High/Low Syndrome - What has been your experience?

[FatCatFarm]

Back in the fall I bought a nice Arabian gelding from someone needing to place him due to divorce and he was priced very reasonably in part due to his having high/low syndrome in his front hooves. I’m certain it is genetic. I had a another very similarly bred Arabian 20 years ago with the exact same issue.

So upright hoof on the left and long toe, low heel on the right. Came from a prominent straight Egyptian breeder but whose farrier obviously had not done him any favors. My farrier is involved and 5 months later there is improvement. I am keeping him barefoot but think he likely will require front shoes in order to be comfortably ridden much, and in that case, likely a rim pad on the low foot. That or boots. The previous horse I owned was never unsound for as long as I owned him.

For those of you that have or have had a horse with this condition, what was your experience? I’m thinking it’s not that uncommon in Arabians.

These days I only trail ride to suit myself. Sometimes all day long, but nothing competitive.

I probably should sell him to someone with less horses and more resources to put him into him in the way of body work, front shoes, dressage, etc. I really like the horse. Super sensible and level-headed not to mention gorgeous to look at.

[kande04]

I couldn’t see that body work made any difference at all to my high/low horse–and I would think the last thing anyone would want is a crooked horse for dressage because the more asymmetry a horse starts out with the less straight he’s able to become. I also suspect that it’s much harder to keep a high/low horse sound.

The low hoof on my horse is normal (not at all long toe/low heel) but the high one is upright and narrow, which reflects the functionally short diagonal that it’s a part of. He’s 16 this year and still sound (as far as I can tell), but I haven’t pushed him the way I would have pushed a horse that had more potential to hold up to more work.

[FatCatFarm]

The dressage reference was mentioned as therapy for the horse to help with straightening, or as much as can reasonably be accomplished.

[FatCatFarm]

@kande04, did you keep your horse shod?

[DMK]

actually, there’s a significant argument for the rim pad on the HIGH foot. This gets into the chicken versus the egg argument. If you look at the horse’s body from above in almost every instance the “high” side has an obviously weaker shoulder - less muscling, etc. So is the foot compensating for the weaker shoulder or is the shoulder weaker because of the foot? It seems counter intuitive, but a leather rim pad on the high foot (while constantly addressing the other heel) makes a significant difference in the shoulder strength/muscling in many horses, which in turn resolves a great deal of the “marchiness” you feel on that side, especially in the canter (this is not an uncommon issue in many TBs and WBs).

[kande04]

@FatCatFarm

@kande04, did you keep your horse shod?

He’s been barefoot except for a month right after check ligament surgery when the vet wanted him in extended toe shoes to keep the ddft stretched until it healed.

I’d never put shoes on him now because of the problem with keeping the hooves trimmed between resets, because I feel that the clubby one needs to be trimmed more often than that.

If he needed more protection I’d use boots.

Until I see a study that supports it I’m not willing to lift the clubby hoof up either, because I think the problem is in his body not his hoof, and I can’t see how lifting one hoof is going to fix his body.

My theory is that one up/one down is just a more advanced case of “stiffer on one side”, and may very well be caused by a serious asymmetry throughout this body, which isn’t likely to be fixed by lifting the clubby hoof.

[kande04]

@DMK

It seems counter intuitive, but a leather rim pad on the high foot (while constantly addressing the other heel) makes a significant difference in the shoulder strength/muscling in many horses, which in turn resolves a great deal of the “marchiness” you feel on that side, especially in the canter (this is not an uncommon issue in many TBs and WBs).

Where I feel the problem with my horse’s one up/one down is in the saddle. Even before I started straightening him he felt good going to the right and crooked going to the left. In fact, it drove me nuts, because he felt so crooked going to the left.

Even now, after years of low key straightening work (no forcing) he still feels good going to the right and crooked going to the left, even though he’s more balanced and more flexible. It’s more obvious to me in the walk and trot than the canter.

I also can’t see any difference in his shoulder development, or when I compare both sides of his body standing, or even moving at liberty. But I can definitely feel it in the saddle. And I can see that if I try to get too much bend to the left, say in shoulder in, his neck goes all wonky because I don’t think he’s able to bend that much (because of the short diagonal, or the restricted shoulder, or whatever it is that is causing the clubby front).

