Foal with a club foot

ihatework said:
I’d be having words with your catastrophising vet for unnecessarily putting the fear of god into you!
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Don't forget though that this is a photo of the foot after my trimmer has done a good job of normalising it. What my lovely vet saw yesterday looked quite different!
 
Cortez said:
That doesn't look like a club foot, it also looks like it's had an injury to the coronet band that may be causing a flare. If that's the case, should be simple to correct with regular trimming.
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Can you talk me through that a bit more please, Cortez. I'm not very expert at such things. Can you describe a bit more what you are seeing that looks like an injury? She's been slow to trust me so I haven't been able to feel her legs and may have missed a swelling or some heat. Here's another photo of that hoof but it's a bit dark
 

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Marigold4 said:
Can you talk me through that a bit more please, Cortez. I'm not very expert at such things. Can you describe a bit more what you are seeing that looks like an injury? She's been slow to trust me so I haven't been able to feel her legs and may have missed a swelling or some heat. Here's another photo of that hoof but it's a bit dark
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You can see it on the ridges growing down the hoof

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Marigold4 said:
Well spotted! I feel a bit dim not having spotted it myself. Vet didn't notice it either! I wonder how that could have happened?!? Any thoughts on how old the injury might be?
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Long enough to grow down the entire hoof, so several months at least.

ETA I've just seen she's 7 months, so it probably happened very early on in her life.
 
Cortez said:
Long enough to grow down the entire hoof, so several months at least.

ETA I've just seen she's 7 months, so it probably happened very early on in her life.
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Thanks, that's useful to know. One more question though please. If it was an injury wouldn't it be a bump that was growing slowly down though? I'm a bit puzzled that the result of the injury goes all the way down the hoof - wouldn't some of it have grown out by now? As I say, I don't know much about such things, not questioning your judgement, just seeking more explanation please.
 
My take would be that there's been extra blood (inflammation) at the site of the injury which is right above the bed that creates the hoof wall and that's making the hoof grow quicker in that stripe, but it can't go anywhere because it hits the floor so it's wrinkling up instead.

If you could iron it flat it would be longer than the rest of the foot.
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ycbm said:
I would be very unhappy with your vet. Not only is that not a club foot in the first place, there's an obvious old injury, and they were suggesting operating?!
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These photos are POST trim though. Trimmer has done a good job. The foot looked VERY different when my vet saw it.
 
ycbm said:
My take would be that there's been extra blood (inflammation) at the site of the injury which is right above the bed that creates the hoof wall and that's making the hoof grow quicker in that stripe, but it can't go anywhere because it hits the floor so it's wrinkling up instead.

If you could iron it flat out would be longer than the rest of the foot.
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That makes sense! Well, I'm relieved that it will hopefully grow out and is less likely to be a limb deformity. Panic over. My vet has been absolutely great and spot on with everything else, so I'll forgive her a hasty diagnosis.
 
ycbm said:
The injury was still obvious and unless your trimmer did an incredibly radical trim it was never a club foot that needed operating on.
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It was quite a radical trim - the foot had not been done for 8 weeks as we couldn't get near her at first and then my trimmer was tied up with a lot of personal matters. It really DID look awful. Hence me asking the vet.
 
Marigold4 said:
Can you talk me through that a bit more please, Cortez. I'm not very expert at such things. Can you describe a bit more what you are seeing that looks like an injury? She's been slow to trust me so I haven't been able to feel her legs and may have missed a swelling or some heat. Here's another photo of that hoof but it's a bit dark
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That hoof is NOT a club foot. It’s a bit upright.
Talking about cutting the check ligament on that horse is borderline abuse imo.

Your horse is fine. Get your farrier to gradually drop its heel and make the feet a pair. Don’t worry further than that!

This kind of thing makes me cross. Sorry. A novice owner might well have had this operated on believing they were helping the animal. It’s not right.

That isn’t a club foot now, and unless your trimmer is Harry Potter, that wasn’t a club foot pre-trim either.
 
