Club foot/navicular changes hereditary??

[scheyennet]

Need some guidance here. I have a lovely five year old Oldenburg mare that I raised from a foal (I owned her Mom). She jumps with a great front end and placed 2nd in the only hack she has ever showed in. I didn’t start her until she was 4+ years old.

She was acting back sore so I had a vet out. Discovered she was 3 lame on one front and 2 on the other on hard ground ( she is not off on soft ground). Took X-rays and found she has navicular changes and some coffin bone changes in the 3 lame leg. He recommends finding another career for her because he thinks it will be a lot of maintenance to keep her going for showing hunters (I show 3 foot hunters with another horse but that was my plan for her).

I asked if he thought it was hereditary and he didn’t think so. He said sometimes it just happens. Then I remembered she has Voltaire on her sire’s dams side and I know he had a club foot. She has one slightly clubby foot (the one without the changes) but I’ve seen horses with a way worse club foot jumping. So I need to pick my vets brain more. I thought about breeding her.

Any experienced breeders have any more info on whether this condition is hereditary or not? It’s heartbreaking to raise a foal and have this happen and I don’t want to go through it again if I can avoid it. Her Mom had perfect feet and her Dad is Amazing and I’ve never seen him in person but I know he was/is successfully showing hunters.

TIA

[ladyj79]

Get a second opinion and a better farrier who will work in conjunction with your/a vet.

[Peggy]

Yes, it’s hereditary, though there are environmental factors as well.

Agree with ladyj79 about getting a second opinion on the assorted issues.

[JB]

Can you post pictures of her feet?

To directly answer your question - club feet are hereditary if it’s not man- or injury-caused (obviously). The point is, you have to know the cause. A true, genetic club/upright foot has characteristics that an environmentally caused upright foot doesn’t.

Many, many horses have been deemed “navicular” due to poor trimming causing contracted heels. While it’s debatable whether navicula, not seemingly caused by man or injury, is directly heritable, some of the natural causes of navicular are - upright pasterns, small feet, for example. Navicular is a condition caused by several issues, some of which are genetic/heritable, some are not.

[Marla_100]

Do you remember what age she was when YOU first noticed her one club hoof? There’s one theory that many warmblood foals start getting one club foot at around 18 mo. old due to having long, growing legs and shorter
necks (at this stage of development). Because of this they start grazing with one foot far forward with the other foot
behind for balance. I’ve seen this many times and believe it’s commonly a cause. If caught soon enough these
clubs can be well managed by corrective trimming.

I’ve also seen young horses with extremely upright pasterns. One was well bred to be a racing Standardbred but owner learned
early on that he would never be fast enough. He also was not safe on uneven terrain or going down small inclines.
He was stumbly almost to the point of being dangerous due to tripping and falling.

JB is correct, IMO, that you need to figure out ‘why’ the club. And the age it appeared. I’ve also seen farrier made
clubs due to carelessness and inattention to proper hoof balance.

[Dressagelvr]

While I agree that there are many avenues to explore for keeping this mare sound in lower level work, I would definitely rule out breeding her.

She’s been in work for roughy one year and has failed to remain sound. That is an automatic disqualifier for me.

[ladyj79]

Unless the causes are bad farrier work, hence the talk to a couple more vets and as jb said, get a much better sense (and xrays) of what’s really going on with the hoof.

also I literally only know one breeder (with a club footed stallion who throws club feet who says grazing hoof…) I’ve worked for two breeders who don’t have club footed stallions producing club footed foals and shockingly not a “grazing hoof” to be found among 40+ foals a year each.

knowing the cause, whether structural or environmental or combination is very important.

[scheyennet]

Marla 100 YES! I did notice that after she was weaned and I was told by her barefoot trimmer that she has a “grazing foot” due to her preference to put one foot forward when she was eating/grazing. He also trimmed her every 4 weeks and said it would take care of itself when shoes were put on, but I guess that was bad advice! Would this be an “environmental” or "man made (yikes!) cause and maybe not hereditary in nature? I have to find pictures of her feet but no she does not have short upright pasterns (at least not like a lot of QH’s and she has pretty big, wide feet). I always fed her supplements in a feeder but she would always pull the hay out of the feeder and eat it off the ground. She grew up in a 1/2 acre dry lot with an incline however, the ground was soft and I wonder if that hindered correct hoof development (looking back as hindsight is 20/20). I think she was three when I moved her closer to home so I could start working with her more and doing some ground driving.

[JB]

Regardless of breed, it’s around the 12-14 month mark that geneticly upright/club feet start becoming noticeable.

It requires quick farrier intervention (and, IMHO, bodywork intervention) - which means a lot more frequent trimming - to prevent cycles of worsening. If the horse starts using his body differently because of the hoof imbalances, then his imbalances will become more imbalanced between trims, and his increasingly unbalanced body will make hoof imbalances worse between trims as the cycles go on.

The split-legged stance can make this appear sooner, and while it may still be a genetic situation of a high-low syndrome (pretty common) it’s lack of proper farrier attention (I’m NOT blaming the OP here ) that allows it to get worse with the “just how it is” attitude.

I was fortunate enough to see this starting with my last youngster, right in the 10-ish month area I think. I trimmed his high heels and his “low” toe more frequently, and got a good MT out for the first session to help me find out where his issues were in his body, and I was able to keep up with that work every couple of days. He does still have a higher/lower mixmatch, with a normal “low” foot, and a slightly upright high foot. But it could have been a whole lot worse if he’d been treated “normally”.

