Thank you, Linda, for pointing out that the research was old research and
not necessarily current information. The reason I had that information is
that it was given to me, by a vet, from New Bolton, a year ago, after we
were discussing whether or not a horse with a club foot does or does not have
the propensity to develop laminitis more than or less than a horse with out a
club foot! My own experience with my 23 year old ex-race
horse, Khemosabi grandget, that has a club foot, was one of the reason I was
in the conversation in the first place!
When I was studying on the club foot issue, at the time, 1988-1992, I
relied on the information that was presented to me, and followed the
recommendations emphatically! Was the horse born with the club
foot. Yes and No. How can that be? It didn't show up right
away. What did show up right away was a slightly turned out right
knee. This is the information that I received from the breeder, and the
boarding / training facility he was located at in Southern California.
When I bought him he was 3 years old. His club foot had developed by
then and I was told by the farrier how it was maintained in order to keep the
'tendon' stretched down. This horse was grazed during the day, fed
grass/alfalfa at night, and no other supplements. He had a 2 acre
pasture all by himself to run around in all day. The information given
to me by Dr. Herthel, Los Olivos, as that the turned out knee is caused by
incorrect leg muscles that line the side of the knee. If the horse is
not turned out to RUN on it's own, for a couple of years, the muscle does not
develop well. Most horses kept up in stalls at a young age that have a
turned out knee or turned in knee will, in fact, not develop those muscles
well. The hoof compensates for the 'shortness' and the club foot starts
to show up. My horse had been kept up because they were getting him
ready for Scottsdale his yearling year. Enough said about that!
BLAH!
After I bought the horse I maintained his club foot exactly as I had been
told would work the best. My vet, Dr. Byerly, having come from a race
horse background, was adamant NOT to 'correct' shoe this horse. Let his
angle fall naturally because that is how his 'muscle' was developed that lines
the side of his knee. If you were to over correct the club foot that
would try to realign the muscle and would 'bow the tendon' as he had seen so
many times at the track. So, this horse was not over corrected while he
was in Northern California and he raced quite well. When the Arabians
went back down to SoCal from to do their regular meet, the farrier there
over-corrected him, and he did in fact 'bow a tendon' and came home. He
sat at home just doing light work and some trail riding until I sent him, at
nineteen, to FL for dressage training. Farrier there was VERY familiar
with club footed horses. And my horse was maintained very well without
any problems and did well in his Trial I and II (Second and First) without any
affect to his tendon! I brought him back to CA to continue his training
- which was unable to happen!
Now, I did go over feed issues with Dr. Byerly, because my horse had
epithicitis, which is generally caused by too hot of feed. I was feeding
him alfalfa / oat cubes due the alfalfa/grass hay shortage, in the area, at
the time. Dr. Byerly told me to take him off of right away and put
him on straight oat. I did and his condition immediately went
away. However, his club foot condition was already present, and it
didn't go away after the feed adjustment.
We moved up to the Placerville area 2004 and I had a difficult time
finding a farrier that could take care of this horse's club foot and keep his
tendon stretched down so that his knee muscle would not be affected. We
did okay with one farrier until he was unable to continue due to his personal
issues I now, after, 2.5 years, have a farrier that keeps
him maintained. So, no matter what the current information is - it
pretty well isn't going to change a thing for this guy. However, should
I EVER encounter this problem again, I'll rely on the experts, top in their
field! So, yes, it is important to stay current. However, I have
not seen or heard, from the professionals, I have spoken with, that
anything much has changed in the way they view structure, alignment, muscle,
and bone.
