Club foot spinoff

[kande50]

Kande - how bad of a club foot does Sting have? Bliss also has a club foot, but it's minor and doesn't impact him in any way.

Bliss's club may be a one up one down then, because when Sting's club was diagnosed he already had a ski tip on his coffin bone (and the bulge in the middle) so even though I have no way of knowing whether or not it would have gotten worse, I decided to have the check ligament surgery just in case the club was on it's way to an even steeper angle.

I also trim Sting myself, but I always take off as much heel as I can and usually trim some wall at the quarters and pillars, but seldom take much of anything off the toe where he breaks over. I can never get his heels down to the widest part of his (deep, narrow) frog on the club though, because I don't trim the heels lower than the sole, and the sole at the heels is higher than the widest part of his frog.

So because Sting had the check ligament surgery and has always been trimmed on a short schedule, his fronts are not noticeably different when they're on the ground. The wall tubules are straight and there's no curve in the wall at the toe, but as soon as you look at the bottom of his club you can clearly see that it's not a normal hoof. And when you look at the bottom of the other front it then becomes even more obvious that his fronts are very mismatched.

There's way more, though. I had a trainer ride him last week because we'd been talking about his sidedness issues, and as soon as she got on him a rode around a couple of times she flashed back to another WB she'd ridden who also had a right front club. She said that even though the other WB was much greener when she was riding him, the feel was the same. She also noted that while she could get Sting somewhat straighter in the body, as soon as she did his neck got crooked.

I work him way more to the left than to the right, simply because he feels so much more balanced to the right.

Interestingly, Sting has fully developed top and bottom canine teeth on the right side of his mouth, and none on the left side.

I trim his feet myself and I always make sure to leave the heel that he's comfortable with on that side and keep both feet comfortable for a heel first landing. The hoof angles are perfect on each side, but they don't match each other - nor should they. My vet is 100% on the same page with me and he's totally sound and comfortable, so I will keep on doing what I'm doing.

I'm more careful about how hard I work Sting because I'd like to still be riding him 20 years from now, and I doubt very much that he'll hold up to hard work given his sidedness issues. I may be wrong, but if I am it doesn't matter because I'm still upping my chances of keeping him sound by limiting the amount of work, so I don't think there's any downside to it.

[Rosie B]

That's interesting Kande. What are the wear patterns like on his feet when you trim? Is he wearing the toes or the heels? Is it the same on both feet?

I find I can tell when I have Bliss's heel lengths right because a) the hoof wall at the toe is flush with the sole and actually needs to be rolled a bit (indicating that he's landing heel first rather than toe first), and b) that the heel height hasn't changed much at all from after the last trim. If I take heel off, and it grows back in 4 weeks, I figure he needed that heel length and next time I don't take so much. Or, if he's showing wear at the toe, it's because he wasn't comfortable landing on his heel, so other than balancing the heels from one side of the hoof to the other, I don't take any off.

Interesting also about the one-sidedness. Bliss has a harder side and an easier side, but no more so than any other non-club footed horse I've ever ridden. Some things are easier for him left, and some things are easier right. I suspect he would have a slight ski-tip, where there is a small hole between the sole and the white line on his clubby side, right under where a ski tip would be. I'll have to look at the xrays from when he was 2, but it certainly hasn't gotten any worse in the almost 4 years I've had him.

[kande50]

That's interesting Kande. What are the wear patterns like on his feet when you trim? Is he wearing the toes or the heels? Is it the same on both feet?

The club wears the toe more than the heels, the other hoof wears evenly.

I find I can tell when I have Bliss's heel lengths right because a) the hoof wall at the toe is flush with the sole and actually needs to be rolled a bit (indicating that he's landing heel first rather than toe first), and b) that the heel height hasn't changed much at all from after the last trim. If I take heel off, and it grows back in 4 weeks, I figure he needed that heel length and next time I don't take so much. Or, if he's showing wear at the toe, it's because he wasn't comfortable landing on his heel, so other than balancing the heels from one side of the hoof to the other, I don't take any off.

The landing itself isn't Sting's problem, as he's always landed heel first (on all 4). Back when I first started to suspect that he might be developing a club I put a piece of plywood down and set the camera on the floor and got a bunch of ground level video of him walking across the plywood. Then I played it back in slow mo so I could see how he used his fronts, and he did land heel first. So his problem isn't with the landing, but the loading.

Interesting also about the one-sidedness. Bliss has a harder side and an easier side, but no more so than any other non-club footed horse I've ever ridden. Some things are easier for him left, and some things are easier right. I suspect he would have a slight ski-tip, where there is a small hole between the sole and the white line on his clubby side, right under where a ski tip would be. I'll have to look at the xrays from when he was 2, but it certainly hasn't gotten any worse in the almost 4 years I've had him.

For some reason I thought the little hole that sometimes develops in the area of the white line at the toe was correlated with a notch on the front edge of the coffin bone, but I'm not sure of that? Sting doesn't have one, which I suppose could be because the wall at the toe almost never gets above the sole because he keeps it worn down?

As far as his heels, I've never actually left them alone for long enough to see how long they'd get before he started maintaining them at that height. I'm not sure it would be a good idea anyway, as the hoof would be even less healthy than it is because his collateral grooves would get deeper, his frog narrower, and his heels more contracted.

Agree that some things are easier left and some right, but any kind of bending to the left is much harder for him (way, way harder than any horse I've ever ridden). So if we're tracking right I don't have to do much of anything to get him to feel centered underneath me, but if we're tracking left he always feels like he needs to bend more.

[Rosie B]

The way a horse lands on his foot is not a static thing. It depends on his comfort and a number of other factors... he could be landing heel first today, then get on harder ground tomorrow and land toe first, or get a trim that's less than comfortable and start landing toe first to compensate. So their landing depends not only on their trim but also on the ground, and on their gait. It's less common to see a horse landing heel first at the walk than at the trot or canter, because there is no suspension.

So the fact that you have video evidence of him landing heel first at some point in the past does not tell you how he's landing currently. The wear pattern does. A horse that is landing heel first does not have more wear at the toe. That's indicative of a toe first landing. I monitor Bliss obsessively while watching him on the longe to see how he's landing, and take careful note of the wear patterns when I'm trimming. If he's showing more toe wear, he's less comfortable on his heels, and I leave him more heel. Bliss's heel heights (on both sides) are pretty self maintaining. He doesn't have contracted heels on the club side, although they are not as wide as the other side, it's a different foot. He's also not super stiff either direction, so he's clearly comfortable.

Anyway, that's just what I do. Bliss is the only horse I trim. When I was learning to trim I read everything I could get my hands on with regard to barefoot trimming and ended up with all of Pete Ramey's books, including the huge textbook that contains articles from a number of other professionals. I still refer to it frequently. The way I trim is as close as I can get to the way that Pete Ramey recommends, and it works for us.

[Grandiose]

My horse is clubby on the right. The farrier leaves him heel, even though I thought he should lower it. But he is right, my horse is sound (19 yo) so going with what he had and what keeps him comfortable is the right thing to do. My guy is on a 6 week shoeing schedule.

I've found when we're about 4 weeks into the schedule I start using a very thin shim in my saddle pad on the left side, front pocket. Helps keep my saddle balanced.