Problem with hoof alignment!

[cblover]

Hi folks, I know you lot will be able to help me out with this one!

My friend has just rang me to say her farrier has just been to her youngster and he has told her that one of his back legs is not in alignment with its leg!

From what I understand it means that if you pick his hoof up and look right down his leg, the frog doesn't follow on this straight line, it isn't in the middle if that makes sense. The hoof is off to one side.

So, the little fellow seems to be walking on the outside of his hoof and the inside is getting flares on it. Does this make sense so far?

Any advice or experiences you can share? What do you think his limitations would be? He'll just be for pleasure I think. My friend is a bit upset. Cheers!

 

[Paint it Lucky]

How old is he? If yu catch these things early enough they can sometimes be sorted with corrective shoeing, casts etc.

 

[jaye1780]

Should be able to correct it with dorrect trimming and shoeing but will take time to do, happens alot more than people realise - a couple of bad trims and sets of shoes can cause it! My horse had an injury and because farrier didnt trim and shoe him correctly his hoof is now all out of line BUT new farrier is correcting it! So tell your friend not to panic and make sure she has the farrier taking all steps to correct it

 

[mrdarcy]

Without a photo it's impossible to say anything for sure but hind hooves are often not symmetrical (unlike front hooves which generally are, though not always) due to the way the horse moves (pushes off/initiates turns etc with the hind foot). If you try to make an asymmetrical hind hoof perfectly symmetrical you're likely to run into lameness problems further down the line.

Studies of wild horse hooves have thrown up some very odd examples with frogs way off centre - yet these horses are 100% sound. If left alone horses will grow the hoof they need for their own individual conformation - the less we humans meddle the better. This horse will most likely be fine for whatever your friend wants to do with him. You say he's a youngster so I'm assuming he's not done much ridden work, if any. The only thing I'd do right now is get him checked out by a good physio to make sure he's not in pain anywhere else as if he's 'out' somewhere else in his body it will affect the way he moves and by default the way he wears his hooves. If he's given the all clear then just let him grow the hooves the way he needs them naturally

 

[Orangehorse]

Agree totally with the post above.

 

[cptrayes]

Ditto. Ditto. He's probably got that foot because he has a misalignment somewhere higher in his body. Correct it at your peril, because it will just stress whatever is misaligned further up. Fix what's wrong further up if possible, and if not let him grow the foot he needs to compensate for the way he is made. I doubt if he'll be limited at all in what your friend wants to do with him.

 

[almorton]

the important thing is how old is the youngster?
you can only correct growth before the cartilage growth plates ossify and turn to bone, so if you are going to correct via trimming/ shoeing this needs to be done before 18months at the latest!
otherwise you have to live with what you have, farriers can make the horse more comfortable but if you try to fix the conformation defect you will most likely just break the horse!

 

[Mike007]

Do what you can, Let the horse do the rest., The perfect horse has yet to be foaled.I can understand how upset your friend must feel,but dont worry, the thing about experts is that the horses dont know they are and just ignore them.

 

[cblover]

Thanks everyone, I've now spoken to my friend and got a bit more detail.

Her youngster is 2 and he's an ID x. Currently about 15.2hh. It wasn't a farrier that came to her it was a barefoot trimmer because she wants him to remain barefoot if possible. He's obviously never been ridden, just done a bit of groundwork.

I think she's upset because she didn't notice it when she bought him (his feet were overgrown and it probably masked the problem) and of course she's now concerned it will limited his working life or possible leave him in pain.

The barefoot trimmer has been very informative and isn't panicking really, he says just to leave it for now and see what happens during the next two trims. He's balanced it up as best he can for now and as he's young still, it will give the tendons etc time to strengthen up and possible correct itself to a certain degree. The main thing he was concerned about was that the horse was wearing its foot down evenly and he said that he was.

He did notice however, that after the trim he did seem to be a little short in his action as he walked away. Not sure how this will impact of the situation.

Nothing is ever easy is it!

and I'm not able to visit me friend as she is miles away! Thank so much for your help!

 

[Tinypony]

Is this the KC trimmer whose name begins with T? If so, he has a very good reputation and can probably be trusted to know what he's doing.
If he's a Strasser trimmer then your friend needs to run away and find someone else.

 

[CBFan]

I would sugest she should keep up with regular trims and wait and see. As he fills out behind his hoof allignment may improve. I've noticed a DEFINATE improvement in my boy since his back end has filled out. He used to stand with his hind legs crossing eachother but this is becoming less frequent and he is standing more square as he grows. He has the oposite issue of flaring on the outside rather than the inside which again was due to little or no trimming before I got him.

 

[cblover]

Thanks for that folks. He's definately not a strasser trimmer and he does seem to know what he's doing.

She's going to have her boy trimmed every 6-7 weeks and also have a mctimoney tractitioner type person to give him a good MOT.

CBFan - Luna gets a bit of flaring and she has horrible trauma lines on her hooves. Poor nutrition and management is the cause there I'm afraid!

 

[CBFan]

[ QUOTE ]


CBFan - Luna gets a bit of flaring and she has horrible trauma lines on her hooves. Poor nutrition and management is the cause there I'm afraid!

[/ QUOTE ]

Same here! he does have really strong feet though and they were in better shape than my filly's when I got her - she had terrible 'seedy toe' and cracks around her hooves...

 

[brucea]

Tell her not to worry about it. I trim a horse that had a very twisted frog and asymetrical capsule - looked like it was 2/3 over the hoof and the hoof was quite medially flared - sorted itself out over 4-5 months and he has a nice befy frog now that is in a different more natural place on the hoof.

My own lad has one hind that has remained slightly off centre and when you sight down the back of the pasterns the whole pastern and hoof is slightly twisted - it's quite common - and he does very well barefoot.

Thing is to allow him to grow his foot where it needs to be and not to impose our ideas of what a nice symetrical hoof should look like on him!

Maybe the best thing to do is to leave the hoof well alone and not trim it at all - let him grow it where he wants - only trim if it isn't getting enough wear and the wall height is building up.

There isn't really such a thing as a "correct" hoof shape - there is a "highly functional hoof shape that works for that horse" - probably that's controversial.

I have friends with horses that have really weird shaped feet - but they function incredibly well - just look odd when you are used to looking at what you think of as "normal" hooves.

 

[cblover]

Thanks SMID, thats really informative.

My friend is like me in that she won't care what it looks like, but will care if it affects other joints and has a detrimental effect pain wise on the joints and legs etc!

 

[cptrayes]

Ditto ditto ditto SMID.

The significant thing in what you have written is that after "balancing" his foot this horse was LESS sound. What does that tell you about where he wanted his foot to be???

If he is sounder with a wonky foot, then if it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[almorton]

[ QUOTE ]


He did notice however, that after the trim he did seem to be a little short in his action as he walked away. Not sure how this will impact of the situation.

]/quote]

now this i would be seriously worried about!!!!