A MATTER OF DEGREE
In a club foot, the angle of the hoof and pastern in relation to the ground is abnormally steep.
In the past, the condition was defined as any hoof angle that exceeded 60 degrees, but the reality is not quite that exact. A “normal” angle for a horse’s hooves varies by the individual. On sound horses, hooves tend to average from 53 to 58 degrees, but some with more extreme angles may still be just fine.
The ideal hoof angle for any horse depends on many factors in his overall conformation, but especially the angles of the pastern bones and coffin bone. A horse with an upright alignment of the pastern bones will also have upright
In a club foot, the angle of the hoof and pastern in relation to the ground is
abnormally steep.
hooves---a situation that is sometimes mistaken for club foot.
A true club foot is significantly more upright than the other hooves, or the angles of both hoof walls are steeper than the angles of the pasterns. The severity of the problem is commonly graded on a four-point scale:
Grade 1, the mildest form of club foot, might be so subtle it’s hard to spot. “A grade 1 might have a three- to five-degree difference between the two feet, with a taller heel on the one foot compared with the opposite foot,” says Paul Goodness, CJF, senior member of Forging Ahead, a farriery group practice in Round Hill, Virginia. “You also start to see some changes in the coronary band with a little flattening in the front and some puffiness between the bulbs of the heels.”
Grade 2 is a club foot with about five to eight degrees difference between the two feet. “Grade 2 is more noticeable,” says Goodness. “The pastern angle may be broken forward, instead of being in a straight line. You start to see divergent growth rings, where the heel is growing faster than the toe. The growth rings are uneven---thinner at the toe and wider at the heel. The wall at the toe is actually being compressed as it grows out.”
Grade 3 is a hoof wall that shows a noticeable “dish” in the profile of the toe, and the coronary band may bulge forward. “The growth rings are twice as wide at the heel as they are at the toe,” says Goodness. “Sometimes after the farrier trims the foot, the heels may not touch the ground as the horse walks--maybe not at every step, but they tend to stay up in the air.”
Grade 4 is a hoof “in serious trouble,” says Goodness. “The dorsal [front] wall of the hoof is about 80 to 90 degrees [perpendicular to the ground], and the coronary band is almost parallel to the ground. The hoof is almost as tall at the heels as it is at the toe. The foot may buckle forward. When the heels are trimmed, they do not touch the ground. The tendon is very tight and has a tremendous amount of stress on it.” Some foals with severe contractures of the deep digital tendon may be even worse. “The dorsal wall may be beyond 90 degrees,” says Goodness. “The feet may knuckle over, and the foal is walking on the front of the hoof wall. Not all of these foals can be corrected.”
The earliest signs
of a developing club foot can be subtle.
Ironically, the more serious grade 3 and 4 cases can be addressed
more readily.