Problem with hoof alignment!

[bicky]

Hi folks, I know you lot will be able to help me out with this one! :)

My friend has just rang me to say her farrier has just been to her youngster and he has told her that one of his back legs is not in alignment with its leg!

From what I understand it means that if you pick his hoof up and look right down his leg, the frog doesn't follow on this straight line, it isn't in the middle if that makes sense. The hoof is off to one side.

So, the little fellow seems to be walking on the outside of his hoof and the inside is getting flares on it. Does this make sense so far? :confused:

Any advice or experiences you can share? What do you think his limitations would be? He'll just be for pleasure I think. My friend is a bit upset. Cheers! :)

[CityLights]

i wouldnt worry about it, ideally it would of been tackled from a really early age but there is sometimes shoeing and trimming that can be done by a good farrier that will help a little bit

we had some really badly wonky foals at my old job and with the help of certain shoeing methods (glue on imprints) when they were tiny really made a lot of difference to them, i wish i had some pictures of them

If they are really bad you can get an operation done but the danger is that as they grow often they will strighten naturally so if you do have it done you may then have the problem of it going wonky in the other direction, although its only done on chronic problems,

I wouldnt worry though if i rember i will try get some pictures of Ollie without his shoes on his legs are a tiny bit special, my friends horse also competes up to Intermediate eventing and its cannon bone doesnt go into the center of its knee, they can get away with some really bad conformation faults and do well so long as you manage it well, my firends horse could be corrected and should of been at a younger age but the vets advised doing nothing for him now due to his age as it would make him lame as he has coped and adapted to work with his problem

[loosie]

I would be looking to learn about hoof function & then finding a really good farrier/hoof care provider/vet to come & evaluate at least. I would also find a good bodyworker to come evaluate/treat him. I would endeavor to only use a very good hoof care practitioner(of course that means learning what that is) and ensuring the foals feet are trimmed frequently - I find once a month is a reasonable average for most.

With only this little info I can only guess that perhaps a body imbalance or injury has caused the horse to walk unevenly. Or perhaps he's not had much good farriery since birth - a big cause of hoof probs in youngsters & later life. Perhaps he's been trimmed badly in the past & it's farrier error that caused the imbalance.

[bicky]

Thanks for that, I'll pass on your thoughts! :) I'm sure in time the situation will sorted and like you say, these things can be managed.

I just know my friend will be panicking that her youngster may be in pain or finding it hard to move around. Don't think its that bad though!