Chronic lameness and one hoof bigger than the other

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Charlotte T

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Hi There just wondered if anyone could give me any suggestions on a problem I have with my young horse (4 years old). I bought him being broken in quite quickly thinking that he had mainly been worked on the left rein as the side you tack up it is always the easiest/laziest way. I thought that because of this he was stronger on the left and his right would come with work and muscle build up. He is definitely lame on his right side after about 6 months of work trying to straighten him out. His right hoof is also smaller than the left, I have just done an internet search for this and it could be more of an under lying problem than I thought. Has anyone else had anything similar?
 
could be anything from horse just has 2 different sized feet and the lameness is nothing to do with it to a long term lamness that has over time affected the size of the weight baring foot causing it to spread and the non weight baring foot to constrict
 
Different sized front feet aren't genetic, the smaller one indicates that this limb has suffered long term pain at some point, causing the horse to weight the larger limb mainly for a long period. Could be anywhere from foot to shoulder, so definitely vet.

For the doubters, think it through, have you ever seen a horse with mismatched hind feet? It's always the fronts and never straight from birth.
 
Thinking about it he did have an abscess in his right hoof not long before I bought him but it couldn't have lasted for long enough to do that much damage? My farrier didn't seem to think that having slightly different sized feet was a problem but from my research recently it seams that it may be different.
 
Different sized feet aren't a problem but he is lame, that is a problem. Find the root cause of the lameness is the next step.

Foot balance is critical for these horses, the boxy foot being the one that needs most attention.
 
Abscesses can go on for months undetected, lgl, could be a factor. He's very young, I note you have a farrier, is he shod?
If so, I'd be inclined to go barefoot and grow some new feet. If he isn't shod I'd treat him as a lamanitic.
Vet will probably come up with something indecisive or expensive, lol.
 
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