Comments on: Dealing with Club Foot in Horses

By: Anne

Anne — Sun, 30 May 2010 16:37:10 +0000

Karen, that is a horse that should not be ridden. Even if your vet could sever the tendon to help the club foot it sounds like the damage is done. All of her feet have problems and at this point the is no doubt skeletal damage, probably arthritis and down the road navicular. That coffin bone will not be able to take too many more years of stress, imo, since it seems that it cannot take even several hours of riding.
Maybe she could be a carriage horse or something. Her spine and conformation is probably a mess.

I say no to the surgery, except to make her more comfortable, if it even will in the long term. But more rideable? I not only doubt it but can almost guarantee that horse will have a very short and painful riding career if you continue. She’s a rescue. God bless you for taking her in. Keep her but fine another horse to train and ride.

By: Larry Davis

Larry Davis — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:35:18 +0000

It would be my recomendation that you get a set of x-rays taken. Right now you are just guessing as to what the coffin bone looks like and how much sole depth is at the toe. Next after you have that info , trim the heel down as low as poss. take out the dish at the toe, keep it on a short trim cycle(2 to 4 wks)give it some time off, its probably sore at the toe.

By: Karen

Karen — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:11:59 +0000

I’ve adopted a habitat horse and she has a club foot. My farrier says that all her feet are like what they call mule feet, very small feet for her size. The right front is the worst, it’s clubed footed,caved in on the sides, and she’s toed out on top of that. The habitat doesn’t know anything about how old she may be for they found her a stray and a skeleton. But believes she’s around 4yrs old. My question is can surgery be done for her so that she can be ridden? Right now, my trainer says she limps with her on and seems to get worse the longer she has a rider. Please get with me soon for I’m at a standstill on what I should do. Thanks for any help!

By: Cathy

Cathy — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 09:06:23 +0000

I have a club footed horse who has a “hitch” in his gait at the walk on that foot. Any shoeing suggestions to get rid of the “Hitch”?

By: karen

karen — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 23:27:30 +0000

Club feet can be genetic, but they can also be the result of poorly treated injury resulting in the horse favouring its heel long enough to change the hoof wear/growth pattern. Xrays will show if the club is genetic or due to injury/poor hoof care; for the later the joint spacing will be incorrect/uneven.

I do not think there should be a problem breeding a horse with a “man made” club foot.

if the club is genetic however, and you breed the horse that has it, this genetic flaw will be waiting to affect its foals, grandfoals, or great grandfoals. THe normal footed foals may not show the club foot, but they may still have the genes for it, and if bred to another horse that has the genes (but may or may not show it) then you will have another club footed foal. Why risk the subsequent generations?

By: jeannie

jeannie — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:41:53 +0000

Just a note to say about supposedly “because of the genetic implications, no horse with a club foot should ever be bred” can you please explain to me why my TB mare has produced 2 foals (colt in 2006, filly in 2007) without the implication of “inheriting” any sign of a club foot from their mother? (Colt was sold to Singapore)

Must be super lucky?

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:09:52 +0000

I have an 8yr. old mare with a club foot. I’ve had her for a little over three years, the previous owner had surgery done on her as a 2yr. old to correct the foot. She hasen’t had any trouble with it at all untill about 3wks. ago. She has had the same farrier all her life, and has rarley needed shoes, so she was just trimmed last time. We went for a ride a few days later and she started a slight limp. I had the farrier out again about a week and a half later, and had front shoes put on her. She was fine for a few days, and then started a slight limp again. The weather cooled down and the limp seemed worse. The vet guessed that she is getting arthritis in her shoulder. She doesn’t favor her foot, and there’s nothing apparent wrong with her leg, it just seems to be her shoulder. But she’s only 8yrs. old, could it really be arthritis? She’s still got the silght limp after almost 4wks., but it doesn’t seem to be painfull or bothering her, she still runs around in the pasture. Is this a permanent problem resulting from her club foot?

By: Sherri

Sherri — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 18:00:52 +0000

I have a 5 yr old WH mare who has a severe club foot or mabe its a stilt foot, it is completly turned under..I have pics if that would help…I am wanting to try & help her out…I know she will never be completly better, but some ideas on where to start to fix some of the problem would be great…I’d love to raise a colt out of her, but I’m thinking that the way she is now that this would be too much for her, I’d just love to help her in anyway, she is one of the most loving animals I’ve ever met! Thank you so much for your help.

By: lori wolf

lori wolf — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 12:43:02 +0000

we acquired a horse w/ club foot. the prev owners didn’t ride him for about a year then when they did he was tripping and seemed off balance. they had xrays and everything looked okay as far as a leg injury. i don’t know if they realized he had club feet. the horse has had the same ferrier his whole life and i believe he has been treating the club foot as needed. why would the stumbling start to be obvious now at age 16? we took the horse to same ferrier approx 5 wks ago and he put shoes on front. we want to ride him approx 2 miles today to another farm. is it safe if he’s only walking? he mostly only “stumbles/trips” when he trots or canters. please respond asap. i’ve got the fever to ride!!

By: janine

janine — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 02:21:17 +0000

I had a similar problem with a gelding…turned out it was pain from the hocks (OCD). After surgery his behavior dissapeared. Talk to your vet – it is probably some pain he is experiencing.