Re: [RC] The nutritional guide to lame babies - Heidi Smith
It does come in other breeds--it is extremely
common in stock horse breeds as well. Yes, it is in some lines more
frequently than others---since the intolerance to nutritional variation is the
heritable aspect. Why only one foot? Because most horses, like most
people, have a dominant side. And once the pattern is started, it is
accentuated by movement and lack of hoof care.
And as other posters have mentioned--it can be
created much later in the growth curve than babyhood--and in some cases even
after growth has pretty well ceased--with misfeeding and inadequate hoof
care.
As for seeing it in "foundation" Arabs--it happened
in lots of other horses as well. Misfeeding and inadequate hoof care may
be more common now than at some points in history, but our generation certainly
didn't invent it.
Bottom line--having dealt with several of these
lines, if you feed right and trim, it doesn't happen. If you overfeed,
confine, and don't trim--it does. Plain and simple.
Subject: Re: [RC] The nutritional guide
to lame babies
First off, I'm not talking about a
true, extreme club foot, I'm mostly talking about a "semi-clubfoot" that
comes in degrees and is in conjunction with a low heeled hoof. I've seen
pictures of 'foundation' arabs that have the same thing. I've seen a picture
of Abu Farwa that showed his high heel/low heel fault. IMO, this has been bred
into the breed because breeders don't care. I see it in some lines more
frequently than others.
Have there been published studies
on the nutritional cause? If it is nutritional, why only one foot? How
come I don't see the high heel/low heel as frequency in other breeds?
