club foot

[trackgal]

I have a horse with a " slight" club foot, his left front has a "slight" dish, and an extremely low heel, the other foot isn't too bad, but when he travels, it looks as though he is hitting "heel first" on that club foot, he is totally lame barefoot, we put shoes and a degree pad on that foot and he is 80% better, does anyone have any thoughts as to trying bar shoes? or do you think that might just "dig in" to that low heel..or..maybe I should be happy about the 80% improvement! thanks for any suggestions..

[Tucumcari]

What about bonded shoes like no vibes and cut the pad off at the quarters so that you have shoes but there is no pressure on the quarters. get your farrier to remove as much toe as possible and take little to nothing mostly rasp the heels to level it and keep it balanced. Just a thought

[Tiz]

Club feet usually have high, contracted heels.

[Tucumcari]

Thought we were talking about the other foot... did I read this wrong?

Actually I don't get it... Horses hit more flat or heel to toe. you wanna see something funky find a horse that walks on it's toes and won't put it's heels down..

[trackgal]

oops! you guy's are right, it's his "clubby" foot that is actually the good foot! it is the other foot with the really low heel, that Iam trying to improve on, we are going to try a larger degree pad to see if we can't get that heel up a bit more, he just doesn't grow any heel there.

[majxmom]

If he truly has a club foot, there is an easy surgery you can do on the check ligament. Look at this little Haflinger gelding that was rescued out of a feedlot, and what the surgery did for him:

http://www.founder-rehab.com/HobbsFeetCompare.html

I'm sure your horse is nowhere near the "before" pictures, but it shows you how dramatic the recovery can be. $600 for this surgery.

[trackgal]

WOW! Thanks Maxi, everyone should have a peek at this...thanks for posting!

[Tiz]

If your horse is a racehorse, this surgery most likely will end his career. That's my vet's opinion anyway.

[Shammy Davis]

As a retired farrier, I can tell you that the incidence of club feet is more common than most horsemen think. I've worked on a number of club footed horses and actually have an OTTB at our farm that has the identical problem noted in this thread. His club foot is a result of racetrack trauma and the residual effect of the laminitis that occurs in most incidences subsequent to injury. This gelding is now a very healthy and athletic horse used by my youngest daughter as a foxhunter. We run him unshod and he does fine on all surfaces.

I don't think much of surgical corrections to hoof problems. Often with the attentive and thoughtful care by a competent farrier and a patient owner these horses recover and continue useful lives off track. The key element to the care is to insure that the length of the gait for both legs and hooves on the forehand are equal or as close to equal as possible. This helps to insure that weight and trauma stresses are eliminated from the good hoof. If you are trying to encourage more heel on the good hoof, trim the toe back and leave the horse unshod. Most importantly work with your farrier, and if necessary, your Vet, to insure that your horse's movement is balanced and natural.

[trackgal]

Thanks Shammy, this is not a Tb. he is a draft cross that cannot go barefoot, we tried, he did ok on his own but dead lame when ridden so we put shoes on him and he is, like I said, 80% sound now while riding, His front feet are so uneven, he has a very low heel and a high heel, we have a degree pad on now, but we are going to try a bigger degree pad to see if that helps, I wish I could get that low heel to grow, what are your thoughts on maybe painting some reducine on it to get him to grow more heel?

[Shammy Davis]

From my previous post:

The key element to the care is to insure that the length of the gait for both legs and hooves on the forehand are equal or as close to equal as possible. This helps to insure that weight and trauma stresses are eliminated from the good hoof.

If you think about it, the reason the club foot has a high heel is because it has an extremely short toe. To raise the heel on the good side, shorten the toe.

Growth rate for a mature horse is about .3 mm per day. The factors that effect hoof growth, along with about everything else, are nuitrition, climate, exercise, metabolism, pheripheral blood flow, weight distribution, et al. The key element to care for this horse is to insure that the length of the gait for both fore legs is equal. Think about putting this horse's forehand in balance and shorten the toe on the good side. The heel should respond, but even with supplements, probably not more than .3 mm per day or 9 mm per month.

[ratherrapid]

agreed pretty much with sammie. personally i dislike pads, but, that's me. i find generally trying to help horses you create more problems than you solve. that's a general statement though that might change for the specific horse.

based on what you posted i'm thinking the club foot and lameness are unrelated. I'd think, per sammie by removing heel on the club foot and lengthing that toe, and doing the opposit on the well conformed foot that you'd bring 'em pretty close to balance without further ado. would that be correct assumption? If its otherwise, disregard

[Shammy Davis]

ratherrapid wrote:

agreed pretty much with sammie

It's shammy, not sammie.

Good point about the lameness. I think I'd look somewhere else. Check for thrush, abscess, bruise. I agree with ratherrapid, pads get in the way and unless absolutely essential to protect the foot, need to be avoided. There is no reason why a healthy hoof cannot withstand a variety of surfaces, even unshod.

[ratherrapid]

we forgot to answer her Q, and note there are some knowledgeable draft horse shoers on the forums at www.horseshoes.com. seems i'm remembering these heavy horses have all sorts of special problems. doubt reducine whatever that is would cause heel growth. i've had a horse or two that either fail to grow heels or it takes forever to get any heel, and others that seem to grow very little heel. normally this is other than a problem as you compensate for lack of heel by the way you trim the hoof. proper trimming will eventually allow the heel to grow out as much as it's going to.
Frog contact with the ground surface may be a factor in this, as well as toe length!

many TBs, lacking sufficient sole protections, are flat out lame without shoes with any sort of use. possible its similar with ur draft. as i think about it, i'd want a draft to definetly have ground contact with his frog. you may be taking that away from him/her with the pads! is the lameness problem in the hoof or elsewhere. hoof testers might be helpful.

[trackgal]

This horse was given to me because he all of a sudden "went lame" with his previous owner, she broke him at two, and was riding him, (he was barefoot) I just thought she did too much too soon and blew out his stifles, because initially the lameness was "behind" but as he got older the lameness started showing up in "front" he is a really Crappy mover, anyway when I first got him, I gave him about 4 months off, (thinking it was his stifles that needed a break) I started him back after 4 mos. and the same thing, except I could not tell "where" he was off he looked "off" everywhere, we put shoes on him and he was immediately 80% better, this horses shoulder's are HUGE, they almost seem like they are in his "way" I had to get a "treeless saddle" because I couldn't even find a draft saddle that would fit him, he is only about 16.1 but he is extremely top heavy, he is pretty sound going straight, like on trail and in the feilds and he even likes to jump, but, go in a circle or riding in a ring he is really lame, my vet tells me don't ride him in the ring just do the trails.