dishing in a youngster

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The daughter tried a potential new horse today. She's fallen in love with it, its got a fantastic temprement, is very responsive but is also safe as houses! It does however dish a fair bit, on its left fore very slightly, more so on the right. The horse is rising 5, is still a little unbalanced but it has tons of potential & is very scopey.

I don't really know much about dishing so is it something that I should be worrying about as otherwise the horse is perfect!

Ideally the daughter is wanting to bring it on for PC, a bit of dressage & eventing but mainly to showjump (unaffil to start but potentially BS). Of course all of this will be in time as its still only young & still learning. It is priced reasonably & would of course also have a 5 stage vetting if we decided to go ahead.
Many thanks xx
 
It wouldn't worry me, as long as it wasn't striking into the other leg. There are lots of top horses that dish, and often the dishing can be lessened by sympathetic shoeing.
 
I'm not much bothered about small issues like that IF the horse is otherwise sound and well constructed.

However, there are a couple of points . . .bilateral similar gait abnormalities tend to cause fewer problems as the horse is odd, but balanced. One very wonky leg it more likely to cause uneven strain on the rest of the horse. Also, it seems to matter where the twist is - if it's the whole leg, that seems to stand up better than a more obvious twist under the knee. (Barring gait issues caused by a physical problem, obviously.) Also, how the foot hits is or primary interest. If it lands straight and true, with the stress going relatively straight up the leg, then the horse is probably structurally sound. If the foot pronates or the force comes significantly off centre through the joints, then it's more likely to cause a problem. I'm also a bit nervous in young horses if much has been done to try to "correct" the situation and make the horse look normal, as this can sometimes be done with little regard of what is best for the horse in the long run. A good farrier is very important for any horse, but even more so with one that needs careful shoeing for balance.

That said, no horse is perfect and there are lots and lots of top horses with legs many people on internet forums would run a mile from. ;) You really do have to take the whole picture into account and get the horse professionally assessed.
 
Thanks tarrsteps. I've watched the video back a lot of times & I think (think!) the twist is coming from above the knee/from the shoulder. It also looks to be landing its foot straight although its hard to tell on the surface & with my dodgy camera work. In some shots it doesn't look too bad but in others it looks spaghetti legs!!

If I can upload the video & pm it to you would you mind having a look please? I don't really want to post it straight on here as its not my horse. Thanks xx
 
Most dishing comes from the shoulder, so no point in doing remedial farriery if that is the case. Unless you're going to show, I wouldn't worry about it in the least unless the horse actually strikes into itself. Lots of top sports horses don't move like they are "supposed" to; form should follow function.
 
I am having a mare treated currently by an osteopath for a previous injury, thought to have been a rotational fall in her younger years which was left untreated. She dishes out from the shoulder more so on the one leg than the other. When walking / trotting & cantering she is noticeably stiff throughout the shoulders and doesn't use them as she should do to move herself forwards, instead she swings her legs outwards to make it easier for her. X-ray's have been taken and she does have arthritic changes in the base of her neck (which isn't uncommon in horses), which again is thought to have stemmed from this previous injury. We have been having the osteo out to treat her since October / November time with some acupuncture treatments too and she is improving slowly and the dishing becoming less and less although she is in need of many more treatments to correct the years of that injury being there and ignored.

What I'm trying to say is make sure you study the horse moving before you make a decision, to see whether it's dishing may be more of a problem further up than purely a conformational fault. This mares vets bill has built up to quite a substantial amount and the osteo has still asked me not to put any weight on her back as it could potentially undo the work he's done so far so it is a long process.

Oh also this was not picked up on in the vetting!!!
 
Horses that are perfectly straight are of course best however they are as rare as hens teeth .
I used to think dishing was set in stone time and experiance has taught me that everything is slightly more fluid than that as long as the horse is straight in way it places the foot on the ground I don't worry to much .
I have seen a almost perfect mover start dishing when the saddle fit changed and foot balance can affect it too.
You need to try to assess why the horse dishes.
 
Thanks :)

Ive been trying to upload a video to photobucket for ages now but its not working! The horse doesn't look stiff in the vids imo. I'll share it if I ever get it to upload! x
 
My horse used to dish quite noticeably as a youngster. As he has got , fitter and stronger it has diminished. Now you only notice if he is trotting fast and unbalanced. He competes elem BD and its never been commented on.
 
Thanks britestar :)

I've spoken to the daughters jumping coach & also her pc instructor & both of them said it wouldn't put them off but to obviously get it vetted, which I would do anyway xx
 
We have 2 that dish on the yard. One did it a lot as a 4 year old but was bought because he was well put together apart from that and had a real "can do" attitude. Growing and strengthening plus corrective farrier (very strong focus on always properly balancing the foot). He is now 6 and did his first 1* last year and no longer does it. The other was a lot worse (5 year old) but again, this has been reduced quite a bit as she has strengthened and grown.

I would ensure I understood what caused the dishing (taking TS's post into account), but it would not necessarily put me off particularly in a younger horse and doing what you want to do. BTW, the mare is most definitely an out and out show jumper though had a crack at an unaffilialiated 90 last year and did very well!
 
Britestar said:
My horse used to dish quite noticeably as a youngster. As he has got , fitter and stronger it has diminished. Now you only notice if he is trotting fast and unbalanced. He competes elem BD and its never been commented on.
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Same for our gelding. At 4.5yrs he dished a lot, but a few years later, with muscle, maturity and a bit of fitness, he barely dishes at all. I rode out behind him the other day and you could hardly see it at all. At local level he even wins showing classes.
 
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