I have two horses out of 10 that both have a club foot. One also with
H/L. But, never had a problem with soundness due to this. One is
very very nice dressage horse (my first horse I adopted and my daughter "stole"
from me! lol), and the other an arab mare. She's very tough. Her
club is very slight and she ever so slightly toes in a little bit. Has no
bearing whatsoever on her athletic ability or her soundness. She's been barefoot
for 2 years as well. Very tough hard feet. She's had shoes on in the past
but I've found she really doesn't need them unless she gets into doing miles and
miles. She is one of my project mares. So that will come in
time.
Anyway I had an old great farrier years ago who told me that it wasn't
good to really correct these issues as that would cause problems in
itself. He felt that these horses had adjusted for these faults over the
years in growing. So therefore, he just shod or trimmed them accordingly
and as balanced as possible. It worked.
My big mare has had no problems with her soundness (with the exception of
injuries due to cuts; while not being ridden I might add....go figure)..and the
arab mare not a one.
So far with horses that I've seen anyway, very very few have even close to
perfect conformation. With feet or body. I've also found that
some faults actually can actually be of benefit. So I don't worry about it
so much.
JMHO and experiences thus far is all.
Just go ride your horse and have fun! Enjoy them for what they can do
and don't worry so much of what they can't. They are supposed to be
fun!!
