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 Member
Posts: 41
 Location: Knoxville,TN | My new rescue is pigeon toed.. I have no experinces with them.. Shoes? Trim? x-rays? I want to make sure she is healthy and happy and that whomever is doing her feet is doing it correctly. What to look for? Experinces. Does any one know of certain injuries that they are more prone to vs. their straight legged friends? Thanks |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 807
    Location: New Mexico | I have one that is pigeon toed, she is 20 now. Yes, it's caused soundness issues for her, particularly osteoarthritis in the knees, worse in the left because she's more crooked on the left. She would still be able to compete if not for her knees but she got to the point of bucking from the pain. I've heard and seen other pigeon toed horse with knee problems, so keep a close eye on em! Good luck. |
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Go Get Em!
Posts: 13503
     Location: OH. IO | we were always advised to trim as stands,and DO NOT TRY TO CORRECT,we never had any issues,and he was barefoot his entire life:) |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
     Location: Texas | Looking at the pictures on your original post, it looks like the deviation starts higher in the leg.. hard to tell, but she looks crooked at the knee and fetlock and foot. You're not going to change her at her age, so the best thing is regular trims that keep her maintained without someone getting all ballsy and try to make her leg straight, because its not straight. Long term soundness is unknown.. some horses go on with mild pigeon toed conformation and have great careers with no issues. others with more severe varus ALD succumb to arthritis and cant make anything. And some surprise you and are sound regardless of how they look. |
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2931
       Location: North Dakota | calvinal - 2020-04-07 5:51 PM
My new rescue is pigeon toed.. I have no experinces with them.. Shoes? Trim? x-rays?
I want to make sure she is healthy and happy and that whomever is doing her feet is doing it correctly.
What to look for?
Experinces.
Does any one know of certain injuries that they are more prone to vs. their straight legged friends?
Thanks
Don't let a farrier try to trim them to correct the pigeon-toed. It cannot be done. You cannot change how the horse is naturally put together. You just simply want a good balanced barefoot trim. I would start with baseline x-rays. Depending on your plans for the horse (competition, etc) you could decide if you want to do a baseline lameness eval down the road. Age of the horse? You didn't say. I would start working with the horse and see how they move. Might not bother them at all. Might bother them a lot. Let the horse tell you what they need. The one thing you could do, if the horse is lame b/c of their conformation, is you could put shoes on. Now with those, you can "alter" how the horse lands/loads the foot. Again, you can't change that they are pigeon toed but you can (for example) slightly offset the shoe to the outside. Now instead of the outside portion of the foot taking most of the load (what happens for a pigeon toed horse), now you can allow the pressure to be more evenly distributed. So you won't trim the foot necessarily to change their conformation, but there are things you can do with shoes to try to even the land/load on the foot. |
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 Member
Posts: 41
 Location: Knoxville,TN | She is 3. The guy I got her from had her trimmed right before I purchased her, so I am not sure "how she stands" at this point. I'm pretty sure that she hadn't been trimmed in months prior to that. My intentions with her at this point is to get her healthy, and make sure she has a good foundation first. I am waiting to have my vet out due to the virus but that is at the top of my list. |
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 Member
Posts: 41
 Location: Knoxville,TN | 
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
     Location: Texas | calvinal - 2020-04-07 11:14 PM

Yeah she looks like from the elbow down she rotates in. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 784
      Location: USA | My gelding is pigeon toed as well.... worse on his left. He is 8 this year and we are having knee problems. He has bone chips in both his knees... he is very sore and has lost range of motion in both front legs. He is having surgery to remove the chips.... Depending on how he is after he heals from surgery I'm not sure he will be able to go back to the barrel pen. I just want him around to ride for a while... I don't want to make him a pasture pet at such a young age... it all sucks! |
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  Northern Chocolate Queen
Posts: 16576
        Location: ND | I'm much more bothered by her offset knees than being pigeon toed. I had a gelding with one mildly offset knee and he was crippled by the time he was 12 because of it. I hope you have better luck than I did! |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
     Location: Texas | SaraJean - 2020-04-09 11:32 AM
I'm much more bothered by her offset knees than being pigeon toed. I had a gelding with one mildly offset knee and he was crippled by the time he was 12 because of it. I hope you have better luck than I did!
I had to euthanize a yearling over it once. It was really sad. |
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2931
       Location: North Dakota | Yeah she is definatley crooked! No matter what, it is really imporant to keep regular trims. Don't let her hooves get long ever, because it will always be easier on her if she has a shorter breakover point when moving those feet. Good luck with her. |
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 Member
Posts: 41
 Location: Knoxville,TN | Thanks for all the advice guys! I'll post some updates and be sure to keep her trimmed! |
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