Barefoot Question - uneven wear?

[mcnaughty]

My new mare has no shoes on - great - I believe a horse doesn't have to have shoes on if they are sound (which she is) and going well without shoes - why spend money when you don't have to!

However, she is very slightly pigeon toed and I do mean VERY slightly and this is causing the feet to wear unevenly and exacerbating the pigeon toed issue. I assume that not all barefoot horses have perfect conformation - I am yet to come across a horse that does! So, what can I do about this? I have the farrier booked to put fronts on but thought I would ask the question.

Thanks all.

 

[TwoStroke]

I would not try to 'correct' the issue - the horse knows what she's doing . Horses with a less than perfect conformation will have less than perfect looking hooves, and that's fine. I should think that if she's allowed to, she'll grow some good, functional wonky hooves, to accomodate the conformational flaw.

 

[YasandCrystal]

There is of course a few schools of thought on this question. A farrier can help to shape a young horse's confirmation through corrective balance etc, however this should be done from a young age and you have to remember that by effectively forcing a correction you are placing a strain elsewhere on the horse's joint.

It's not always so though - my hubby (a farrier) has suggested a horse with lameness issues go barefoot so the foot can wear how it needs to, but this made the lameness worse in this one case as the horse needed the support of the shoe.

I have a 10hh aged pony. When he was younger I drove him quite a bit. He has poor confirmation behind and walks on the outside of his feet, wearing the outer hoof wall down. He was getting very sore so I had to have him shod in the end, but because of his very poor confirmation behind it was always adviseable to allow his feet to balance slightly how they would naturally.

This is why people are prepared to pay top £s for a horse with good confirmation. They will move straight and wear their feet straight and there is no undue strain on joints so they can do their competitive job to a high level and for hopefully years with no lameness.

 

[siennamum]

I would not try to 'correct' the issue - the horse knows what she's doing . Horses with a less than perfect conformation will have less than perfect looking hooves, and that's fine. I should think that if she's allowed to, she'll grow some good, functional wonky hooves, to accomodate the conformational flaw.

We had a pigeon toed mare a couple of years ago whose way of going and musculature was greatly improved with remedial farriery. I believe it started to adjust her confirmation fault and will have improved her long term soundness. Her weight was directed down the centre of her leg rather than down one side or the other, surely if the hoof wears away on the side which takes all the weight the situation will detreriorate.

This is the conventional and one assumes vet approved way of managing such an issue, although I stand to be corrected if there is science behind leaving faults like this alone & letting the hoof shape change significantly.

 

[TwoStroke]

We had a pigeon toed mare a couple of years ago whose way of going and musculature was greatly improved with remedial farriery. I believe it started to adjust her confirmation fault and will have improved her long term soundness. Her weight was directed down the centre of her leg rather than down one side or the other, surely if the hoof wears away on the side which takes all the weight the situation will detreriorate.

This is the conventional and one assumes vet approved way of managing such an issue, although I stand to be corrected if there is science behind leaving faults like this alone & letting the hoof shape change significantly.

By the time a horse is matured, it's too late to change the basic conformational fault - at least that's the conclusion I've drawn from my reading on the subject. Any attempt to do so will place a strain elsewhere on the horse's body. Hooves are dynamic, and can shape and adapt to compensate for issues higher up the horse - if they're allowed to. That's my thoughts on the subject, anyway.

 

[MerrySherryRider]

While its true that the farrier can't correct conformation faults in the mature horse, as your horse is only slightly pigeon toed, your farrier can make a difference with a good trim.
He should look at the way she's loading her feet, how she moves and her conformation. So don't rush for the shoes yet, she may benefit from a well balanced trim that works with her way of going.
Sometimes just reducing the length between trims can make a difference. I had a 4 yr old mare that dished when I got her but with 5 weekly trims in conjuction with becoming more balanced in her ridden work, meant her movement improved markedly.

 

[bied]

I would not try to 'correct' the issue

 

[MerrySherryRider]

I don't think a farrier would attempt to try and correct what it probably a conformation fault in the limbs rather than the foot. However a good trim is quite different.

 

[mcnaughty]

I don't really want to correct this very slight issue - the problem is that being barefoot the wall is being worn unevenly thus wearing down the outside faster than the inside and causing the pigeon toed-ness to be more pronounced.

Would this issue eventually correct itself in that the wall can only be worn down to be level with the sole or would it stay pronounced? ie the inside wall never be worn down to level out?

I have my farrier coming out on Friday morning anyway and feel she will need at least fronts to ensure this problem does not cause stresses up the leg.

 

[cptrayes]

If you are able to leave it for long enough to adapt, then my own experience of a pigeon toed horse is that the horn on the side that wears quickest will grow thicker than the horn on the side with less wear and the horses movement will improve a great deal. To get this to happen, though, you do have to be careful when and how you trim, because if you trim the foot to correct it, then it will never have the stimulus to produce a correction through thicker horn production. It's a tricky one, you need someone experienced to help you.

If your mare is not unsound, I would continue to let her wear her feet "wonky" and see what happens. She is too old now to create any permanent imbalance in her legs and there is little risk that I can see unless she is doing strenuous physical work, when I might be more cautious.

 

[Mitchyden]

If your mare is not unsound, I would continue to let her wear her feet "wonky" and see what happens. She is too old now to create any permanent imbalance in her legs and there is little risk that I can see unless she is doing strenuous physical work, when I might be more cautious.

Now you've got me worried. Lana is a 6 y.o and has been barefoot since December 2010. She only had shoes put on for eight months as a 4 y.o when I didn't realise that a bad diet (ie too much spring grass) could make them footy.

She has always worn the outside of her front feet down since I bought her as a 2 y.o and now she's barefoot it's more obvious especially if I do a lot of roadwork with her. I've never really worried about it but my farrier did say it may cause me problems in the future but I've always gone on the assumption that she's better off barefoot as she can move how she feels she needs to. This year she has started her first season of endurance and now you've got me worried that this is going to be too strenuous for her.

Having said that, my other horse Zara has also had her shoes off since December 2010 and she has competed in endurance from 2002 until she got her bone spavin in 2010. Now she is barefoot and being worked again, she also wears the outside of her feet more than the inside. Could this have caused the spavin or am I now worrying over nothing?

 

[Angua2]

My mare is pidgeon toed, and at 8 I took her shoes off and let her sort herself out. she knocks the outside front out ... it is not all that clear from these pictures, as I had took these just after running the rasp round but you can just see it if you look carefully

My girl is sounder than she has been in shoes, and she has adjusted her foot growth to suit her needs even just a year down the line

 

[Queenbee]

I would not try to 'correct' the issue - the horse knows what she's doing . Horses with a less than perfect conformation will have less than perfect looking hooves, and that's fine. I should think that if she's allowed to, she'll grow some good, functional wonky hooves, to accomodate the conformational flaw.

Exactly this, my friend has an 8yr old barefoot horse that she bought as a 4yr old, he is pigeon toed and has wonky hooves which accommodate his conformational faults, round these off to perfectly round hooves and you get unwelcome strain on his legs. He is sound as a pound with his wonkiness

 

[Queenbee]

My mare is pidgeon toed, and at 8 I took her shoes off and let her sort herself out. she knocks the outside front out ... it is not all that clear from these pictures, as I had took these just after running the rasp round but you can just see it if you look carefully

My girl is sounder than she has been in shoes, and she has adjusted her foot growth to suit her needs even just a year down the line

This is exactly what my friends horses hooves look like, and he has been barefoot all his life, and sound too