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[RC] [RC] club foot/tendons/ligaments and endurance - Lucy Chaplin TrumbullFrom my experience, a club foot isn't so much the problem as the reason as to *why* the foot is clubby in the first place (and to what degree?). My horse, Mouse, seems to have tight tendons on her upright side which probably cause her clubbiness, and also caused her to have tendon/ligament trouble. Had I wanted to use her as a pleasure horse, she would probably have been OK (and I'm hoping she's going to be doing just that come Thanksgiving), but she couldn't stand up to the rigors of distance riding and the long, steep hills we have around here. She had suspensory problems resulting in two bouts of rehab in 2002 and 2005. I was planning on using her as a R&T horse last year, but that didn't work out. Her diagnosis was included in a write up I did for my local endurance club at: http://www.gcer.org/2005-newsletters/06-05-news.htm#Ride%20&%20Tie There are some photos there of her feet, the x-rays showing slight coffin bone rotation, and suspensory u/sounds. Dr Carol Gillis who specialises in u/sounding horses and did the diagnosis of her torn suspensory/superficial flexor in 2002 commented to me that it seems that the reason a leg will suffer is the tendons are just tighter on that side. And since they pull on that coffin bone, it stands to reason that a club foot could be caused by it - and therefore result in strained tendons/ ligaments. When Mouse went lame in 2004-2005, it turned out to be a combination of pedal osteitis and suspensory trouble. The pedal osteitis was definitely controllable by corrective shoeing. It was caused by the club foot having a rotated coffin bone - so the bottom edge was closer to the ground and more susceptible to concussion. For Mouse's flat soles, she needed to be cupped out a little more and protected from concussion so we put her in Sneakers which worked very well. Cupping her sole more was very tricky, since the coffin bone was already closer to the ground - there was less sole to start with. The shoer needed to take out enough sole to give her some relief, but not so much that she was made even more sore from thin soles. The vet, Dr Marty Gardner of Great Basin, felt that this second bout of suspensory trouble was possibly caused by her compensating for her sore feet. So in my experience, yes, club feet can sort of be controlled with shoeing - pads, Sneakers, etc. I'd get x-rays to see what's going on inside and work with your farrier and the x-rays to trim the horse accordingly. Be very, very aware of any minute indication of tendon/suspensory trouble and also be aware that typical suspensory problems result in on/off lameness that seems to go away after a short time off then comes right back as soon as you load the horse up again. Hope this helps. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Lucy Chaplin Trumbull elsietee AT foothill DOT net Repotted english person in the Sierra foothills, California * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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 Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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