Club Foot shoeing.........

[Derin Foor]

I'm curious what you have had good results with in shoeing club footed horses. This is what I encountered today....3 yr old 1/4 horse, very clubby LF, normal RF....entire LF is higher at the fetlock, knee, and shoulder...very noticeable.....pastern is almost vertical....very slight dish to the toe....toe stabs LF especially when going to the left

I refused to shoe the horse without x-rays which will be taken Friday.

Without seeing the rads I am thinking removal of excess heel to bring P3 more in line with the solar surface and wedging as needed for realignment with breakover brought back appropriately

Any other ideas would be appreciated.....TIA

Derin

[Roy Amaral CJF]

If you want to get an idea of how much heel you can trim try this-
http://home.comcast.net/~royamaral/cf.JPG
If the horse can stand comfortably like this than you know you can safely trim that much off the heel. Sometimes you'll be surprised how much you can take off without having to wedge them back- and others you might be surprised by how little. :eek:

Be carefull about bringing breakover too far back. You can do just as much harm as leaving it too far forward on these feet.

[calshoer]

That is one good test, my own is to walk them after I trim the heels to the sole plane and then wedge as much as it takes to regain a heel first landing. As to breakover on club feet I try to get it directly under the tip of P3.
I haven't ever had a problem doing that and it helps them get the heel landing with less wedge. It also seems to be close to the place they wear it anyway if barefoot.
Patty

[Dave Purves]

Here's what I did, this is the before

Dave

[Dave Purves]

This is the after. I probably could've rolled the toe a little more, but I will take care of that the next time.

Dave

[Ronald Aalders]

If you want to get an idea of how much heel you can trim try this-


The big disadvantage of that method is that maximum extension of DDFT is reached close before breakover when the foot still has its heels on the ground. When the leg is pointed like in the picture DDFT pull is not nearly as high and the test will at best tell you the horse is not sore in exactly that position.

I like a dynamic test like Patty described better.


Ronald Aalders

[Derin Foor]

Thanks for all your input....the owner got x-rays last week and I am scheduled to shoe the horse tomorrow.......I will take some before and afters and try to get them posted and let you know how it goes

Derin