04/14/2026
This is gonna be a brief post because I dont feel like pulling out all my notes
Ever see a toed in horse? Toed out?
The diagram below shows it pretty well bit essentially when a horse is toed in the toes point in, when toed out they point out. This usually can start at the knee, as many horses arent as straight legged as we'd like. Though in other occasions this can happen from improper trimming. It helps to use a digital line to check your horses knee to hoof alignment on each leg.
What happens when a horse toes in or out?
A toed in horse will paddle, swinging the legs out to avoid interfering each other. Toed in is also called pigeon toed. Paddling is less likely to cause lameness, but it does put uneven weight and strain on the outside of the feet and legs which leads to ring bone in severe situations. Because of uneven weight on the outside of legs, they often wear the toe down on lateral (outside) foot faster than the inside. Note how I said wear, the hoof grows at an even rate all the way around no matter what. However, the foot will wear off faster on the outside than the inside due to the confirmation. Does this mean wait longer to allow foot to grow out more? NO! why do I say this? Because allowing the foot to be unlevel will make the toe in worse, and put unnecessary strain on joints. Keeping the horse on schedule will allow your farrier to keep the hoof as level and rounded as possible. One thing your farrier can do to help, but usually avoided in horses 2 and older when the horses foot is done developing, is taking a little more off the inside of the foot to push the foot straighter and keep up with wear. Not much, but just a little bit on that inside. KT tape helps if you catch it very early. You always work towards the issue (in) to push them to a solution (out)
Toed out horses are sometimes called splay footed, they wing in which makes them more likely to interfere. Interference can cause lameness in extreme examples. Toed out confirmation leads to uneven weight and concussion to the inside of leg which may lead to ringbone in extreme examples. This is the opposite of toed in, so they will wear more on inside due fo uneven strain. The same reccomendations apply here, except in a young horse some farriers may take more on outside to keep up with wear and attempt to straighten the feet and legs back out. Always work towards the issue (out) to push them to a solution (in).
Interested in more about ring bone? Check out one of my previous posts.
These are both in front feet, your hind feet are typically set out ever so slightly due to angle of stifle however bowed hocks and cow hocks often cause extreme toeing in and out in hind legs - these are seperate from toe in/toe out in the fore feet so a discussion for a different day.
Below is a good example of how I draw my lines down a leg, but also shows movement patterns and diagrams of fore feet confirmation faults from the book confirmation, movement, and soundness by Susan E. Harris. Note the angle of knees down, the whole lower leg points to the issue in these examples - not just the foot.
Check your own feet, do you have straight legs, toed in, or toed out? Check when you arent aware your even checking so you dont over think it - for example, I am extremely pigeon toed. Sometimes I wish I could take more off the inside of my foot to straighten my own legs out.
