Club foot/box hoof, potential new horse? please help?

K

kateknights

Well-Known Member
Joined
30 March 2006
Messages
1,246
Location
Lincolnshire
Visit site
Would this put you off buying a horse? Horse is 8 years old?
Ticks all the boxes?
I don't know or have never come across it before, so all experiences and advice, gratefully received
Many thanks
Kate
 
My old boy had a club foot, he never had a days lameness from it in the 10 years I had him, so no it wouldn't put me off. If you've got a good farrier, he should be able to shoe him well enough to compensate.
 
Honestly, it depends how severe it is . . . my boy has boxy feet and one club foot and now has navicular and sidebone, largely as a result of his poor foot conformation, so I wouldn't touch another one with the same issues with a ten foot pole.

Kal is sound . . . and competing . . . but he requires careful management and, tbh, I'd rather not have the worry again.

That said, horses are always a worry :).

P
 
I'm the same as PolarSkye - my horse has one boxy hoof and has navicular and other issues. It is believed that the boxy hoof on mine was caused by an injury to her shoulder when she was younger and favours her left fore dramatically, so always grazes left foot fore and right hoot (boxy) hoof underneath her.

I didn't know much about hooves when I went to see her so it didn't really stand out to me. If I went to see another horse, then the hooves would be the first thing I would be looking at and if it had a boxy hoof I would walk away immediately.
 
Is it a true club foot, or are the other three hooves under-run with long toes and/or flaired?

This is a serious question as I have seen this IRL. Once the other three hooves were correctly balanced the horse had a lovely set hooves.

Do you have a photo that you could edit and post to show the hooves?

ETA
so always grazes left foot fore and right hoot (boxy) hoof underneath her.
Click to expand...

^ this is far more common than people realise - generally the difference is subtle, but horses often have one slightly more upright hoof and it's the one that is back while the horse grazes. I read an interesting article about this being even more common in the new 'sportier' long legged warmbloods compared to the older chunkier type.
 
Last edited:
I had a tb with one very boxy foot, he never had a days lameness in the 20 years I had him. Reading Faracats info his knock name was 'long legs' and when he grazed he did graze with his legs doing the splits front to back to beable to reach the floor!!!, I couldn't tell you if it was always the same leg back or which one it was though.
 
You can have a club foot that was born that way.

You can have a boxy hoof paired to an under run hoof - which may be acquired and secondary to a body problem ?shoulder or ?opposite hind problem.

My friend's horse has a naturally boxy hoof. It was 'corrected' with 'remedial' farriery right up to him getting diagnosed with navicular at 5 years old. More 'remedial' farriery followed for 18 months until the owner took a different tack in desperation.

He was taken BF in 2009 and has been sound and competing at dressage since.

You can see his story here

http://www.progressivehorse.co.uk/html/shoko.html

And these are his hooves as of March this year



His hooves will never match and they should never be expected to.
To keep him sound the hoof care practitioner needs to respect his natural shape.

To answer your question I would consider buying a horse with a boxy hoof - but I would need to know if it's naturally so, or because of a long term hind end problem - which would concern me.

I would NEVER try to 'correct' a naturally boxy hoof. That way leads a snake pit :D.
 
Depends on how the foot came to be boxy

Born that way or as a result of an injury

As a result of an injury that is reasonably recent then I'd buy if he ticked all the right boxes as this can often be corrected by careful trimming and or shoeing.

A bad abscess can cause this to happen - horse transfers weight onto good leg which tends to spay that foot while keeping the weight of the problem foot which in turn causes the foot to contract as the weight loading is reduced. I'm currently dealing with this situation as a result of Ruby's recurring abscesses. Already after several good trims there is signs that the foot is slowly returning to shape

Born with boxy feet and there is a 99% chance that the horse will eventually have problems.

If you are really keen on the horse I would suggest that you have the feet X-rayed to see whether there is any problem internally
 
I have one with a boxy foot, you need a really good farrier i went through 3 until i found one that could keep his toes short enough, and balance the feet correctly,i moved about a year ago so had to change farriers and my horse looked unlevel on thursday and i have not been totally happy with his feet so i called my previous farrier and i am going to take the horse back to him as i am convinced the lameness is due to him not being shod properly he is the only farrier that gets what to do.

Boxy feet can also cause unlevelness in shoulder muscle, get the horse to stand square stand behind the horse so you can see straight down his back and the shoulders and have a look it will give you an indication if the horse is not using that front leg the same.
 
Faracat said:
Is it a true club foot, or are the other three hooves under-run with long toes and/or flaired?

This is a serious question as I have seen this IRL. Once the other three hooves were correctly balanced the horse had a lovely set hooves.

Do you have a photo that you could edit and post to show the hooves?

ETA


^ this is far more common than people realise - generally the difference is subtle, but horses often have one slightly more upright hoof and it's the one that is back while the horse grazes. I read an interesting article about this being even more common in the new 'sportier' long legged warmbloods compared to the older chunkier type.
Click to expand...

You're right about the long legs faracat - My TB has the equivalent of Naomi Campbell legs, and a short neck, meaning that the only way she can graze comfortably is when she grazes like a foal would. It's not even subtle, it's a full front legs doing the splits job. I mentioned it to my physio and she said that it's just like people favouring one side - it's just unfortunate that she is so dramatic about it and the difference in her hooves is staggering......
 
Following on from what Oberon said

Back in the 1980s my instructor was Dutch and had done her riding/teaching exams in Germany. I well remember her telling me a lot of the warmbloods being bred in Europe in those days often had boxy feet. Most of them didn't have a problem and those that did were those that had had their feet trimmed/shod to 'improve' their shape. Those that were left with boxy feet had far less problems.
 
kateknights said:
Thanks all, he was born with it! Gutted! There's always something!
Kate
Click to expand...

If he was born with it - that is better than it being caused by a long term body issue.

Just make sure no one tries to 'correct' it for appearances sake and you should be fine ;).
 
eggs said:
Following on from what Oberon said

Back in the 1980s my instructor was Dutch and had done her riding/teaching exams in Germany. I well remember her telling me a lot of the warmbloods being bred in Europe in those days often had boxy feet. Most of them didn't have a problem and those that did were those that had had their feet trimmed/shod to 'improve' their shape. Those that were left with boxy feet had far less problems.
Click to expand...

Cool :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top