Horses that wing (Not Conformation)

[HicksteadFan]

I know most horses that toe in will paddle. But I have seen many horses (mainly TBs and TB crosses) paddle very badly but that have straight legs and nice hooves.

The ones I have seen do jump. But some are off the track, successful and unraced, while others were bred and trained (as hunters I think) by their breeders.

What is the reason for this?

ETA: Shoot I mixed up wing and paddle! what I meant is horses that have straight legs and paddle. When you look at them head on or from behind, you can see their front legs swinging out to the sides.

(I can’t figure out how to change the name of the thread. Can someone help please?)

[Hendrick]

Do horses that toe out, even if it’s slightly always wing out? I also had a thoroughbred straight as an arrow but winged out a lot especially her left front

[NancyM]

Horses who toe out, dish IN in their motion. Horses that toe in, wing OUT, or “paddle”. That is why toeing in is considered less of a fault than toeing out, since the horse will usually not interfere with himself if he wings out (other than speedy cutting at the racetrack), but will “brush” (hit himself with his opposite front leg during the swing of the step) if he toes out, which can cause injury. Both conditions of toeing in or toeing out can lead to uneven wearing in the joints in the leg, which can lead to arthritic problems in later years, which may or may not lead to unsoundness. Neither condition effects speed or jumping ability, except if it leads to other problems (wear, chips etc).

[Preposterous_Ponies]

My 6 year old has a slight paddle, which becomes more visible if she is tired or annoyed. Doesn’t stop her from doing 3’9 + with ease.

[HicksteadFan]

Sorry everyone I confused the terms wing and paddle. I do mean PADDLE. Sorry about the confusion.

[kdreger]

Paddling or winging is from an imbalance, either in the structure or the trim. In all the years with horses this has always been true. I would say you are not seeing the imbalance, not that it isn’t there.

[kdreger]

Wanted to add, are you just focusing on the pasturn/hoof? An imbalance can come from the knee or even higher.

[mvp]

[QUOTE=kdreger;7953639]
Paddling or winging is from an imbalance, either in the structure or the trim. In all the years with horses this has always been true. I would say you are not seeing the imbalance, not that it isn’t there.[/QUOTE]

I gotta say, I think that both problems reflect conformational defects somewhere up the leg. That’s because the front limb of the horse is designed to move on one plane, forward and back. It does above the elbow. From the forearm down, however, all of those bones can have angular or rotational deviations. And the effects of those are seen at the end of the limb as it is swung on that forward/back plane by the horse.

I think that an (appreciably) unbalanced trim and cause the hoof to break over and leave the ground in an abnormal way. Perhaps that influences its flight path a bit during the non-weight bearing phase of the gait for that leg. But if the end of the leg follows any path through the air other than a linear one, foreword and back, it’s because there’s a bend in set of bones between the elbow and the point of the coffin bone.

[foursocks]

I had a young horse who paddled fairly badly, but had good legs. I changed my farrier and it pretty much went away.

[One_Two_Three]

Before you knock the farrier, or exclaim that it’s not conformation, have the vet take a look.

Our Barn’s farrier pointed out the uneven wear on BO’s horses’ front left, and recommended xrays by the vet to see what was going on before he proceeded to change his trim on the horse.

Horse is only 5 and it turns out he has high AND low ringbone. At 5. It’s conformation but it was nearly undetectable by the eye, aside from his paddling and a slight uneven wear to the hoof.

[HicksteadFan]

Interesting comments. I guess they probably have some kind of conformational issue that just isn’t visible. I’d think it would be more pronounced with the ones that paddle really badly though. I know it was the farrier (previous farrier) that was at least part of the problem in one case. The owner said the paddling was getting better with the new one. Although that was still the worst I’ve seen. I most cases I know of though it is not the farrier. Same farrier trims all 24 horses at the barn and only a few have this paddling problem.