Well,
in writing up the agreement, they noted that the horse has a club
foot.I am
emotionally invested in this guy since summer and so excited to get him here….
But now I am a bit defuddled.
...
Please
let me know what you think,
There are degrees of club footedness. See:
http://www.horse-country.com/faqs/club_foot.html
(the old rec.equestrian club foot FAQ). It is old and more recent
research has
invalidated many of the statements (for example, most farriers are no
longer
so inclined to try to "stretch the tendon" by shaving the heels--a practise
that
was all the rage in the mid 1980's). But the FAQ is still a
good orientation to
the whole issue.
The key questions are:
1) Does the horse travel sound and dead square? Is
there any unevenness at all in the way he uses
his
front feet (slow, fast, circles, after long hard
rides).
2) How clubfooted is the horse?
3) Did he get inferior check ligament surgery as a youngster?
If so, be aware that this horse no longer has the
structure
that nature provides to prevent hyperextension of
the
deep flexor tendon.
4) How well-managed has this been throughout his life?
5) What do coffin bone from-the-side and front top or bottom
rim x-rays show? Is there any degeneration
at all in the coffin
bone? Has the coffin bone in any way
separated from the
wall of the hoof? If so, my recommendation
would be to steer
clear.
6) What does your vet say?
I'd also be curious how old the horse is, and what he's done with
his life. One of the interesting things about even a
well-managed
club foot is the long-term negative effects that compensation has
on the *other* front foot!
I was emotionally invested in my filly, too. That "investment"
cost
me five years of heartache, about $30,000, delayed my adult
horse career 10 years, and ended with me putting her in the
