Ridecamp: [RC] Club Footed Horse

I spent 12 wonderful years with a club footed mare.  She did require trims
every 6 weeks but was barefoot all of her life.  I never felt comfortable
with the farrier changing the angles more than a slight amount, after
trying it once.  Farrier said let's try taking the steps towards making her
feet a little more similar.  LORD.......She stumbled for a month!  Tripped
in the pasture, stumbled on the trail, tripped on smooth concrete!  Not
sure if I did the right thing to not, but 6 weeks later I asked the farrier
to trim them the way nature made 'em!  And she was sound all of her life.

The foot was very noticeably clubbed, but her gait was really not that bad.
At trot out, I don't believe her gait was very noticeable.  But I can
recall a vet crinkling their forehead on our return, then look down, see
the foot, make a note, and get the chalk stick to put our number on her
butt.

It was an adjustment riding a "regular" horse after she was gone.  I still
miss that little "bump" in her gait, now I have to look down to see what
diagonal I'm on.  :-)  Good Luck!


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
 Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
 Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=