This is 100% what’s happened to my young horse as he’s matured, legs get straighter as the chest widens.
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Most horses don’t generally start toeing out at the forearm. Knee down is generally considered “less” of a fault than at the cannon down or at the fetlock. Also seen horses that were dead straight from the fetlock up and had offset pasterns and hooves that followed.
I believe he’s 18 months at the moment.
The other foals out of the mare had “normal” leg angles for their age, I do know that foals don’t have perfect straight legs as they’re young and angles change.
I don’t think this guy will ever be completely straight, agreed. The degree he improves is up for interpretation, though
Also wanted to note here for those saying horses need to be correct conformationally to be high level horses, there are always outliers that succeed to the top of the sport regardless of conformation flaws. United Touch S, is one of the most athletic horses I’ve ever seen. He has very upright pasterns in front with horrible dished hoof angles. He also has upright pasterns behind and straighter hocks. If I took one look at him not knowing his history, I would never guess he would jump and move the way he does. Obviously not the same as a horse toeing out as a youngster, but just an example of less than ideal conformation but a top performer.
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I knew a small hunter with a front end like his, she had exceptional jumping form.
It sounds like you really like this horse (not the one above) so buy him. With the price it could be a good bet.
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I’m one of those people that really picks a horse apart and don’t rush to buy. I definitely like him and think he has potential, but I haven’t personally bought a horse with this conformation fault. I’ve known a few that were good, sound horses and one that that wasn’t.
One thing I’ve noticed across the board (not only here but from people I know directly) is that opinions are very mixed and it makes it harder to decide. This will be a very expensive PPE as well, so that factors in.
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In that picture, remember we can’t go by just one picture, he could be standing awkwardly, it looks like he not only turns out, the leg column on the right doesn’t look straight.
X-rays of the knees would help, interesting to know what is going on in there.
I would say, is hard to decide when close to the edge, not quite clearly off, but not sure how much is too much for that horse and be considered a possibly concerning weak point?
Also both hooves look to have different angles, the left more upright, could be the trim or how horse is.
That may be why OP can’t decide and not sure we can help.
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We raise a lot of colts and my husband is a farrier who specializes in corrective shoeing - nothing about what I can see in that photo concerns me for a long yearling. As his chest begins to develop (from that photo it doesn’t seem like it has really started yet) he will begin to rotate in. Honestly, colts that are too straight at this age concern me more than this does.
Now where this could go wrong is when farriers and owners start talking about “correcting” this while he is still growing. My husband has seen it happen countless times with halter and futurity horses where they want them looking like fully mature horses at 2 or 3. It then causes an over correction and a slew of other problems. I would have no problem bringing this horse home but if you do, you have to be willing to trust the process of him growing up. Hope this helps!
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Does the seller have any radiographs?
It takes time for a young horse to develop a chest. My young horse is 2 yrs old, tall and lanky and very narrow in the chest.
The fact that it’s that big before two would concern me way more than the legs.
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Same.
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No rads unfortunately, that’s something I would be doing during PPE if I decided to move forward.
Not to derail, but can I ask why? There is a yearling ish (I’m told yearling but not sure where in its yearling year it is late vs early) gelding at my barn that is roughly the same size and is intended for jumping. I’ve not heard concern over height as a yearling before.
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I would want a couple more pictures of that youngster before jumping to conclusions. For one thing, he is not at all squared up in that picture. He could be standing crooked and it may be making him look worse then he is.
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This horse is 18 months, so much can and will change by maturity. I would bet his legs will be straight once his body matures and his chest widens. His limbs will rotate from the elbows down. The horse is immature. This is common in young horses. I have one personally that took until they were about 4 or so to truly straighten out. This would not deter me at all if both the sire/dam and beyond in lineage had correct conformation.
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Excessively large young horses can have more incidences of growth plate issues, OCD, bone deformities, end up imbalanced, and just the issue of having a huge horse in general. There’s the issue of collecting in between fences, striding, athletic ability etc that can play a role. I’ve had very large horses before and it’s a very different ride but adjustable. I’ve been others that felt like it was riding a bus.
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That’s fairly significant toe out, that will lessen to some degree as the chest widens (as many others have said).
Honestly, my experience is that a horse will get hurt for many other reasons than a bilateral limb deviation. Racehorse buyers will ALWAYS prefer a toed-out horse over a toed-in one; and those horses probably work much harder, and put much more stress on their legs than sport horses.
However, my late Advanced mare was noticeably toed-in (from ankles down). It never caused a soundness concern, she was rock-solid sound, sturdy and dependable for many years at the upper levels (and CCIs with FEI jogs). Watch an FEI jog and you’ll see a lot of “conformational faults” that manage to get the job done.
It comes down to your individual preferences, but I put a lot more importance on the horse’s overall balance front to back, and overall proportions, than the absolute correctness of its front legs. A well-balanced horse (that’s well trained and well ridden) won’t cause excessive wear on crooked legs. A badly balanced horse will pound on itself even with correct legs and be more prone to injury.
Now if you have one front leg that’s put on sideways, and it’s resulted in a distorted foot with mismatched heels, that’s a bigger problem.
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Yes, I know of another advanced level eventer that significantly toed in but had a long, successful career. The worst aspect of managing the horse was that he didn’t do very well barefoot due to uneven wear on the horse’s toes. He required shoes. Outside of that, he was wonderful.
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Off topic - do you know how old he was when gelded?
I ask because we are learning with canine studies that certain dog breeds the males that are neutered early grow taller with less dense bones. I wonder if that factor also plays into horse heights.
TIA
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