Is my horse sickle hocked?

Question

Hey everyone- I just got a new filly, and i think she may be sickle hocked. Is this a growing thing? Or a conformation thing? She's 14.3 hh and a yearling-

Let me know if you have the time to look at her pictures. Thanks!

Answer 1

She doesn't appear to be sickled hocked.  Sickle hocked is too much set (angle) to the hock when viewed from the side.  She does appear quite cow hocked--the hocks come in toward each other when viewed from the rear.  Most horses are cow hocked to some degree as this keeps their stifles from bumping their bellies, but she does seem a little too in at the hocks.  As she fills out and her gaskins get stronger, it will make the leg set a little straighter.  Correcting trimming from an experienced farrier can also help to a small degree.

Answer 2

She looks a little long-bodied, and cow-hocked, not so much sickle hocked.

She is pretty, though.  I rode a long-bodied horse when I was a kid and he was rough-gaited, but otherwise OK.

I don't think she will grow out of that, and maybe corrective shoes could help her cow-hocks.

Answer 3

no don't let her just be a trail horse, she so beautiful! really what it is is a conformation fault, but if you ask your farrier about special shoes, those should fix her since she doesn't have it that bad at all....

Answer 4

She is slightly sickle hocked which leaves her prone to straining the plantar ligaments (forming curbs) and spavins and it places more stress on the stifle joints, so she wouldn't be the best choice for some sports like jumping.  It appears to be unrelated to her growth, and is an overly angled hock joint.  If you draw a vertical line at the point of her hock, the cannon should follow that line...hers falls slightly in front of that line, which is how you identify sickle hocks. The cow hocks and toeing out go together and are likely to straighten out as her body matures and her front end balances with her back end...right now she's all legs.

She would be fine as a pleasure horse and for sports that don't require speed and backward hock extention.

Answer 5

Add a photo, or two of her hocks.

What breed is she and what are your plans for her?

It is a conformation thing, being that she's a year old already it might be a bit difficult to fix (if at all). But add a pic, I'm curious how bad it is. Some people look at it and say its really bad when its not terrible and won't affect the horse's way of going in a performance class. If its real bad you won't want to do halter or conformation classes with her.

EDIT: Sorry I didn't get your personal message, but I did look at your photos. I would say you could teach her to set and get her out of that hock issue. The other thing is how she moves, of course this will change with age and some conditioning. If she really toes out behind you won't place well in halter. She's beautiful by the way! But you could do performance (western riding, trail, horsemanship) with her and not have to worry about the confirmation. I wouldn't suggest making her "just a trail horse". Start doing something else at your shows, you could also do showmanship at halter and use her, this is not a conformation class (I'm sure you know) its all about the handler and their ability to fit and groom a halter horse.

Answer 6

This is a conformation fault.  See below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sickle-hock...

Answer 7

Add a picture or two. Get a direct view of her hind legs if you can. As the poster said, there's nothing much you can do about it, its a conformation fault. One of my horses is sickle hocked, he developed spavins and bone spurs aged 11 as a result but it doesn't affect him hugely. Until recently when he injured himself, meaning he has to semi-retired, he was jumping up to 2' 6" and in full time work.

This might help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sickle-hock...

Answer 8

It's a conformation thing.

If you are like me a visual works better

Sickle Hock

http://www.vipthoroughbreds.ae/Racing/im...

http://www.boblangrish.com/images/galler...

Cow Hock

http://iceryder.net/images/lizhindlmb2b....

Answer 9

She's a real cutie pie!  No, she's not sickle hocked!  As for her toeing out, see if you can get your farrier to correctly trim her on the back end.

Time to put some weight on her.

Good luck!

Answer 10

She does not look sickle-hocked but she does look a bit cow-hocked to me.

It's a conformation thing more so than a growing thing. It's nothing severe and doesn't seem to be anything that's going to stop her from being a decent riding horse.

She's a cute little thang though! I agree with Rosi, needs a little more chub chubs put on her. Hehe... Good luck with her!