I think the grazing theory is an urban legend. I have two Arabs to test
this theory. One has a nice long neck and stand absolutely straight
legged to graze. He is on grass 24/3 so does a lot of grazing. He has
the high/low syndrome. Another one I have has a short neck for his
height. He will graze split legged, normally the same leg forward. His
feet are equal, both have nice heel and a nice short toe. He is also on
grass 24/7.
I have three walking horses who have very round and symmetrical front
feet. In fact I can't remember ever seeing a walking horse with the
high/low syndrome. I am sure there are some, but I've seen a lot of
them in my life growing up in walking horse country and don't remember
one single case. However, I do see a lot of Arabs with this. So I
suspect much of it is genetic.
It is not the kiss of death. A good farrier can help you manage it and
a horse with it can be long term sound. The Arab I have with the high
low is 16 years old and is starting his tenth endurance season
tomorrow. If you count LD's he's starting his 11th. The only soundness
problem I had with him traced back to an abcess that was detected until
he had compensated so much it made him sore on the other leg. No
soundness problems associated with the high low issues. However, I do
have a very good farrier.
Truman
amyc wrote:
My farrier has done some research into horses with club feet. He told me of several he knows including a national level reining horse, and a high level dressage horse. His theory is that many of them develop the club due to having short necks and always placing the same foot forward while grazing as a youngster. He thinks that is probably why so many Arabians have a front club foot - my mare does - because of their short necks and long legs. He also showed it affected their preferred lead, can't remember if it was for or against the clubbed foot. Anywhoooo, my mare has no problems with her foot, and it is very mildly clubbed. She is mostly a brood mare and trail horse, tho, we haven't done any consistently hard riding with her yet, so don't know how she would hold up. Don't fry me on this, now, I'm just repeating what my farrier told me he believes.
Amy C.
-- “Fragile as reason is and limited as law is as the
institutionalised
medium of reason, that's all we have between us and the t
“Fragile as reason is and limited as law is as the
institutionalised medium of reason, that's all we have between us and
the
tyranny of mere will and the cruelty of unbridled, undisciplined
feelings.”Felix Frankfurter
