a wobbler which was not detected by a 2 stage vetting. I also had one vetted which had kissing spines and have had sellers refuse xrays (with some justification as some defects don't go on to cause a problem) but too much of a risk for me!

If you are using the sellers xrays ensure that they have something on the images which identifies the horse like microchip or passport no., not stable name or owners name. Also, some of the xrays which are taken on the continent for grading are not the views or the quality which insurance companies need if it's a >£10k horse.
 
nutjob said:
I have 2 wb who look very like this one, with feet which appear a bit small for their body. One is an Oldenburg, one a kwpn, the kwpn is barefoot although he's only 5 so not in a lot of work. My other wb has large flat feet and I've had to put shoes on the front. IME the feet are less of a problem than the spine, one of mine has turned out to be a wobbler which was not detected by a 2 stage vetting. I also had one vetted which had kissing spines and have had sellers refuse xrays (with some justification as some defects don't go on to cause a problem) but too much of a risk for me!

If you are using the sellers xrays ensure that they have something on the images which identifies the horse like microchip or passport no., not stable name or owners name. Also, some of the xrays which are taken on the continent for grading are not the views or the quality which insurance companies need if it's a >£10k horse.
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Good to know. If I do end up moving forward with this, I'd definitely have my vet take new xrays, especially since the workload has increased since the last set.
 
My ex racer had really small boxy feet, spent a fortune on farriers and supplements to try to get them more "correct," eventually gave up as they never caused her 1 days problem.
 
ycbm said:
I have only positive experiences with small feet, they are usually strong. As long as they aren't restricted by poor shoeing they can also get a lot bigger as the horse ages. If shod you'd be well advised to have 3 months a year out of shoes.
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my 3yo arab stallion (always BF) had tiny feet. They had become much larger and normal sized by 6.
 
ycbm said:
I have only positive experiences with small feet, they are usually strong. As long as they aren't restricted by poor shoeing they can also get a lot bigger as the horse ages. If shod you'd be well advised to have 3 months a year out of shoes.
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British natives have dinky little feet on chunky bodies and it seems to do them well enough
 
Baggs who is my retired lad has proper dinky little feet - when I was getting hoof boots for him, I had to special order his size cause the store didn't carry them as standard (and were quite surprised to realise they went that small aha!). He is a 50/50 mix of Appaloosa and New Forest and I've never had soundness issues with him when he was in work - we did all sorts and our terrain was mega hilly/mega rocky at points x He was shod but as time went on I transitioned him barefoot and it was the best thing I chose to do - his hooves got a tiny bit bigger but are still rather dinky and cute, but they stood up to a lot of rock crunching etc.

I'd say deffo get some up to date xrays done as it sounds like his workload has increased since he has been backed - but bar that I wouldn't rule this horse out, but I can totally see where you're coming from after being shot in the foot (pardon the pun!) with your current horse x
 
Beautiful looking horse, and those feet look quite normal to me!

I've taken a few horses barefoot and they seem to self trim to feet this size and be robust.

If only 3 rising 4, I would consider not using shoes for the time being, if he isn't in hard work. He can't have had them on for long?
 
I wouldn't personally have a problem with smallish front feet - but only if they were a pair.

What I wouldn't go for (again) is when the front feet aren't a pair, where one foot is smaller and a different shape than the other.

ETA..... I'm talking with the benefit of hindsight....😟
 
Northern Hare said:
I wouldn't personally have a problem with smallish front feet - but only if they were a pair.

What I wouldn't go for (again) is when the front feet aren't a pair, where one foot is smaller and a different shape than the other.

ETA..... I'm talking with the benefit of hindsight....😟
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I went to see one of those once - was hidden on photos. Couldn’t see how the pony would stay sound unless light work and therefore said no.

Smallish feet in my experience are fine.
 
I think a lot of people are so used to seeing unhealthy flared feet that smaller feet look wrong, even when they’re perfectly healthy.
 
I used to know a mare who had boxy feet, vet said 'if anything goes wrong, it'll be her feet'.... well everything else under the sun went wrong with her, but her feet were never the issue!
 
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