Toed out - what can I expect?

My 19-mo AQHA palomino is toed out in the back. His back feet were really long when we got him a month ago and we immediately had him trimmed (the farrier mentioned he has excellent feet, too!). He moves perfectly straight but nearly always stands toed out - that is, when I get him to stand on all four feet because he's nearly always resting one of the back ones (still very much a colt). You couldn't ask for anything better in the front so it's just the back one's I'm worried about. In fact, the rest of his conformation is excellent. He's also got about 8 more inches of growing to do. Do colts ever straighten out as they get older, especially now that he's getting trimmed regularly?

I forgot to mention - he usually stands straight if he's got one foot ahead of he other. We've just been working on standing square, and it's fairly obvious then that his toes are pointing outward.

Pictures would probably help so that the extent of how toed out hs is could be determined. A lot of horses are slightly toed out in back (mine is) and have no problems, especially when correctly trimmed.

This is my horse's hind



If your horse isn't any worse than this, I wouldn't worry too much.

As for the resting one leg in back, does he do it ALL the time, or MOST of the time? The reason I ask is that this may be a sign that his back or hips are "off." Not something bad with conformation, but something you might want a chiro to check out so that it can be adjusted now. Cinny used to do that ALL the time and wouldn't stand with his weight on both hind legs and it turned out he has a hip issue that could have been corrected more effectively if it had been taken care of before he was 7yo. It is slowly working out, but if he had gotten chiro to correct it at a younger age he may not have the issues he has now, so just something worth checking out. It may be nothing but laziness....and I hope in your case it is.

My boy is also toed out in the back and I have had no problems. He is 8 and we do lots of trail riding and never a misstep. We sort also and I have never found that he had any issues related to it with any of our riding. It just looks kinda funny ;)

Jillybean - I hate to tell you this, but if your horse is 19 months old he is NOT going to grow 8 more inches. Horses reach 90% of their growth by one year.

In order to give an opinion on his toeing out, we really need pictures of what you are seeing.

My horse is slightly toed out and he has no problem at all doing leg yields, riding straight, circles, backing..

They work with what their mamas gave em!! :P

The only reason I believe he still has a lot of growing to do is because I've measured from his fetlock to his elbow, which should be equidistant to between his elbow and withers, and he's still got a ways to grow to meet that. That method has never failed me yet for the size of a full grown horse. His rump is still distinctly higher than his withers as well, further evidence that he's not done. He does seem short for now, I agree, but those indicate he's still got some height left. I'm awful and estimating distances, so it might not be quite 8 inches, but he's still growing.

Cinny's - thanks for the picture! He's about the same as your girl, so it's comforting to know you don't have any issues. I'd say my boy rests his leg most of the time, and switches which leg he's resting on. He generally stands on both back feet with one foot in front of the other. Like I said, it mostly shows when we're working on standing square. I can ask him to shift his weight onto both feet then and they're fairly wide, just toed out.

PS - we're getting a camera/camcorder for Christmas, so then I will have some wonderful high def pictures to show haha. As for now, I can't offer much.

IMO we don't really worry about them being a little toed out or in until they're at least over a year old, they're still forming. He MAY grow out of it, or he may not :/ it really depends, corrective trimming call help set him straight so he wont need corrective trimming or shoeing when he's older....or he may need it forever. I'm sorry I don't have better advice, but good luck :) horses are such a blast

Missnashvilletime - the OP's horse is over a year old... And actually a lot of leg/feet faults that can be corrected with propper trimming can be done/have before a horse is a year old. All the babies I have dealt with have, if not needing to be trimmed, get at least rasped at the same time the farrier is there for the adult horses. Just because a horse is under a year is no excuse for not taking care of their feet.

I wasn't saying she shouldn't take care of her horses feet, I was merely stating that we usually don't worry about it if it's slight toeing out until after a year of age. Trimming regardless is always needed every 6-8 weeks, but corrective trimming we will usually start after a year if the slight toeing out or in doesn't correct itself. :)