Category Archives: Club Feet

Hoof Problems, Club Feet

CLUB FEET – THE BRUTAL TRUTH

After pussy footing around and skirting sensitive issues with delicate statements, there finally comes a time when the only thing to do is to be brutally honest, and this certainly applies to the club footed horse. I have written several articles on how to maintain the club footed horse, and I have always stated categorically that the owner has to realise that a club footed horse is a high maintenance horse for life.

However, I still receive more queries about club footed horses than about any other hoof problem. The queries are generally raised because the owner is about to buy the horse, or has bought the horse, or wants to breed from the horse or the foal has just arrived. The hoof is always ‘a little boxy’ and the query is always ‘but it can be fixed cant it?

The brutal truth is NO a club foot can’t be fixed, and YES it … Continue Reading ››

Hoof Problems, Club Feet

HOOF CARE FOR THE CLUB FOOTED HORSE

With the club footed horse, the first thing to understand is that the horse has a deformity and as such it is always going to need a high degree of hoof maintenance, for the term of its natural life. To identify the club foot we must know what is considered ‘normal’ and then compare the difference. When a normal hoof is in balance, the front of the hoof wall will be in line with the front of the pastern, whereas in the club foot this straight line is broken from the coronet down to the toe, and the heel appears much higher. There are many reasons why horses are afflicted with one or two club feet; some are born that way through genetics, and most owners will vigorously deny that this trait was ever present in their bloodline, however when historical photos of previous generations are studied it will show up three or four generations back. Another group of these club footed horses is simply the result of hoof or leg injuries, and then there is … Continue Reading ››