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Veteran
Posts: 160
 
Location: Texas | I am looking at a nice barrel horse to buy. He has one foot that is larger. It has a size 1 shoe. Is this a problem that will hurt him physically going on in the future?
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 Expert
Posts: 5290
| For me it would depend on the size of the other front foot. If the other is a 0 might not be to bad, but if it were 00 I might have to pass. That shows a pretty Def club foot. Most of a horses weight is on front end and ideally should distribute the weight equally. If one foot is significantly smaller then the bigger foot will compensate. Then you are asking them to run and turn on top of all of it. |
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Defense Attorney for The Horse
Location: Claremore, OK | Many horses have different sized feet. If he xrays and flexes good on PPE and is working good it wouldn’t bother me. |
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 Saint Stacey
| Many horses have front feet that aren’t the same. I’d be a little concerned if it were the backs though. Like LianaD said, as long as everything X-rays and flexes ok, it shouldn’t be an issue. |
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 Reaching for the stars....
Posts: 12704
| I have a horse that had a club foot, farrier created but got pretty bad before it got made better. He now had two different front feet. Slightly different angles and shape. They would be about 1/2 size difference if he had shoes. |
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Location: Not Where I Want to Be | I would be concerned that he would run in circles.
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | 1DSoon - 2018-12-31 3:36 PM I would be concerned that he would run in circles.
Wait what!!!  |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | Depends on why one foot is smaller than the other. I would do a pre purchase exam with your veterinarian. Sometimes its from a club foot that was never corrected as a foal, so one foot is shaped different than the other. Other times, it could be a subtle sign of decreased use of the limb due to a chronic issue. That's more often seen in chronic navicular horses or a horse who had a bad injury to one leg and they don't bear weight equally anymore, so the leg they stay off of the foot contracts.
Long story short, may be a non issue, may mean something significant. Just have a vet do a thorough pre purchase exam. |
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Veteran
Posts: 160
Location: Texas | Thanks for your opinions.
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 898
Location: Mountains of VA | This would not bother me.......BUT I would make sure the diagonal back leg past the PPE of the larger front. (Liana D, correct me if needed). If the horse is riding good and doing his job, then it comes down to how much money is involved. |
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  Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | My show horse has 2 different front feet. I think part is because he cut the heel very bad on the left side. So it is more upright and smaller around. I do however battle soreness with him but it doesn't seem to come from those front feet. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 762
Location: NC | My older horse has one foot thats a 1 and the other is 0. hes also pretty knock-kneed. Hes 22, be 23 in july and knock on wood hes never been lame. Hes not the fastest horse but hes consistent and keeps my mom (in her upper 60's), who know runs him, safe |
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Veteran
Posts: 185
| Definitely xray those feet before buying. You could be dealing with navicular, other bony changes or club foot. If they are majorly different I would steer clear. Especially one that is clubby on one side and pancake on the other. You will end up spending more money on vet, farrier, body work, saddle fit and have a hell of a time getting the horse even and using his body well. Maintaining suppleness can be hard - not impossible but hard. Obviously there are exceptions and some are great horses. I can only speak of my experience and I would never do it again. Headache my saddle still slips to the right a bit even tho his muscles have gotten more even. Shimming has helped, chiro, ostio, farrier, vet and consistent good work using his body properly. I'm behind like 3 years tho trying to get things sorted right with him. Headache!!
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