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Re: [RC] club foot - big deal? - heidi

My horse Rocky has a club foot. He's got about a 5 degree difference,
and  for most of his 7000+ miles (and still going) career he has had a
wedgepad  on the other foot (it's underslung and is really worse than
the club foot).

One really has to question whether this is truly a "club foot."  If the
foot is normally shaped and the OTHER foot needs a wedge, then it is NOT a
club foot--it is a normal foot opposite an underslung heel.

The horse that Marlene described also does not fit the definition of a
true club foot--she mentioned in her post that the "high" foot was
normally shaped.

On one hand, a true "club foot" is misshapen and has definite
abnormalities to the coffin bone.  Once you've seen a few, you can't miss
them.  But they are more rare than people would think, given all the
discussion of "club feet."

On the other hand, "high-low syndrome" (in which the feet are normal but
one is at a steeper angle than the other) is pretty common.  Horses have a
preferred side, just as people do, and when they are confined in small
spaces with inadequate hoof care, I daresay that the majority of horses
(particularly young ones who have not yet had opportunity to develop both
sides, either by running out in the open or by being ridden) will have one
foot that becomes a bit steeper than the other, and in many cases, the
difference can be quite extreme.  High-low syndrome, left unchecked for
long periods of time, CAN eventually LEAD to a true club foot, as the
difference becomes extreme and forces begin to exert changes on the coffin
bone.  But most cases can be solved by trimming, and most cases will
eventually grow normally if the horse is either turned out in the open
where he spends more time actually traveling evenly or if he is ridden on
a regular basis.  And many will begin to grow evenly with no more change
than regular trimming.

And Karen is on the right track here when she says that the underslung
heel on the hoof that requires a wedge is "more of a problem" than what
she is calling a club foot--the failure to grow a proper heel is a whole
nuther problem, Karen is handling it the right way, and by doing so, she
is likely preventing her horse from truly having a club foot on the other
side.  Had Rocky simply been turned out in a 16 x 16 pen all of his life
with no hoof care, there is a good chance he would have eventually
developed a club foot on his "high" side, since the underslung heel will
cause a horse to land harder on that heel and break over more quickly on
the "good" side, eventually dubbing off the toe and causing the heel to
build up on that side.  Left unchecked, this continual "walking on the
toe" of the coffin bone WILL cause irreversible boney changes that result
in a truly clubbed foot.

I hope this helps people to understand the difference and the process...

Heidi



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