I investigated her background and found it was not congenital. It appears she was sold at five months, following weaning which created stress. She was fed off the ground, in a stall, and would consistently paw. All efforts were made to cease the pawing with no success and she damaged her hoof. The club foot developed after that point.

She was sold when she was approximately two years old, continuing to paw. This went on for years. One owner kept her in a corral, only taking her out every other week, which encouraged the pawing.

After purchasing her, trimming was done, as well as use of a wedge. The lameness went away. We are now simply trimming the heel, shoeing her to extend the toe and seeing if the improvement will continue.

I believe grazing is an issue as well as keeping foals and weanlings alone in stalls.

She has been in a pasture with our thoroughbred mare and is not pawing when she eats. Nor does she extend one foot forward when eating. We don’t see this anymore when grazing.

In her case, it was something which occurred as a result of weanling stress…a good argument to keep weanlings together in a pasture, with friends.

In wild horses, they don’t find club foot as much as an issue. But then again, with wild horses, the horse naturally weans. I believe a lot of the club foot problem is a result of weaning and feeding habits during the period of time following weaning.