Soft ground does hinder healthy hoof development, as there’s not enough pressure pushing back on the frogs and heels to develop nice wide feet and a healthy digital cushion. Some of that can be improved later in life, including the DC, but how much depends on how old the horse is and just how much intervention can be applied.

At 5 there is still a lot that can be done to improve the health of the foot, including the DC. Good use of boots with pads (if barefoot) or pads with shoes (really need a competent farrier for this), forced movement on hard(er) ground, and more.

[scheyennet]

From JB:
“It requires quick farrier intervention (and, IMHO, bodywork intervention) - which means a lot more frequent trimming - to prevent cycles of worsening. If the horse starts using his body differently because of the hoof imbalances, then his imbalances will become more imbalanced between trims, and his increasingly unbalanced body will make hoof imbalances worse between trims as the cycles go on.”

I wish I had known this earlier (live and learn, right?) as I would have gotten a MT involved. I thought my farrier had been alerted soon enough, but it doesn’t sound like he did enough or his work alone wasn’t enough to help her.

You mentioned there is stuff to be done to improve the health of her foot. I know any farrier can add pads, but how do I find one that “knows” what they are doing? I am thinking you do this to add pressure to the DC or frog to increase blood circulation?

When you say forced movement on hard ground, does that mean walking (or trotting?) her on hard ground every day or something for 15 mins or ? Her paddock is soft now. I am going to consider moving her but I don’t have a lot of options (see isn’t good with neighbors that are geldings - we’ll just put it that way).

Anything else I can do?

I’ve read lots about this but now my head is spinning because everyone seems to have there own thought as to right and wrong way to handle it. I had one previous horse that developed navicular changes (QH cross) but he managed to live a productive life into his 20’s (he wasn’t jumping 4 ft, but he was a kids hunter for many years and was fine) with some pads and then later regular shoes (I no longer owned him after he was 13).

[JB]

@scheyennet I’m sending you a PM

[Go_Fish]

@scheyennet

Marla 100 YES! I did notice that after she was weaned and I was told by her barefoot trimmer that she has a “grazing foot” due to her preference to put one foot forward when she was eating/grazing. He also trimmed her every 4 weeks and said it would take care of itself when shoes were put on, but I guess that was bad advice! Would this be an “environmental” or "man made (yikes!) cause and maybe not hereditary in nature? I have to find pictures of her feet but no she does not have short upright pasterns (at least not like a lot of QH’s and she has pretty big, wide feet). I always fed her supplements in a feeder but she would always pull the hay out of the feeder and eat it off the ground. She grew up in a 1/2 acre dry lot with an incline however, the ground was soft and I wonder if that hindered correct hoof development (looking back as hindsight is 20/20). I think she was three when I moved her closer to home so I could start working with her more and doing some ground driving.

My dad had a colt that was showing clubby tendencies at weaning on one front leg. He had more upright pasterns than we wanted, too. By the time he was 5 months he was wearing a toe shoe which helped some, but didn’t entirely fix the problem. Our vet thought he was a good candidate for check ligament surgery, so we opted for that. It worked like a charm and the colt (gelding) went on to have a very sound and successful show career. I think early intervention is the key. Once the cat is out of the bag, it’s probably too late. I think club foot is hereditary with respect to conformation but I don’t think there is a “gene” that predisposes a horse to club foot.

[JB]

While likely not “a” gene that makes a club, we know by studying families that club feet are genetic. Upright feet are genetic. Many club feet have “normal” pasterns, which makes for a broken-forward hoof-pastern angle (HPA).

That’s different from the genetically upright pastern which then pretty much requires a more upright foot. I can’t say I’ve ever seen an upright pastern with a normal foot.

[Busygalincal]

Also, don’t feed off the ground. I have noticed major changes when I change pastures. One pasture has an off ground low feeder, the other pasture, the horses eat off the ground. I feel it is eating and standing in one place, eating off the ground, not grazing and moving like wild and some domestic horses. When I rotate the horses I do see changes with their feet. That is one way to “manage” a horse who has the tendency for a club foot. Others with great feet and longer necks have no issues in either pasture.

[JB]

Feeding elevated off the ground = stationary horse. They can still adopt whatever stance they want.
Feeding on the ground or “off the ground”, multiple “feed stations” = moving horse. They can still adopt whatever stance they want.

I can’t tell what "off the ground’ means without context

My mare will always eat from a bucket, sitting on the ground, in a LF forward/RF back stance. 100% of the time. Out in the pasture, she will at least reduce that tendencey to some degree - the more frequently I keep her feet trimmed, the less exaggerated her stance and the more often she’ll put the “high” foot forward.

[va2txrider]

I tried to sell my 19 year old paint mare 11 years ago when I was moving, and sale did not go through bc she had navicular changes in her xrays. She has small, upright feet, but no club. I’ve kept her, jumped, evented, trail rode etc… and never had any soundness issues. Vet at A&M who did pre-purchase xrays told potential buyers that changes may mean nothing, and those with clean navicular xrays may have problems. So who knows if the changes are even a problem?

[JB]

Changes, anywhere, mean nothing in and of themselves. I know of a horse whose hocks were “Swiss cheese”, who Evented for years without a lame step. Xrays are only valuable in the context of everything else.