Sloping Pasterns...

[knightrider]

Curious…how sloping is too sloping for pasterns? And how much does it matter for dressage vs. jumping? I’m going to look a horse and someone mentioned that it had slopey pasterns but was a nice dressagey type of horse, but because of the slopiness wasn’t sure how it would do for jumping…its an out of work youngster…does that improve with age? Does it matter? I’ve never had a horse like that and I’d like to understand the pitfalls or whetheror not it really matters. I haven’t seen it myself yet, but wanted to find out thoughts on future soundness issues. Primarily I ride dressage although I do some jumping…more when my schedule allows me to go to both dressage and jumping trainer…but mostly dressage…

Thoughts on this subject?

[Nick]

My understanding is that sloping pasterns can be an issue in soundness for upper level work (i.e. strain on tendons).

Depending on your goals it could be a very nice horse.

[Equa]

I ws considering buying a very nice two year old, who I had seen as a foal, and then watched as she floated atround her paddock full of long grass. Owner was a bit keen to sel, so I made an offer and arranged a PPE. Only when I got her out for the vet to look at that I noticed the abnormally long and very sloping pasterns. Boy did I feel stupid! I didn’t buy the filly, but the owner kept her, broke her in and she is going very well. The problem was, the angles of the fron leg in particular, were out of whack when viewed from the side. ideally, the back of the fetlock should line up (vertically, with the back of the heel bulb. This filly’s fetlocks were almost two inches behind the heel! Meanwhile, I have a horse here at the moment who to me looks like he has quite short pasterns. He is extravangant and balanced in all gaits, and very easy to sit on. I hope that short pasterns are not problematic!

[Trixie_s_mom]

with good shoeing and responsible maintenance (ie no deep sand etc) you can manage quite well with a sloping pasterned horse if the angles are not too drastic. Your vet should decide what is too drastic.

[Rusty_Stirrup]

I agree with Trixie’sMom. Unless there is a congenital problem and the pasterns are grossly distorted you should be OK. Just be aware. Sloping pasterns most times make for a comfy ride. Get a Vet’s opinion.

[merrygoround]

[QUOTE=Rusty Stirrup;3180475]
I agree with Trixie’sMom. Unless there is a congenital problem and the pasterns are grossly distorted you should be OK. Just be aware. Sloping pasterns most times make for a comfy ride. Get a Vet’s opinion.[/QUOTE]

Be sure too that the pastern-hoof angle is a continuous line. Too long toes can make pasterns appear to be slopy.

[slc2]

i think it’s more an issue for speed work, but you see a lot of horses stay sound with them for speed work. i’d be much more worried about short upright pasterns (ringbone). for a dressage horse there is more leeway in the ‘stress conformation’ because you don’t spend a lot of time jumping and galloping.

i think i would avoid them if they came with a whole constellation of other ‘makes it worse’ faults, such as a very unbalanced, heavy front end, fore legs set too far back, flat feet with no heels, heavy straight shoulder, long heavy neck set on low, etc.

[flshgordon]

I would be more worried about short, upright pasterns than long sloping ones. I find that horses with longer pasterns tend to feel more comfortable to me (gait wise) than those that are overly short—which seem a bit more choppy. I almost think of them as better shock absorbers.

But as someone mentioned, make sure it’s really the pastern and not really long toes. I have seen a lot of really long toes make horses seem long in the pasterns when they really aren’t.

[BaroquePony]

The angle of the pasterns should be around 60 degrees from level ground, angel measured using toe as the point of origin for measuring the angle.

[knightrider]

The pasterns are actually in direct proportion to the shoulder…nice mover…green…its a nice horse with the exception of her pasterns…although they are not long…

[sirensong4]

My friend’s free TB has somewhat sloping pasterns just on his rear legs. They worry the heck out of me. I guess he goes fine but i wonder when sloping pasterns stop being “long” and start being early-stage DSLD.

[slc2]

that’s associated with the hocks becoming straighter and straighter, and a change in pastern angle.