Whitney's Crookedness

[zoel_222]

Whitney's right front leg is crooked. It turns in like she's pigeon toed but just on that leg. It makes my life very difficult sometimes. My old farrier back in Juneau was awesome and kept it pretty well under control, but she still had the occasional balance issues, especially at the gallop. Now that I've sadly moved away I don't have that amazing farrier anymore. I've tried and tossed out 5 farriers since I got here. Three made her lame and the other two trimmed her really uneven. :mad: I had Whitney at work a couple weeks ago and a farrier came out and started talking to me, saying he noticed that her leg was crooked and how he thought he could fix that. I've heard really good things about him. He shoes performance horses and specialized in corrective trimming or shoeing. He charges $45 a trim but Whitney is well worth it. That was almost a month ago. I called him three times a week for about 2 weeks with no answer until recently I got a call back saying he isn't taking new clients. :doh: I asked him if he had a farrier to recommend and he gave me the name of one guy who I already tried who trimmed her really unevenly and didn't help her crookedness at all.

Now I'm getting worried about Whitney. I've been trimming all of mine myself. I do a good job except I can't fix her right front. She will not take the right lead anymore. Everytime she does she stumbles dramatically and then switches to the left, which she does fine on. I don't ask her for it anymore. I'm not sure if it causes her pain or if it just affects her balance. Now that she can't get the right lead we can't do barrels anymore which is like the ONLY thing she likes doing. I've used nearly all the farriers who go in this area and I'm sick of paying people to cripple my horse. I don't know what to do and I'm worried it can't be fixed :cry:

[WashingtonBay]

I deleted my first post because I think I had you confused with bronson's new farrier. I need more coffee.:coffee:

I don't think any farrier can 'fix' a crooked leg on a mature horse, but I do hope you find one that can make her as good as she can be.

[westmanfarrier]

If the horse has crooked bone structure you will do more damage than good by trying to straighten it for eye appeal.

Pictures from the front of the horse standing square would be great.

[zoel_222]

What new farrier? I do the other three myself.

[WashingtonBay]

Sorry for the confusion.... I corrected above. :)

[zoel_222]

Ah, I see WB. Thanks for clearing that up.

Westman, that is precisely the problem. The farriers I "tossed" always trimmed her to try to force her leg to go in an unnatural position to make it look straight which in turn made it worse. I'm not exactly sure what my old farrier did, but it really helped her. Her leg was still crooked of course and still looked crooked, but the way she balanced on it with him was really good. She could do both leads comfortably and only really had trouble at the gallop. I know it won't ever be able to be completely fixed. It's a conformation issue. I just want another awesome farrier who can keep her comfortable.

[westmanfarrier]

Put your breakover inline with the way the leg tends to travel. The live (not exfoliating) sole will tell you the position of the distal phalanx in relation to the hoof capsule, which may be distorted. Trim to this guide.