Pigeon Toed

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Crazy_Caz

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Just wondered if anyone had a horse with this condition..?

Am going to look at a 15 year old mare and the seller has told me she is pigeon toed... just wanted advice please?

Thanks..
 
pigeon toed means they may well be prone to a lot of splints under the knee on the inside which can cause soundness problems, i prefer toe out than toe in personally.
 
I may be wrong - so please do tell me if I am - but any turning of the legs will create additional stress on the joints, which can lead to leg problems of all kinds. However - with regards to the horse that you are going to see - do you know how pigeon toed she is? And what are you wanting to do with her if you were to buy her?

Would recommend taking your instructor or someone knowledgeable with you, and ask them to assess the mare's legs as they would presumably have a better idea of what you are looking to do.
 
My mare is pigeon toed from the knee down. I have never had any problems with her joints. She has competed BSJA jumping and working hunter. She is now 15.
 
My horse is slightly pigeon toed infront (one leg more than the other!) he is prone to windgalls and i do have to be carefull not to work him too much on hard ground as he will go lame (but only mildly and recovers after a few days off), so i am always a bit limited what i can do with him in summer but the rest of the year, when the ground is soft he is fine. He does work quite hard doing dressage, jumping, hunting, endurance and various othr activities and i ride him for 1-2 hours, six days a week.
 
My friend had a horse who was pigeon toed very badly on both front feet, she jumped him to a high level BSJA and he never went lame. He died in his late 20's and was never bothered by it.
 
A decent remedial Farrier can sometimes improve pigeon toed feet dramatically so it might be worth having a second opinion on his feet with your Vet that way he/she can refer you to a remedial Farrier that the Practice is happy with and if you are insured then you could have the work done via your insurance.
 
The most important thing is that the feet support the horse, don't try to alter anything at all, especially since the horse is 15, start messing to improve things cosmetically and you might get all sorts of problems.

Just make sure the foot is balanced correctly for the leg above.

My horse is slightly pigeon toed and he was shod by a farrier who did a fantastic job for the show ring, you couldn't tell at all. Unfortunately he developed a swelling under his knee and I decided that his leg was slightly "torqued." I had his shoes removed and over the course of about 12 months his feet altered a lot, first going very pigeon -toed and then eventually straightening out a lot and the hoof capsule grew and moved to grow what the horse needed. Now he is back in shoes, and you can hardly see any pigeon-toed, although my new farrier suggests that he has his shoes off again in the winter for a couple of months.
 
Dont mind pigeon toes, toes out
crazy.gif
Very few horses are 100% straight so all have slight angles on their legs!! WOuldnt worry me. Same with diching etc, aslong as the foot lands straight I dont mind what it does in the air!!
 
Resurrecting this thread to ask about pigeon-toed horses after seeing a beautiful Ardennes for sale with the problem. I say "problem" but understand from brief info it's not necessarily too big an issue if managed carefully.

Need more info on this.
 
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