Shoeing the crooked legged horse and the Club Footed Horse

by David Farmilo
Accredited Master Farrier, Oakbank SA
PH 0418 835 186
www.horsefarrier.com.au

THE CROOKED LEGGED HORSE

The horse with a deviated pastern or cannon bone is a crooked legged horse. As part of the initial assessment, always assess if the horse is right or left handed in order to start on the biggest hoof. Next, always get the hoof in balance. It requires a correct equal balanced measurement between toe and heel and another balanced measurement between inside and outside (lateral medial measurement). It is also necessary to achieve a T-square along the back of the pastern and the back of the heels.

In the straight legged horse, balancing the hoof will then allow the hoof to travel in a straight line from leaving the ground to where it next lands on the ground. However, on the crooked legged horse, it is interesting to note that it is still important to achieve the balanced hoof with the hoof landing square on the ground to the point where the hoof would actually travel in a straight line.

We did an experiment at one of my recent courses. After correctly balancing the hooves, I put a white dot at the centre front of the hoof above the toe clip area, and we then watched this crooked legged horse with balanced feet walk up and down the passage way towards us.

The interesting thing was that although the horse was crooked legged, the white dot that we placed on the centre of the hoof actually travelled in a straight line towards us, so that if you eyeballed the white dot, it was almost hypnotic, as the centre of the hoof travelled in a straight line, but because of the deviated cannon bone, in which the cannon bone is set either to the inside of the knee joint or the outside of the knee joint, the leg joint wobbled crazily all over the place while in flight, under the influence of the crooked leg bone structure. But the centre of the hoof stayed in a straight line.

A hoof will travel in the direction of its longest point. Flares that are the direct result of crooked leg bone structure will flare to the opposite point, that is, if the horses cannon bone is set to the inside of the knee joint, it will always flare to the outside of the hoof. If the cannon bone is set to the outside of the knee joint, it will flare on the inside, thus the horse will be pigeon toed in the latter or splay footed in the former.

In each case the heels must be kept level, the hoof must be kept level, there must be a t-square along the back of the pastern and the back of the heels; then once the leg is in flight, the bone structure and the muscle memory takes over the flight of the hoof through the air. There is nothing that can be done about this, as it is a conformation problem, it is a deformity, this is the way the horse is comfortable, and it will travel through the air according to the deviation in the bone structure. It is important also to note that we can correct lateral leg lameness in the horse by at least keeping the hoof level and flat on the ground so that even though it is a pigeon toed horse, it will still land pigeon toed and it will still take off pigeon toed, but the actual flight of the hoof is in a straight line.

After 50 plus years of shoeing, while always trimming to achieve a balanced hoof that will land flat, it was still a very interesting experiment to demonstrate so easily to the class, and a great way for any horse owner to check the flight pattern of the hoof.

THE CLUB FOOTED HORSE

With the Club Footed horse, the first thing to understand is that the horse has a deformity and as such it is always going to need a high degree of hoof maintenance, for the term of its natural life. To identify the club foot we must know what is considered ‘normal’ and then compare the difference. When a normal hoof is in balance, the front of the hoof wall will be in line with the front of the pastern, whereas in the club foot this straight line is broken from the coronet down to the toe, and the heel appears much higher.

There are many reasons why horses are afflicted with one or two club feet; some are born that way through genetics, and most owners will vigorously deny that this trait was ever present in their bloodline, however when historical photos of previous generations are studied it will show up three or four generations back. Another group of these club footed horses is simply the result of hoof or leg injuries, and then there is a small group who have developed club feet because of misunderstood trimming.

The foal born with a disposition to display a club foot should be given a few weeks to see if the condition improves to normal; if it fails to develop a correct angle by the age of four weeks you can assume that the deep flexor tendon is still contracted. This will be causing the heels to grow high and the toe to become short or stumpy, thus the heels need to be lowered as much as possible, down to the junction of the widest point of the frog to help get the frog into ground contact and this will need to be repeated every two weeks. Despite all these efforts you will still be likely to end up with a club footed adult who requires high maintenance for life.

It is amazing how horses can adapt their action to get around a handicap such as a club foot. Many of them go on to be top performers with no hint of lameness even though they are stepping slightly short on that leg.

Injuries to the tendon or heel bulbs which cause the horse to point its toe and rest the heel off the ground for any length of time will often cause what looks like a club foot, and if this is not corrected quickly it can develop into that conformity.

The club foot if not correctly balanced will cause problems such as contracted frogs and heels, lameness from the high heels causing concussion from landing too early, which also causes neck and shoulder and back strain. If it is shod it will often forge or over reach and pull shoes off.

The club foot, because it is usually contracted in the heels and has very little angle to its side walls, can be difficult to maintain. It is a mistake to leave the shoes wider so that the hoof will spread, as this only invites the shoe to be pulled off during work or play. The best you can do is to balance the hoof correctly which will keep the frog down on the ground which will prevent heel contraction. Also don’t use a shoe which is too thick and heavy as it will put unnecessary stress on a fragile hoof wall.

The club foot can also be reconstructed with synthetic hoof material. This will not alter the conformation and only adds aesthetic value.

The important thing to remember is that in a foal, early recognition and appropriate action are vital, and that a club footed horse is a high maintenance horse but managed properly will still do his very best for you. From a farrier’s perspective, my advice to the breeders and owners is to be very selective and cull out bad conformation.