horse breeding?

Question

We are involved in a horse riding operation. We have been breeding horses for riding. We have decided to suspend this temporarily because it seems like a percentage of the foals that are born develop "club foot" in one or two of the front feet after 3-4 months. We have consulted our vet and he says that it is not genetic. Rather "as a result of nutrition". If it were genetic, then immediately upon birth, the "defect" will be visible. The vet also said that the problem is that the pastern (?) bone at the age of 3 months onward grows faster than the soft ligament at the back of the leg w/c now restricts and causes the foot to be restrained. The procedure to correct this is to cut the soft ligament to now cause the hoof to open or go forward or remove the "club foot" appearance. In a matter of a month or two, the inner ligament will connect and grow and the hoof will be normal. Question: Is there any truth to this?

Answer 1

I don't know if there is any truth to it or not, I have been raising horses for many years and have seen a lot of conditions in foals, but never this. I thank you for posting this question and will keep an eye on the answers you receive, as I'd like to find out more, myself. Looks like I'm going to be doing a lot of reading today....!

I googled the keywords - foals that are born develop "club foot" - and was amazed at the number of articles that came up! I'm sure the answer is going to be found somewhere in these results. Hope it helps answer your question!

Answer 2

first it CAN be genetic..are you crossing the same stallion each time or using a different one on the foals that do develop this?
If it is nutrition ..has you vet told you WHAT you are doing wrong ? There are many factors that can lead to abnormal development.Too high protein in early development can cause problems as can having certain vitamins and minerals out of balance in their ratios( such as your calcium to phosphorus ratio -feeding too much straight alfalfa hay can contribute to this among other things,)
Do the foals get plenty of turn out or do they stayed stalled a majority of the time?
I believe the vet is talking about cutting the check ligament. I have seen horses that have had this done and they were sound..
a good farrier can also help aleviate club foot in some situations.It involves dropping the heels slowly over time (stretches the ligaments) and also sometimes adding bondo type material to the toe to change the angle and break over point.This is not something you can keep after with 6 week trims though..much more often
I would seriously consider hiring a professional equine nutritionist to come in and evaluate your program. Compared to the money and time you put into breeding ,just to get unsaleable foals- its worth it.(all major big name feed manufacturers have these..if your feed mill deals with say..Blue Seal or Nutrena..they should be able to help you get in touch with them,,If you feed a manufactured feed the company's phone number will be on the bag CALL it..)

Answer 3

This question really interests me because I have been thinking about the value of nutrition for horses that are used in horse racing. I find that animals respond very well to human nutrients. I have been studying nutrition for many years and have solved many personal issues as well as many issues for friends. I have experimented on cats and dogs and found that problems they experience is due most of the time to the so called good cat and dog foods.

These manufacturers I find are even more ignorant to good nutrition than human doctors and nutritionists. I am amazed that they are still putting SOY products into these foods and synthetic vitamins that actually only give temporary results and end up damaging the cell DNA.

These products are very counter productive to creating a long healthy life for animals. When animals are pregnant, the mothers need good quality nutrition to create the most healthy offspring. I would love to work with a veterinarian to develop a real quality diet for these animals and examine the results relative to performance and long term health. I believe if really good nutrition were given to horses that race, their performance would be greatly enhanced.

good luck with this. If anyone wants to e-mail me, please do so.