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  Discussion on Yearling with inherited club foot - What is check ligament surgery prognosis?
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Posted on Sunday, Jul 16, 2000 - 7:44 pm:

Hi Dr. O;
You have helped me in the past & I am back again. I have a 13 mos old AQHA colt with a right front club foot, less than 90 degrees. He is not lame on the foot at this time. His mother has the same club on the same foot, except with a greater angle. My farier who is excellent, has tried corrective trimming since the club started showing at about 7 mos of age. He thinks the check ligament surgery would fix this problem & he has worked with a local vet/surgery hospital on similar cases in the past. We plan on racing this colt sometime after he turns 2. I have a vet appointment on Friday for a look see. I have been researching this and have seen many conflicting reports about long term success & soundness. One report stated that colts over 8 months old will have only limited success while another study said it can be performed successfully on adult horses. Please, what is your opinion based on current research. Thanks in advance. I always value your opinion.
Michelle

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 26, 2000 - 10:29 am:

Hello Michelle,
Less than 90 degrees is not very descriptive and whether the surgery is to be done or not may depend more on how functional the foot currently is and your goals than with the prognosis. for instance if the foot is not currently functional, should you not try even with a poor prognosis of improvement? I think with ICL desmotomy you have a fair chance to correct up to 6 degrees at this age.
DrO

Posted on Friday, Nov 24, 2000 - 1:34 pm:

Dr.O

I have a 6 month old AQHA filly that developed a club foot at about 3 months. She was never really up off of the heel and there was little sign of the toe wearing down. My farrier put a corrective
plasitic shoe on and let the toe grow longer and after removal trimmed down the heel. The shoe has been removed now for about a 5-6 weeks and we have trimmed once since then. The filly moves well and shows no sign of favoring the foot. The hoof, however, shows no signs of regrowing to a normal shape. What is your opinion on there growth of the hoof?

Posted on Monday, Dec 4, 2000 - 6:39 am:

Hello Tom,
We give a pretty complete description of this condition, causes and treatments in the article associated with this forum and its links. Study it first and see if it leaves you with any questions. If so, post them in a New Discussion in this forum.
DrO
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