Toe out increasing with age...trim beyond balance to correction?

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

So I was at a farm this past week and observed a group of foals ranging from 2 to almost 4 mos old. I've seen these babies periodically since they were born. One stuck out because it has become very toed out both in front and in back (almost 4 mos old now). This was not the case when the baby was born/a week old, or even at a month old, except, perhaps to a very slight degree on one front leg, which is now more like a 45 degree angle out. The hinds are also very toed out.

What the heck? None of the foals have had hoof trims as far as I could tell. The baby in question is leggy, but not abnormally so and has a nice length of neck.

What could be the cause?

[Tamara in TN]

What the heck? None of the foals have had hoof trims as far as I could tell. The baby in question is leggy, but not abnormally so and has a nice length of neck.

What could be the cause?

not being trimmed properly from about 2 weeks on...unless they have deviated knees those are born looking "correct" and then go off wonky pretty quick

best

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

not being trimmed properly from about 2 weeks on...unless they have deviated knees those are born looking "correct" and then go off wonky pretty quick

best

It is front and back. Is there such a think as deviated knees and hocks? When does that show up?

Beyond the toe out the conformation (from the side) is very good.

I'm troubled by this.

[ThirdCharm]

Most young horses tend to toe out a little, as long as it is the WHOLE leg I don't worry too much because as the chest broadens the legs will straighten. As long as the hooves are in correct medial-lateral balance and don't worry about it.

Deviations (cannon bones facing outwards while knee faces forward, knees facing inward while cannons are straight, etc.) are pretty easy to spot and IME can develop at ANY point while the limbs are growing. If they are congenital they show up early, but if the hooves are allowed to grow willy-nilly while the growth plates are active, the stresses on the developing bones can cause them to grow unevenly. The only time this can be addressed is while the foal is quite young and the plates are active (like, under a year).

DH and I had a discussion about this as we shoe at a few Pony barns, at first I was like WTF why is every dang pony in this barn crooked in front? Apparently people tend to think that young ponies, being low-maintenance in many other ways, don't need to be trimmed very often (or even at all), but the little buggers are smaller so don't wear their feet off as much as big horses, and in addition pony feet tend to be quite hard which doesn't help. So they tend to develop deviations, by the time they get to a decent trainer to go u/s the damage is done. Quite frustrating when you have a fancy Hunter pony and it has a lovely flat-kneed trot but it wings because some nitwit couldn't be bothered to keep its feet level when it was six months old. Ugh.

I trimmed a pony foal that was three months old, so rank it took 40 minutes to trim, and it was so club-footed in front it about made me cry. Hopefully correct trimming will get the angles where they need to be. My 3 mo old colt has been trimmed three times already, his feet are gorgeous and he stands like a post.


Jennifer

[ambar]

I have seen several young horses by the same stallion who are born straight and then start to toe out on one leg at about a year. Different dams, different owners, different management styles. I tend to think this is genetic, though it can be improved by careful farrier work if caught right away.

[ThirdCharm]

I know two related horses trimmed by same farrier from a young age who toe-in identically on the same leg. Four other horses of identical breeding trimmed by someone else are straight. Another horse of identical breeding who toed-in with the first farrier, was sold and changed farriers at a young age and is now "almost" straight but some bone deviation had already occured.... All big, growthy young horses, so I think a tendency existed, but that an alert farrier was able to correct it when caught early.

Jennifer

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

So a couple people have mentioned farrier intervention. On a more general level, what can a farrier do? Do you mean just bring the horse back into a balanced/level trim or something else?

I'm just really curious.