Club feet - experiences- good and bad?

cornbrodolly

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I recently viewed a very nice Connie with a friend. Friend would like a true all rounder - and this horse fits the bill- 100% traffic ,hacking etc , and do riding club stuff.
However, theres always a catch! His feet are terrible - both front feet very club footed , and hinds appear similar. To me its a defo NO , but friend ,seduced by his lovely nature is wanting to buy. I dont think she likes me putting a dampner on her excitement!
Has anyone on here experience od club feet and got them 'right'? Or is friend going to end up with a lame horse ? Friend likes to jump and is an active rider ,she doesnt want to plod about. The horse is 9 , and from his history hasnt done a lot since he was 5 .
 

Shay

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You can correct a club foot to a certain extent with remedial farriery. But you are looking at a shorter shoeing interval and more expensive shoes. Your friend needs to budget for that. The confirmation puts massive strain on the DDFT so you are going to be looking at a horse not capable of a great deal athletically and who will, in all probability, go unsound earlier than it would otherwise - so longer retirement which is expensive. Or PTS which is distressing.

It might be worth suggesting that your friend speak with her vet and farrier to see exactly what the management cost is going to look like; both now and in a few years. It might inject a note of reality.
 

be positive

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Are his feet really club, it would be very unusual to see it in both front feet let alone all 4, or are they just small, upright and in need of a decent farrier, if the pony has not done much since he was 5 I would say he does not fit the bill for your friend anyway as he has not proven he is up to the job, that said if they are just in need of a decent farrier then having him vetted would be the next step, ask for special attention to be paid to the feet and take it from there, if he does pass then she needs to be aware that if the vet notes his feet are incorrect then he will not be insurable for anything that goes wrong, even without a vetting his feet will be excluded as a preexisting condition.
 

AdorableAlice

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Barge pole.

The time to deal with the problem is long past, it should have been noticed as a young foal and corrected then. I bred a foal with a club foot and extensive work was done to correct the problem. Specialist farrier work every 14 days for almost a year and physio which I was shown how to do myself. It was hard work and the foal soon got p$$$$ ed off. She is now 4 and absolutely fine,

You need to consider that it is not just the foot/feet that have a problem, everything above is also affected. There are plenty of correct horses out there, keep looking is my advice.
 

Meowy Catkin

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I'd like to see his hooves before passing judgement. I have found that some people (and unfortunately I include a trained farrier in this) get used to seeing flared and/or long toes/under-run heeled hooves and then think that anything that isn't like that is a club. I don't mean to insult you at all C, it's just that I can't possibly see if the horse does have four clubbed hooves or four 'tin can' hooves with contracted heels, or even four nice, tight, well balanced pony hooves from a written forum post.

I do agree with AA though, if they are clubbed then it's too late to try and improve them.
 

fatpiggy

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I've only ever seen cases with one hoof affected and that caused enough extra work and cost for the owner. I'd be concerned that there was a problem genetically if all 4 feet are the same and wonder if other ligaments might be susceptible to problems. Just one thought though - are you sure they are true club feet or just upright and boxy? A friend had an arab/Welsh C cross with very upright hooves, very deep either side of the frog and pigeon toed to boot and never had any problems at all. Given the arab blood in Connies, could that be the reason for the feet? But if he has done little for 4 years, I'd be very much wondering why!!
 

cornbrodolly

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I have no pics of the feet [ and can hardly post piccies anyway,I m so useless] Definitely the front feet are club [ and were noted on previous vetting] hinds its hard to tell- they look the same as the fronts, but hindfeet could just be extremely upright/boxy.
The fronts have a larger coronet band than sole [if that makes sense], no frog on the floor at all. Nothing like a boxy laminitic pony hoofshape - again,hope that makes sense.
I did query the farriery, but is in fact shod by a remedial farrier. I have sent friend a link to 'the horse' which had a good article,describing the pitfalls . Thanks for replies anyway , as the horse is being vetted tomorrow [tho in fact I would have walked away before now] I ll see what transpires.
 

happyclappy

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I had a successful show pony with club feet, front only. They did not affect him or bother him - nor worry the judges. You just need a good farrier to keep them in the best shape possible. Mine anyhow, but they could be far worse than his.
 
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