Club Foot

I don't know if any of you have ever dealt with a Club Foot but I'm dealing with my first. I noticed she was way up on her one front, its like it happened in three days. Called the vet and he said yup its a club foot . Well he said the one good thing is that its her left front instead of her right front. Right front means that it was hereditary. Left front means there's hope. So he put some glue on shoes on her, which have helped a lot. He wants her toe to grow out more. But he wanted to try this before he jumps in and does surgery. And of coarse he wants her to be weaned and lose a little weight so she 's lighter on her feet. So I'm going to wean this weekend.

Arab's are prone to that. My friend who is a breeder said they can take care of those most the time with trimming and shoeing. I have never had one. I do have friends who have though.. You know one of them.. They can be corrected with trimming and then there is surgery for it too. Sounds like you may be on it early enough to get it under control with the trimming..

I've heard so many rumors about club feet? How do they get a club foot???

Good question, I hear that some is hereditary or from growing to fast. But I really dont know myself. The vet just said he didnt think her's was hereditary from looking at her mom and grandma and because it was her left front. But he wants her on grass hay to slow her growth down.

HUM, I know some get passed on. And, some are from poor trimming and the sole not being cleaned up as it should. If this is a foal the trimming is not likely the problem. Too young

Now, some vets think a foot looks a little like a club and in fact is not..

Now, you know what I do with my babies and I have never in my life heard or seen one of them growing too fast to cause that. When they grow too fast they get upright in the fetlocks and bend over in the knees.. Shakey legs.. Doesn't have anything to do with the hoof..

Now I will just take a wild guess that that is not a club foot at all. And the glue ons would not be the fix if it was. I have been there done that with experts and you may just have a baby that needs to be trimmed, heels dropped, some toe and soal cleaned up real good. We can talk about it in Spokane. If you have some shots send them to me at home..

Now I will just take a wild guess that that is not a club foot at all.

BlueJay, Id almost have to agree. It sounds more like a wearing of the hoof, and since she is so young you have alot of time for correction.

Triple J.. The filly is wearing off toe.. the stinker any how. I hope it all works out and I sent Mare some info so she can stay in control of the work the vet is doing. The vets will do what ever as long as the money is flowing.. When the $$ runs out they drop you like a hot potatoe..

So what did the farrier say??

Well here's an update. I took her in last Saturday and they did the surgery Monday. I get to pick her up this Saturday. I know they will come out to change the bandages. They cut the ligament and said she should heal fine. So I will know more when she gets home.

Hows the baby doing?

The vet called and said she would be out Saturday to change the bandage. Then its a matter of time to keep filing her heal down. But while she was in at the vets she came home with a cough and now the rest of my herd caught it. So now I get to deal with that. They said it just has to run its coarse.

The worst part about bringing your horse to the vets is that a lot of the other animals there are sick. It's hard to come home without some new virus. But, yeah, it'll run it's course.
I'm hoping the foot is good. Do they really go that long between changing the dressings? I wouldn't have thought it.

I think it's amazing they can fix those problems.. Nice they are coming to change dressing for you as well. I would have done that myself since no one around here would do that without charging and arm and a leg for it. And, would take a lot of time and money to run them back and forth.. We did this with a colt that had a broken leg repaird. What a nightmare that was..

They said it was severe and its gonna be a long process. They will be out again Friday to change the bandage again and file her hoof some more. She is gonna have weekly filings.

Poor baby. I hope she's fine after all that. Works wonders on their manners to be handled that often though.

That's so true. The only good thing is all that handling does make them behave better... I have seen that surgery done and it really worked for the horses I saw. It does take time.

Arabs have this problem a lot. I have a friend who breeds them and shows on a national level. She said it's really comon for that breed.

At least you are on your way..

I am curious how this club foot turned out. My 5mo old is over in the knees on both legs and has club feet. He has been wearing his toes and we keep the heels off but it seems like we are going to have to go the surgery route.

When you look at a club foot you see a filled in sole and no angle on the heal, broken off toe.. They can do surgery on them and fix them.. But, I would try cleaning up the soal and putting an angle by taking down the heal before I went that route.. Everyone has an opinion on this.. It can be heretitary no matter what foot it's on.. It can also be the way they move and wear down the hoof.. Can you post some pics?

I can tell you a little more about club feet dealing with it every day myself in a human it is the shortness of the achieles tendon that causes trouble so we reposition the bones of the feet through casting then cut the tendon and cast which causes the tendon to heal longer. Now in horses I believe we cut the extensor tendon it is really important that you keep up on trims in order to never let them get up on their toes and need to start over again. My understanding is heels low and you can have a sound horse. Beautiful animal!!