8.5 month old yearling Friesian conformation

[turtl1]

Hello,

I have a newer 8.5 month old purebred friesian filly who has recently started to become pretty cow hocked/splayed in the hind legs. Sometimes, her hocks almost touch. And her toes really turn out to the side.

Here’s my question.

At this age, is there anything you can do veterinary-wise or trimming wise to correct this?

Could she possibly straighten up on her own?

Thoughts? Advice?

Thanks so much!!

[Abbie.S]

She started, meaning she was not cow-hocked when you bought her, and this has become more severe since the time of purchase?

There’s no way to know for sure whether she is just going through a significant growth phases and will straighten out again or whether this is how she will be as an adult. IME with the few horses under 1 year that I’ve worked with, any congenital deformity or conformational flaw they had they have had since the day they hit the ground.

That’s not to say that poor trimming technique or other management conditions cannot contribute to something like this. The fact that it’s started to become very noticeable since you bought her suggests to me there may be an issue with how she is being trimmed, but it’s impossible to know without photos of her feet before and after you purchased her.

[Marla_100]

Agree w/Abbie. Can you get some good, clear photos of her hind hooves (cleaned), w/ photos showing underneath (sole) views and from behind (standing). Yes, unbalanced trimming could make this worse.

[JB]

Pictures would help. Many youngsters go through some of the most awkward growth spurts and just look “wrong”, as some bones grow without others having caught up yet.

Is she actually becoming cow-hocked, or just turnout the legs out? Turned out still keeps the cannon bones more or less vertical, hocks and fetlocks in the same plane. Cow hocks have the hocks deviate more towards the midline than the fetlocks, so the cannons are at an angle.

[fordtraktor]

I have a lovely filly who did that some during her yearling year. I was worried but she is very correct behind now. She was fine as a foal and at 2.5 is fine again. She is a big, wide mare and I figured out she did this when she was widening out in growth. Maybe your girl will end up big barreled? Seems common enough with friesians! Mine is KWPN.

my excellent farrier trimmed her feet to be balanced (they can wear uneven during growth spurts) but said she’d grow out of it. He was right. If you can do her feet every 4 weeks I would consider that but mine was OK with 6 week cycles as usual.

[JB]

She’s at least standing a little cow-hocked in that last picture, can’t tell anything about the first one, and the 2nd one is iffy between cow-hocked and not but leaning towards yes. I still wouldn’t consider her conformationally cow-hocked at this age though. Many horses this young grow out of it

Absolutely make sure your farrier/trimmer is competent with foals, and is out VERY frequently, no longer than 4 weeks, and preferably 2-3 during this particular phase of rapid growth. She must be trimmed so her breakover is where it belongs for the legs she has at the moment, and not allowing any bit of growth deviations to dictate inappropriate breakover which will just exacerbate the growth issues.

[Megaladon]

I feel Friesians are notorious for wonky growth phases. At only 8.5 mos old, I’d be hesitant to really do much in the way of correction. Have you seen her parents? Looking at the dam can give you a glimpse of what this filly may turn out like regarding her conformation. Enjoy your girl!