Crooked legs... What to do?

PapaFrita

PapaFrita

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OK, have received conflicting advice from vet and farrier and am thus very confused....
These are P's forelegs... (he's 23 days old)

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As you can see, he's slightly toed-out.

Vet says to rasp very lightly on the outside half of the hoof and also brush iodine on the outside of the joint, just above the fetlock to stimulate growth (I've never heard of this before)

Farrier on the other hand (and I can't get my head round this) says to rasp on the INSIDE half of the hoof to encourage foal to turn his foot in
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OR will he just grow out of it as his chest widens?

Suggestions/advice gladly welcomed. My last foals were a bit knock-kneed but grew out of it on their own... honestly I don't remember their toes
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but assume farrier would've mentioned anything amiss.
 
Time......he is still VERY young and personally I would keep him on restricted exercise for a bit longer and see if they strengthen and straighten up on their own. There is plenty of time still at his age to correct any imbalances with farriery as and when needed but he is still soo young and it is not something that is a major debilitating problem that it needs to be immediately fixed.

One of our boys last year was born VERY over at the knee. I worried and worried about it.....by about 5/6 weeks old you would never have known it as his legs were as straight as can be and now, as a yearling he has some of the nicest confo I have seen.

On the rasping note....I can see positives and negatives to both sets of advice....personally I would say though that rasping the inside of the hoof COULD cause the pastern to drop inwards more at this stage as they are still very week, thus causing the feet to turn out more.....rasping will outside will cause the opposite and in theory the hood will straighten.

Personally though I would give him a bit more time before doing anything....
 
Our filly had this, it became noticeable at about 10 days of age. The farrier and vet looked at it, and it was decided to add a mastic/plastic extension to the outside of the hoof (as she toed in) to build it up a little. It worked, can't remember how long it was on for, probably only a couple of weeks. The farriers opinion was that it was better to correct it whilst the growth plates were still open, and for what it cost I was happy to go with it (and I trust my vet and farrier). She's 18 months now, and moves very straight - maybe it would have corrected itself, but I'm happy we didn't leave it to chance.
 
ditto spot the risk, early intervention is ideal, lightly trimming the outside will assist with rebalancing the hooves by encouraging the developing growth plates to realign themselves on the correct axis. Any corrective trimming should be done as early as possible for below fetlock abnormalities, below the knee up to two years of age for cannon bone offsets. All foals should be assesed within the first four weeks of birth by a good farrier. If in doubt contact an expert in orthopaedics and I'm pretty sure they will tell you that your vets advice is sound. Haven't heard of the iodine bit though, interesting. By the looks of mum standing next to foalie she is slightly toed out herself on the right could just be the way she is standing?
 
If you look at his legs - he is turning out at the fetlock and pastern. Whether this is a true angular limb deformity or just a laxity of the soft tissues around a joint only time will tell + / - xrays.

When i get this situation in foals I usually (you vet is right) rasp gently the outside of the foot, this will as the foot lands - cause the inside to land first - this will cause him to turn his foot in as he lands. Doing this will cause weight to be beared up the leg evenly and thus hopefully will cause any disparity in growth either at the fetlock or at the knee to right itself.

Unfortunatley alot of these problems in foals start out as a slight variation that isnt managed correctly and subsequently turns into something that will need more correction. Im sure as this case is mild that with some careful foot rasping (and sorry i forgot to add:

I also with these foals -

strap the knees of the affected leg - this i do by using an expandover bandage or alike to strap inside and around the knee in a figure of 8 arrangement - this essentially causes tightness down the inside of the knee that makes it uncomfortable for them to stand with the leg out and as such makes them bring it in under their chest, again helping to bear weight throught the joints evenly. Only bad cases do i resort to surgery or other methods.

As far as iodine goes, yes the prinicipal is there in that a counterirritant will cause inflammation on the surface of the bone - the periosteum - you do this on the side of the leg where the bone is shorter , in this case the oustide. The inflammation you are inducing on the surface of the bone at and around the growth plate will cause increased growth there and as such will cause the outside of the leg to growth marginaly faster whilst under treatment and the leg will even up.

