Rye foot??

[Farmer Fred]

We were looking at a 4-year old warmblood and thought we might purchase it, but the inside of both front hooves were almost vertical. The horse had a 3/4 custom made shoe and that had to be held on with clips on the inside edge because there was almost no hoof wall in which to put a nail. The owner's farrier said he was "letting the heel grow out" and the problem would be self correcting.

We had our farrier take a look and he said it was a problem called rye foot (or something like that) and said we would not find the term in use today and would have to go to old publications to learn about it. He recommended against buying the horse because in his opinion with the stress of use the hooves would become so bad that there would be no wall in which to nail.

Does any one know what rye foot is called today or have any information about it?

[danverschild]

It's a "wry" foot, as in something gone awry. Basically, it's a distorted foot, and you have to determine whether it's something that can be repaired or remediated. If it's gone wry from neglect or improper maintenance, it's usually something of minor concern (depending upon how long it's been that way). If it's a result of poor conformation, it's a fersure pass.

[Jaye Perry]

It's a "wry" foot, as in something gone awry. Basically, it's a distorted foot, and you have to determine whether it's something that can be repaired or remediated. If it's gone wry from neglect or improper maintenance, it's usually something of minor concern (depending upon how long it's been that way). If it's a result of poor conformation, it's a fersure pass.


With a few , a small percentage of warmblood babies will have a "Wry" footed appearance to the feet. There can be two apparent reason for the appearance,

1. Due to immature muscalature the chest and pectoral muscles are under developed, which creates a more medial load to the bony column of the horse, thus a the "wrong" appearance to the foot. Maturing of the muscalture, bone density and nuero-musculature coordination plays important roles in the conformation and developement of feet in babies.
2. Bony column conformation to the medial side of the feet will give the foot a "Wry" appearance, here's a pic fo example. No shoeing can move the bone, p2 to the mid saggital plane of this foot. A warmblood baby of 4 yrs.