Conformation of the Front And Back Legs of your Horse Part 2 - Rear End Alignment

Rear End Alignment

Deviations in joint angles of the rear limbs can also have an effect on hoof flight and weight bearing. As with the front end, we want to see proper alignment down through the bones and joints of the rear limbs.

When the joints of the hind limbs are not correctly aligned, the horse will often be a poor athlete because it is unable to make proper use of muscle power either in propelling itself forward or in putting on the brakes for a sliding stop (when they will have difficulty keeping the feet parallel).

One fairly common stance in horses is when at rest its rear hooves are closer together than its hocks and hip joints. In a mild condition this does not usually cause problems. But if the horse also has a tendency to wing in, it might interfere and cut or bruise the opposite leg. The opposite condition, which is much less common, is where the hooves, when on the ground, are wider apart than the hocks and stifles.

In the hind limbs, toeing out is common and less of a problem than in the front end--in fact, a recent study found that roughly 70% of horses naturally toe out behind.

Joint abnormalities in rear legs can also influence the length of a horse's stride. Generally speaking, horses with more angulation to their joints can have a longer stride than horses with straighter joints, much like the actual length of a tightly coiled spring versus a loosely coiled one.

Proper alignment in the lower limbs means that the slope of the pastern should be the same as or very similar to the slope of the foot so that the long pastern bone, short pastern bone, and coffin bone all fit smoothly and neatly together.

The problem involving improper joint alignment, with resultant alteration of hoof flight and weight bearing, is that very little can be done to correct the problem.

By the time the horse is mature, the limb structures have adapted to the misalignment.  If the horse is still sound and performing well, alterations in foot balance should be made carefully if at all, because any change at this point may ruin the horse's adaptation to his problem.

Hoof trimming to encourage proper alignment can be done, but only during the very early formative stages in a foal, and must be approached with great skill and care.

Once the horse reaches maturity, what you see is what you get. By attempting corrective trimming at that stage, one is merely adding additional stress and pressure on the joint.

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