I would not usually advise this unless it was made exceptionally clear that no responsibility was taken for potential secondary problems to the skin. Especially in coloureds or in white socked animals.
 
There is a farrier in Wales who is an expert on Gait Analysis who I am sure would give you some sound practical advise. Unfortunately i can't remember his name but someone reading this may know who he is.

ILPH now WHW held a seminar at Dick VEt in Edinburgh circa 2003/4 he presented a paper which impressed the vets present. (I got invited because I used to raise funds for ILPH).

If someone knows who that is and can post a name I sugges you send photos to him and ask. Personally I wouldn't get too worried at 26 days - you have a window of (I think) three months. If you have no luck I will ask ILPH/WHW.

Lovely foal.
 
i think it all depends how high up the problem starts, if its carpal valgus(sp)(if you pop his leg up over your arm and let it flop down you get a good idea of how far up it is) then its (i bel) already affecting the growth plates ect.

If lower then correct rasping will help alot more, and deffo before the growth plates close! Also as you have said he will come out through the chest which will help alot too! Had a young chap with a worse problem than yours and its what i was told by two orthopaedic vets!
 
Of the two pieces of advice you have received the vet is correct: rasping the outside of the foot will tend to turn the toes in.

However I am not sure whether you actually need to intervene at this stage. A degree of toeing out is necessary in young horses so that, when their chest widens, their feet point forwards. A narrow chested baby horse with forward facing feet will end up as a pigeon toed adult.

Do you have access to another vet who has an interest in angular limb deformities? If your foal does need intervention they need it soon as the growth plates close first in the foot and fetlock and once they are closed there is little that can be done to alter bone angles in these areas. But the foal may not need anything done at all. If this was my foal I'd bring in an expert pair of eyes as soon as possible.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Of the two pieces of advice you have received the vet is correct: rasping the outside of the foot will tend to turn the toes in.

However I am not sure whether you actually need to intervene at this stage. A degree of toeing out is necessary in young horses so that, when their chest widens, their feet point forwards. A narrow chested baby horse with forward facing feet will end up as a pigeon toed adult.

Do you have access to another vet who has an interest in angular limb deformities? If your foal does need intervention they need it soon as the growth plates close first in the foot and fetlock and once they are closed there is little that can be done to alter bone angles in these areas. But the foal may not need anything done at all. If this was my foal I'd bring in an expert pair of eyes as soon as possible.

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yep quite agree, one of our 08 colts was the same, he had light rasping on the outside and farrier and vet checked him weekly as both were on the yard each week anyhow but they said the same that too straight now would make him pigeon toed, a certain degree was needed to balance out his narrow chest and huge knees, he is now 8 months old and perfectly straight. But then i wouldnt people to read this and think it was ok to leave, like i said vet and farrier looked weekly.
 
I would caution against any intervention at all - Mother Nature knows best and I would turn your foal out for limited exercise building up to staying out permantly. We have had foals born with all sorts of leg variations - even a hind fetlock that was completely bent backwards. All have straightened naturally when the foal has grown and the ligaments have gained their correct stability. Any fiddling whilst the growth plates are open and the bones are soft could be extremely detrimental to your foal in later life plus all the handling at such a young age is really not good for them.

Speak to a breeder like Joanna Vardon at the National Foaling Bank, she will have seen many foals with all sorts of leg variations but most continental breeders would leave well alone.
 
Apart from Leo last year's colt all of ours have corrected their leg deformities themselves over a few months, our farrier just kept trimming Leo every time he came and he is now normal to look at.
I would follow the vet's advice but not use iodine or any other irritant, it's totally unecessary.
Just be sure not to overfeed, we had to restrict the mare to old hay for a month which made quite a difference.
Time sorts out most things especially in one this young and it sounds like you're being very watchful and can take more action if it gets worse.
 
I have not read all the replies as am at work and shouldn't be on here...
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However, my friend's foal (she is now 4) was one of my first trips to Leahurst! We took her for the very same reason you have mentioned, conflicting advice
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Leahurst watched her trot up (with Mum) and decided that small changes over a period of time would straighten the foot and she would have no further problems. The also suggested using something like the Equi-Pac (gel for filling in feet) to build a small wedge to correct the foot which was done.

She is now lovely and straight
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