"Coon" Foot
non-weight-bearing
Coon foot or DSLD
This is the classic stance of a horse with Deep Suspensory Ligament Desmitis or Coon foot. Most often seen in gaited horses, this is a Paso Fino 20+ year old gelding. You see the front feet standing well under the body to take more weight off the hinds. The horse will continually shift his weight from one hind foot to the other; the fetlock becomes enlarged as tears in the joint capsule and ligaments ossify into hard bone. The stifle and hock will be straight ("post-legged") while the hip is tucked and the most obvious, the fetlock, will have excessive angle when weight-bearing. Muscular development in the shoulder and back, behind and in front of the withers, will be excessive. Laminar connection in the fronts will be stretched from continued compensatory posture. (Please read my article in the Horse's Hoof magazine about DSLD where I discuss the supposed causes and possibilities of corrections)
weight-bearing
Below left is a draft cross which is starting to suffer the problems associated with high bars in the hind feet. Compare to the photo of the healthy hind foot on the right. First look at the hairline which is not straight. The curved upwards hairline shows us that the bars have pushed the interior structures of the foot upwards and forwards. The pull of the coffin bone at the toe causes the hairline at the toe/coronet to be dragged down. You can see this problem has existed for some time by looking at the growth lines in the hoof wall. This horse was being trimmed regularly by its owner but she wasn't getting part of the trim correct, specifically the bar height.
Having the coffin bone tipped forward like this puts a small but significant amount of slack in the deep flexor tendon. That slack has to be taken up by the muscles of the flexor system going all the way to the croup and hip. Often horses with this mild muscle strain will seek relief by relaxing in the fetlock joint and eventually creating strain in the joint capsule of the fetlock. Chronic joint strain will lead to ossifications of the joint (arthritis). This is commonly called DSLD (deep suspensory ligament desmitis) disease because the suspensory ligament is thought to develop scar tissue around the attachments to the joint. The common name for this is coon-foot. This can be caused by an incorrect trimming of the bars, asking for too much hind end engagement at too early an age, or bearing too much weight on the hinds in an effort to relieve pain somewhere else. the healthy foot shows a straight hairline of about 30 degrees with a fetlock joint that aligns with the hoof.
Having the coffin bone tipped forward like this puts a small but significant amount of slack in the deep flexor tendon. That slack has to be taken up by the muscles of the flexor system going all the way to the croup and hip. Often horses with this mild muscle strain will seek relief by relaxing in the fetlock joint and eventually creating strain in the joint capsule of the fetlock. Chronic joint strain will lead to ossifications of the joint (arthritis). This is commonly called DSLD (deep suspensory ligament desmitis) disease because the suspensory ligament is thought to develop scar tissue around the attachments to the joint. The common name for this is coon-foot. This can be caused by an incorrect trimming of the bars, asking for too much hind end engagement at too early an age, or bearing too much weight on the hinds in an effort to relieve pain somewhere else. the healthy foot shows a straight hairline of about 30 degrees with a fetlock joint that aligns with the hoof.
draft hind beginning to show signs of coon foot
healthy hind foot