# wh owns a pigeon toed horse and does it affect them?



## polyphonic (5 January 2008)

I am scouring through some yahoo pages about confirmation and some answers- with one person stating you shouldnt do more than trot! (yes- I did Laugh at that) others say that the horse has a better chance at withstanding the stresses on the legs better than a splay-footed animal...peoples thoughts on this please??

thank you!


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## _jetset_ (5 January 2008)

Hmmm, Grace has a slight pigeon toe on her front left leg and has never had a days problem with it in her life. I think it depends one whether it turns from the pastern or just in the foot itself (I did some reading up on it before taking her on). Grace's pigeon toe completely disappears with regular shoeing, but because she has had them removed for the colic surgery I could see it again 
	
	
		
		
	


	




 The shoes are going back on as soon as I get back from my hols, but it has certainly never affected her in dressage and has never been commented on by judges etc.


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## jcberry (5 January 2008)

Some can cause problems/strains with ligaments etc, but you can get corrective shoeing, and it depends to the extent, but i personally wouldnt buy a horse who was pidgeon toed.


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## ruscara (5 January 2008)

A horse I used to own had a turned-in foot.  He was never, ever lame when he was with me, and schooled, hacked, jumped and showed very nicely.  My farrier shod him to compensate for the pigeon toe.
However, after I sold him, he went lame and never came sound.  He was given every possible treatment, but was eventually pts.
So I believe it's a risk to buy a horse with this conformational fault, but it's down to what, and how much, work you want to do with him, how good your farrier is, and luck.


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## elsielouise (5 January 2008)

One of mine was cheap because she was really quite pigeon toed. I only wanter her as a companion/hack/occasional hunt and had a full vetting and a farrier look at her before buying her.

Both said she has as much chance as going lame as a straight horse. Seen MANY quality eventers with same action, a friend's got one and it has never caused a problem.

Depends what you plan to do maybe there is . I always thought there was the possibility of strain on joints but apparently that is more likely if farrier tries to correct the appearance by dropping the foot on one side to make it look correct. This is apparently dangerous (am told by my natural balance expert farrier person  and ex Queens cavalary farrier) and aesthetic farriery can improve the appearance by simply things like changing where the toe clip is.

My 4 year old was about £1000 cheaper than she should have been as she'd just come over form Ireland with terrible feet and the dealer didn't want to keep her long enough to repair the damage.

My farrier now says she has fantastic feet and you can hardly see the crookedness. She dishes a bit but vet says she'll be perfectly fine for hunting and RC activities.


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## Baggybreeches (5 January 2008)

My Emerald is pigeon toed, but it doesnt hinder him in any way, I was actually studying his front legs yesterday and his seems to be from his knee, he has quite long pasterns so they should compensate slightly.
A pigeoned toed horse probably has exactly the same chance as going lame as any other horse (usually at the wrong time)!


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## TiaPony (5 January 2008)

Flo is pigeoned toed and dishes and I think her results speak for herself!

http://www.britisheventing.com/asp-net/Events/Results.aspx?HorseId=34586&amp;section=000100010002






 x


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## smirnoff_ice (5 January 2008)

Molly (black mare in my sig) is pigeon-toed (not a lot, but noticeably).  We've owned her since she was 3 (Feb. 2001) and up until 5 months ago, never had a problem.  She went lame and we couldn't work out why.  At first, vet thought that the pigeon-toeness (?!) might have caused arthritic changes in the coffin joints, so xrayed them.  There are very very VERY slight changes, but that's not what's caused the lameness.   Turned out to be unrelated (soft tissue damage in foot).
So *touch wood*, we've never had a problem and we've certainly done more than trot!


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## rforsyth1984 (5 January 2008)

Sian is a bit pigeon toed (as a lot of arabs are). My old farrier used to shoe him with a tiny bit of overhang on his shoes to the inside, but current farrier doesnt. Hasnt affected him in any way.


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## wizoz (5 January 2008)

Ok, so from experience, we have a horse that is extremely pigeon toed, he went hunting, unaff dressage, hunter trials, ode's and took my cousin through to the pony club eventing finals at weston park at the age of 16!!! He did a crap dressage test, his paces were very choppy and short. He had also been pin fired, before we had him, so he must have raced at some point. He is now aged 22 and retired last spring!

I think the answer to your question Pete will lie within how the horse itself copes with his conformation default.xx


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## Blizzard (5 January 2008)

Lance is pigeon toed and has evented and competed in dressage no problem, he has never been lame because of them, he is 18 now, still pigeon toed, more so if he doesnt have shoes on or is just standing spazzy, they have had no negative effect on him though.


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## Mrs_Wishkabibble (5 January 2008)

I had a horse that was severely pigeon toed, passed a full vetting and I never had any problems with the pigeon toes. We did SJ/XC and never made a difference to her. 
She did end up with a chip fracture to her knee when she went in for an op (to have annular ligament cut) and was hoisted onto operating table though which I do think had something to do with the pigeon toes.
I would buy another though.


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## Boodle (5 January 2008)

YO's 37yo Arab gelding's near fore is twisted, he was born like that and had to be retired from being ridden in about 2000. So he was a fair age. However all he ever did was fun hacks. He never jumped and he now has severe arthritis in the knee. Guess thats not strictly pigeon toed.

My girl Boo is pigeon toed and due to the way she places he near fore on the ground she has suffered alot with weakness in the foot/cracks which got to the stage of nearly ending her life. Thankfully with corrective farriery and veterinary help she is ok for light schooling and hacking. 

It would put me off buying a pigeon toed horse again... but I wouldn't turn a horse away if it was otherwise perfect.


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## Darkly_Dreaming_Dex (5 January 2008)

Had a westphalian warmblood with pigeon toes but didnt dish who hunts hard in his new home with no problems and my current hunting cob has one turned in front leg- the vet thinks its related to a very bad attack of lami followed by very poor farrier attention prior to me buying him. I still bought him and the foot has straightened a lot with the terrific farrier i have who uses twin toe clips so it looks better combined with proper foot balance. He dished that leg when i got him but now 1 year on he is straight. 
I made sure that my vet AND farrier had a good look before i paid for him and was guided by their advice- if they had said they thought it would have been a problem then i would have walked away. 
Another  example is my 16 year old cob who has ringbone and it has made him start to dish whereas before he had perfect straight action- judges always used to comment on how well he moved. Starting to dish was the only thing that made me realise something was wrong so i personally would have the front legs/ feet xrayed just to be sure that nothing nasty is lurking.


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## MagicMelon (6 January 2008)

I had a pony who was a bit pigeon toed. Never caused any problems, she show jumped etc. and I treated her as any other. She was never lame in the time I had her.


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## checkmate1 (6 January 2008)

My 3 yr old is slightly pigeon toed. Vet said she may grow out of it, but it won't effect her at all the only thing is she won't be eligible for higher level showing, but would be fine eventer etc..


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