Also, even after he had the check ligament surgery, he continued to scissor his front legs whenever he dropped his nose to the ground, which could have been habit, but indicated to me that even the ddft may not have been the real problem.

[FatCatFarm]

Yeah, I haven’t read anything in my research on the topic about using a rim pad to further lift the upright hoof. Not saying you’re wrong DMK, just not sure it’s the best approach for this horse who is already pretty upright on his high side. Still, I’ll explore it with my vet and farrier.

Also, I am hoping to keep him barefoot or booted rather than in shoes. In the 5 months I’ve had him, frequent trimming by my farrier and frequent rasping by me, backing up his toe on the long/low hoof, and then rasping the heel just a bit on the upright left, has definitely made a difference. The real test will be when we get to the hot dry hardpack of summer.

I do think that once we’ve gotten his feet to where we are really happy with them, I am going to have Kathryn Scheiss out to give him a good once over. She’s does amazing things with her body work sessions and spends a lot of time on each horse. It certainly won’t hurt and I think may loosen things up in that shoulder a bit, and probably in his back too. I have to say, his topline looks really good, but he definitely has a bulge of over-development at the top of his right shoulder.

Good to hear your horse has stayed sound into his teens Kande04.

[DMK]

my case is purely an n=1 so I can put that in perspective. But I very definitely did see a difference in muscling that changed over time. I was also doing targeted exercises to increase the flexibility in the shoulder and myofascial/massage work on him (but on both sides) so it was some dedicated work. But the n=1 results were impressive to me. Before I started, when I looked down the line at WEF, the “out” was a long way away if we were on the the right lead (whereas the left lead would be relaxed and holding), eventually I go to the point where I could ride a right lead line about the same as the left lead, and that was significant for our competitive results!

[wildlifer]

I’m on my 2nd TB with this issue & I’ve not really had any issues with it. First one evented to Training Level (after racing for 3 yrs & retiring sound) & trail rode all over the place. 2nd one is still young (5) and learning. We try to make each foot the best it can be, but don’t try to over-force them to exactly match each other - if they aren’t having issues, I don’t want to take away the feet they are comfortable functioning with. We’ve successfully got some more heel on the low foot, less on the high foot, & stronger, more supportive hooves under both legs (of course this takes forever).

First one needed shoes bc he actually had a P1/2/3 bone alignment issue in one foot. Current one I left barefoot for over a year, moving him back into shoes because he’s had some bruising issues & I want him to be able to work comfortably when the ground gets hard again. I used boots on him last year, along with Hoof Armor, but it wasn’t enough for him, he has a coffin bone bruise on his low foot – it may be just coincidence, as there is a 50/50 chance, but those are so slow to heal, I don’t want to do this again, so I’m giving him more protection up front.

For both horses, I have not noted any particular unevenness linked to their front feet in any of their work (and I have decent feel) & it has not presented a limitation to us.

[Scribbler]

I’m helping with a project horse. It took a couple of weeks and many treats to be able to handle her feet at which point I realized there’s something very high/low going on. Today we progressed to me leaning on her back at a mounting block (she was fine) and I could verify that her the shoulder on her “high” side is much larger, whether muscle or the shoulder blade being jammed up I can’t say.

At liberty she is very well balanced and does both leads and appears to move very symmetrically. I am not sure why she is high low. I’m wondering if I should stand her up on concrete and see if I can measure her various bones? It reminds me of my friend who has one leg a centimeters shorter and has a fallen arch on that side.

Anyhow I’ve never dealt with a horse with this much structural imbalance. I’m seeing some serious shim pads in future if I do proceed to restarting her under saddle.

Anyhow, any advice or comments would be very helpful!

Horse has been on pasture for a few years and getting a skilled trim but at too long intervals so there may be some room for basic improvement now she is back in civilzation.

[FatCatFarm]

Interesting read on the topic here from a while back worth reading: https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/horse-care/210441-high-low-syndrome

[Scribbler]

@FatCatFarm

Interesting read on the topic here from a while back worth reading: https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/horse-care/210441-high-low-syndrome

That link was really interesting and gave me things to think about! Thank you!