Temperament and Lameness Typical for this Breeding?

[GiddyGoodTime]

Not sure if this is where I should post this but I'm wondering about the temperament and soundness of this horse, if it's typical of his breeding.

Molto Bravo is a 1997 Gelding (http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/molto+bravo) - raced a bunch, won some, was bought to be an event horse in 2001.

He is the spitting image of Mr. Prospector (great grand sire).

He has a club foot up front, fairly severe.

Has had several tendon and ligament injuries, resulting in him being on stall rest more often than not over the past 10 years. In fact, he's just coming off of stall rest again, he's at 20 weeks in a stall and up to 10 minutes of walking under saddle.

However, I LOVE his personality. Super trainable - but actually quite difficult to ride. He is BRAVE - not an ounce of stop in him when it comes to jumping. An absolute machine out cross country. His dressage is pretty nice as well. I was working on his tempi changes before he went lame this past time, so he is an upper level horse as far as dressage goes.

I'm just wondering if the lamenesses we've been experiencing are typical of his breeding. It all seemed to start with a bad SI - but he's had 2 deep digital flexor tendon injuries behind, 3 suspensories (2 up front, one behind), and a check ligament up front. Right now, we are thinking that his current issue is a result of slight imbalance in shoeing (so insignificant that the vet didn't even see it in the first set of films) that strained collateral ligaments.

He's being super. I haven't had to drug him at all during this rotation. Am walk riding him on the buckle, we do in hand work and he stands quietly to hand graze.

So I'm wondering WHERE did this fantastic personality come from? I would love to find this brain again!

And, I'm wondering if these horses in his lines are known for any general lameness issues (i.e. the SI issues).

Thanks!

[Laurierace]

You just described pretty much every tb I worked with over the past 20 years. They are known for great brains and fearless temperaments. I just pulled a broodie out of the field after 7 years and put her to work. She was packing my daughter around that day. The club foot pretty much imbalances everything so is most likely a bigger source of unsoundness than genetics.

[Purcocious]

You just described pretty much every tb I worked with over the past 20 years. They are known for great brains and fearless temperaments. I just pulled a broodie out of the field after 7 years and put her to work. She was packing my daughter around that day. The club foot pretty much imbalances everything so is most likely a bigger source of unsoundness than genetics.

I agree! You can't beat a TB for temperament and they have way more brains than "other breeds" give them credit for. I've had yearling TB colts be quiet and sensible coming off stall rest to handwalk/turnout/etc. with many different bloodlines.

Club foots, especially one that is sever, is unfortunately probably the cause of his unsoundness. Is there a farrier that may be more experienced with club feet that could help keep his hoof a little more balanced perhaps?

[FlowerEssence]

When I was younger and more clueless, I bought a Saddlebred with a club foot. I had him 15 years until his death at age 22. As long as I had a good shoer, the club foot wasn't an issue at all, and even with less knowledgeable shoers the worst that happened was that he was slightly off while I scrambled to find a good shoer. Of course I didn't work him during those times.

He NEVER had a tendon or ligament problem in his life. While certainly a club foot is serious and I'll never have a horse with one again due to the constant management, for us it was more of a PITA than the source of a lot of injuries. But we had to have the shoeing just right.

Are you sure your shoer's up to snuff on club feet? Has he mentioned if the leg of the club foot is shorter than the other one? It's quite common that they are-look at his knees, they should be even, not one higher than the other. Quite often my horse would have to wear a pad to even up things.

[KentuckyTBs]

I have to agree with the others - his personality is typical of racing bred TBs - they LIKE to have jobs, they like to please people. I also agree that it is probably your horses individual conformation and club foot that has contributed to his issues, not necessarily his 'bloodlines' - while bloodlines do play a factor in conformation, I wouldn't chalk it up to his bloodlines causing all these issues.

There are some bloodlines that seem to have less bone density, resulting in more fractures and bone chips than other bloodlines, but I haven't seen it to be a case with tendon issues, as those tend to be conformational/incidental.

Sounds like you have been through a LOT with this guy! If you are wanting another like him personality wise, go for another OTTB! If you actually go to the track, try to speak to the horses groom - they can provide a lot of insight into the horses true personality and can probably even tell you a few things the horse really likes or dislikes. :-)