Other What should I do about a clubbed foot?

No, David, I do not believe so. There are many horses who are horribly left or right handed, yet their hooves are in good form and mirror images. I know of four horses with a bad clubfoot, coincidentially on all of them it is the left front. Two of these horses are left handed, the other two right handed.
It can, perhaps, affect the amount of handedness or be affected by it, but IMHO neither the clubfoot nor the handedness cause eachother, it is not a chicken and egg question.

http://www.thefarrierbox.co.uk/products.htm

http://www.thefarrierbox.co.uk/articles/Introduction Kerry Rigeway up-date.pdf

I do believe that "handiness" will have a factor in "clubbed, stumpy or upright" of the Right front foot and the Left fore. Breed dependant. Guess you people don't take notes on each horse and don't have enough business liability insurance? Learn from each pony.

Or their parents, I see club feet bred into the babies in a couple of differant breeds..ie TWH's and Quarters mostly in my custom??

Arabians, Part-bred Arabians, Saddlebreds, NSHs, Morgans, and all their iterations, too. 30+ years ago if I saw one in thirty or forty Arabs, et al. with a club foot, I was seeing a lot. Nowadays, its one in three or worse. Just as the QH/stock horse breeders have successfully bred HYPP into their breeds, so have the breeds I noted, successfully bred club feet into their respective breeds. ymmv.

Quite sure Rick. Fortunately the Arabs I do are mostly barefoot and maintained by a really Great Farrier!!)) Take note I dont have abunch in my custom , less than 30 head.. most are QTs and TWHs in my hood....let me add only a few TBs and the one in my avatar is a Grandson of Secretarite. Poor horse was so Amped up by its owner because she ran around showing papers to prove it, but he ran in the 5 D , not so impressive...has a club on right front...

It appears to me that the problem is endemic in the species, without regard to breed. ymmv.

Just curious if you see it as congential or acquired?
What do folks think of Dr. Deb Bennett's philosphophies/teachings about riding to straighten the horse? http://www.equinestudies.org/lessons_from_woody_2008/lessons_from_woody_2008_pdf1.pdf

I have also read that short-necked horses have more club foot (?)

What ever happened to common sense-trim accordingly, ride with a balanced seat , and teach the horse to balance himself with proper exercise ?

Karen, a club footed horse can be idenified as young as 4 months of age or younger..

Gary, if you look close, the club foot is evident at 4 days or less. Stand the foal on concrete; you'll be able to slide your business card under the heels of the club foot but not the other front foot. While you're already on your hands and knees, check the diagonal hind at the same time. Surprise.

Correct you are Brian , but sometimes after a few days of running around a pasture those will not look as bad, at least to me..ONLY problem is that I dont get called to come see the babies unless their Moms are due and we usually have the Ladies done three weeks before foaling date, so we dont worry about Moms feet during that time..

so i have to ask, Brian. what would you expect to see on the diagonal hind?

If they are born with it, can they be fixed if caught early? Can a club foot be created from grazing stance as a baby?

It needs to be appreciated that the term "grass foot" is just a description for what is seen as unevenness on one side.

Often put down to the behaviour particularly in foals, who place one foot in front and the other under their body, in order to be able to graze better and the belief that in itself is a root cause that leads to the formation of two different hoofs.

However it's without exception either a "club foot" Flexural Limb Deformity which of course has a genetic trait or else is due to uneven development of the length of leg and neck and which is quite well known, sadly, to be an all too common trait in significant number in Arab foals, who furthermore undergo growth spurts between four and eight months of age. So IF the youngster is having to stand with it's legs splayed to graze because of it's conformation (genetic) it will be a miracle if it's not going to develop unevenly and if the owner isn't doing anything at all to ensure there's routine corrective trimming to help coupled with a programme of exercise which helps to compensate for any muscular irregularity or uneven development it then it can indeed develop what is called a "grass foot" or in other words a flexural limb deformity that is acquired.

I'm convinced that in significant number of cases of "grass foot" that it's much easier for the owner to call it that than it is to call it a club foot because of the implication of that. Particularly when it comes to the owner having taken the decision to allow a colt to keep it's testicles and for it to be called a "stud colt" or if they've produced said foal from their much loved mare.

I'll leave it to the farriers to suggest what might be done as far as trimming and shoeing is concerned. They've ordinarily got oodles of experience trying to compensate for poor decisions relating to horse breeding and lack of appropriate day to day management and exercise.

I would just say to the OP though that in my opinion whenever there's any unevenness or deformity/"conformation challenge" that it's REALLY important to ensure you give the horse a chance and keep on top of managing hooves and 9 weeks is a long time between trims.

So if the 22 year old club footed Arab horse is ridden heavy on the forehand (by a not-so-good, not so young rider), had sore hocks (which had been injected) and he happens to trip transitioning trot to canter and the owner is hurt, is it the farrier/trimmer's fault for not having compensated?

Most likely that is what the owner will believe and assert and be stupid enough to tell everyone and even post on forums and facebook.

n

No & No. Some people like to believe all kinds of deluded nonsense. Some people even believe in imaginary friends . Some people like hearing the same book read every Sunday. They will believe what they wish to believe regardless of facts.