toed-out/in

[April]

I was just wondering what everyones opinions on toed-out/in ponies are..

Would it stop you purchasing a pony if they were slightly toed-out/in and has anyone had any experience of showing a pony with this problem?

Could it be rectified with farrier care or not as it's more conformational? Would you breed from a pony with this?

Thanks!

[heathera]

It's incredibly rare to find a pony that isn't toed in or out to some degree on at least one limb. It all depends on where the twist is coming from (fetlock, knee, elbow), how severe it is, what i want the horse to do performance wise and whether I have a good trimmer or farrier available to me.

Drummer went to national level TREC and represented Scotland twice and did Medium level dressage at home with a mild twist to his right fore. Through training and fitness we ended up with 8s and 9s for his straight action in dressage so you can support and sort it out if it isn't too bad.

One thing you can do is pick the leg up as if picking it out and then 'dangle' it from the knee or hock and look straight down the back of the lower leg as the foot hangs there relaxed. You'll see how bad the twist is then. by 'dangling' the leg form different joints you can work out where it's coming from.

Sometimes if you use shoes to force the limb straight you cause more problems than the twist was as the horses body has adapted from birth to mavbe with that slight twist and, by removing the twist, you throw the whole of the rest of the body out of kilter.

Hope that helps a bit.

[valerie n scout]

I think Scout has an uneaven hoof and the shoes make him worse x

[Debbie]

How long is a piece of string....

Much of it depends on what's causing the twist, as Heather says. It can be supported with trims/farrier work and fittening regimes.

It does help to know where the twist is coming from. I've had success with shiatsu in straightening twisted limbs, but it was down to the muscles being in spasm which was forcing the limb to toe in or out. In the most severe case the pony had to relearn to walk and gait and finally canter as her front leg was restructured. And we were extremely lucky as she was only 3 at the time I massaged her, so we were able to get the limb corrected before the bones in her legs were completely set.

As for breeding from a pony with a toe in/out, much of it depends on the severity but also if the stance is hereditary or caused from some environmental factor. If it was a mild toe out/toe in, I would consider breeding from them so long as the other parent had straight limbs to hopefully give the foal a better chance genetically.

Good luck finding a pony that doesn't have something out of kilter. Its not even the sort of work they are in, or genetics, but some of their own horsing about in the field.

Shoe on the other foot, good luck asking a human to stand naturally and find one that will stand squarely and sound

[April]

Thanks everyone!
Been doing a bit more research into it in dales and from what I can tell a lot of them have slight problems with it

[heathera]

It's not just a Dales thing, most horses of all breeds have some problem with it. It's rare to find a horse that is totally straight in every limb.