RE: Re: Re: club foot

["Kathy Mayeda" <kathy_mayeda@atce.com>]

From my experience with my guy's "club foot", I totally agree with you.
There are those out there that I have worked with that say not to change the
angulation of the club foot, but to bring the low heel up to help the horse
even out the chest/shoulders, which means that they should be shimmed for
the rest of their lives!  But a change in farrier for me had achieved enough
change by lowering the club foot heel that I don't need a shim anymore on
his low heel.  It does get into a complex set of problems with body
balance.....  I could be real boring talking about all the stuff I had to do
to get my horse straight!

K.

-----Original Message-----
From:	Jan Mutchler [mailto:jmutchler@h2net.net]
Sent:	Thursday, July 13, 2000 8:32 PM
To:	Kris Hazelbaker; ridecamp@endurance.net
Subject:	RC:  Re: Re: club foot

Hi Ridecampers:  This is my humble input on what I have learned about
clubfoot from researching materials, talking to top vets and farriers
experienced in the area and through personal experience.  This is only
my
take on the subject - I certainly am not qualified to debate the topic
to
great length.

Clubfoot can be caused be a variety of different "things", i.e.
hereditary,
nutritional, injury, farrier induced, etc.  There are different degrees
of
severity.  The mildest form may show the longer heel, smaller hoof,
smaller
frog; but not necessarily a rotation of the coffin bone, pressure on the
navicular bone by the DDF tendon, or dishing of the hoof.  As the
condition
becomes more severe, then you see more of the previously mentioned
signs/symptoms.  You will also see the low heel syndrome in the opposite
hoof due to the scissoring effect.

There are different forms of treatment such as from the more traditional
method of taking down the clubfoot heel to a more severe type of
treatment
in cutting the chek ligament to using Natural Balance shoeing
principles,
which would incorporate using wedge pads.  It appears to me (the
layperson)
that any of the above principles can be utilized with success DEPENDING
UPON
each individual situation.

For whatever reason, the clubfoot is trying "to do its own thing".
Which
is, to make a longer heel and a more "compressed" hoof in that it won't
look
as big and full as a normal hoof.  Quite often, the DDF tendon is
stretched
too tight.  My understanding (correct me if I am wrong) is that the DDF
tendon ties into the coffin bone.  When the coffin bone shifts downward,
it
pulls the DDF tendon onto the back of the navicular bone, which causes a
pain syndrome.  To relieve the pain syndrome, you have to trim the hoof
so
that it is balanced and with lower heels.  Then, you place impression
material around the sulci to help encourage the heels to widen.  The
lowering of the heels helps to bring the hoof back into its natural
state,
encouraging blood flow and a healthier growth.  After that you shoe with
a
wedge pad.  Sometimes a frog insert is attached to the outside of the
pad to
help encourage frog growth.  Raising the heels back up via the wedge
releases the DDF tendon off the back of the navicular.  The wedge pad
has to
be high enough to get the hoof landing more normal, which is heel first.
Sometimes the low heeled hoof on the opposite side also needs to be
wedged
to raise that heel.  That would help the shoulders to redevelop more
evenly
and in time help change the scissoring syndrome.

It is also interesting to note that the opposite hoof will sometimes
test
sore when using hoof testers due to the overuse of that leg.  Other
problems
will also show up in the clubfoot horse such as refusing to take the
lead on
the clubfoot, or the horse doing a short step to throw the posting rider
onto the more comfortable diagonal.  Back problems and other spinal
related
problems can also show up.

Anyway, for what its worth, that is my understanding of clubfoot.  Hope
it
helps.
Jan Mutchler
Littleton, CO


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