Marigold4 said:
That makes sense! Well, I'm relieved that it will hopefully grow out and is less likely to be a limb deformity. Panic over. My vet has been absolutely great and spot on with everything else, so I'll forgive her a hasty diagnosis.
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It probably won't grow out, very often coronet band injuries permanently damage the cells that produce the periople horn at the site of the injury and she may very well always have a ridge growing down the hoof from that point. It shouldn't be much of a problem, although there may be a tendancy for it to be a bit more brittle where it meets the ground - or not.
 
Patterdale said:
That hoof is NOT a club foot. It’s a bit upright.
Talking about cutting the check ligament on that horse is borderline abuse imo.

Your horse is fine. Get your farrier to gradually drop its heel and make the feet a pair. Don’t worry further than that!

This kind of thing makes me cross. Sorry. A novice owner might well have had this operated on believing they were helping the animal. It’s not right.

That isn’t a club foot now, and unless your trimmer is Harry Potter, that wasn’t a club foot pre-trim either.
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Patterdale said:
That hoof is NOT a club foot. It’s a bit upright.
Talking about cutting the check ligament on that horse is borderline abuse imo.

Your horse is fine. Get your farrier to gradually drop its heel and make the feet a pair. Don’t worry further than that!

This kind of thing makes me cross. Sorry. A novice owner might well have had this operated on believing they were helping the animal. It’s not right.

That isn’t a club foot now, and unless your trimmer is Harry Potter, that wasn’t a club foot pre-trim either.
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My trimmer is VERY good and it did look very different :)
 
Patterdale said:
Different maybe but it was NOT a club foot. Your trimmer can’t change the hoof-pastern axis in one day.
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I've seen photos of it done once, very recently, but it was an ultra radical trim under xray and vet guidance to remove a build up of false sole at the toe that had been allowed to create a negative palmar angle. Quite astonishing to see the result but definitely not something that can be done without x rays. And you can't drop the heel radically without risking straining the tendons, so the reverse procedure to correct a club foot isn't advisable.
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I am very relieved that the consensus is that it is not a club foot. Trimmer agrees that it is upright, not club. At least my trimmer was able to come shortly after vet visit so I wasn't left fearing the worst for too long. Also pleased that, with the help of some Relaquine, we could get to her feet - she is quite the ninja when it comes to her legs!
 
Patterdale said:
That hoof is NOT a club foot. It’s a bit upright.
Talking about cutting the check ligament on that horse is borderline abuse imo.

Your horse is fine. Get your farrier to gradually drop its heel and make the feet a pair. Don’t worry further than that!

This kind of thing makes me cross. Sorry. A novice owner might well have had this operated on believing they were helping the animal. It’s not right.

That isn’t a club foot now, and unless your trimmer is Harry Potter, that wasn’t a club foot pre-trim either.
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You shouldn't try and make the feet a pair you treat them as individual, you can improve them but you can't do any drastic changes just to make it look like the other one.

But agree its not a club foot.
 
Tiddlypom said:
I’d be very worried about an overly radical trim on a foal even if the foot apparently looks much ’better’ afterwards. Especially if done without x rays.

It’s little and often.
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I completely understand your point but I'm really confident in my trimmer. He knows not to do too much. She had a LOT of hoof to trim. She is not lame walking and trotting on concrete after the trim - we checked this out. :)
 
i always like the hoof to find its own way forward too, the hoof is developing in one so young almost needs to grow how it wants to grow, whilst encouraged away from deviation, foals feet often look boxy, tiny immature as yet to show their direction of growth but do as they grow larger 2, 3 years old

but good your trimmer leaves her comfy to walk on concrete

i think i go in the direction of minimal but necessary intervention and allowing nature to be part of the process
 
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tristars said:
i always like the hoof to find its own way forward too, the hoof is developing in one so young almost needs to grow how it wants to grow, whilst encouraged away from deviation, foals feet often look boxy, tiny immature as yet to show their direction of growth but do as they grow larger 2, 3 years old

but good your trimmer leaves her comfy to walk on concrete

i think i go in the direction of minimal but necessary intervention and allowing nature to be part of the process
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Point taken. Now hoof is looking better shape, trimmer is doing minor adjustments every two to three weeks to improve angles.
 
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