We had high hopes for this young lady in the show ring until at five months she broke her left front leg just above the pastern joint in a freak accident.  By seven months of age, the orthopedic surgeon told us that the injury had damaged the growth plate and that one bone was no longer growing but the other still would continue to grow thereby forcing her foot to turn to the side.

This type of injury is not uncommon and is called an "angular limb deformity". How much damage will be done is yet unknown.  The orthopedic surgeon says that surgery is never done unless the deformity is severely affecting function.  The surgery never leaves the leg "looking" normal.  The most common problem aside from the foot turning out, is damage to the elbow due to the uneven growth of the leg bones.  If the damage results in arthritis, then surgery is done to alleviate the problem.  At this point her elbows are pristine but that can change. We do know that one leg bone is now longer than the other.  Only time will tell what the final result will be.

FLASH  Fast forward to 2009 and Harmony's leg seems to not affect her function at all and as you see her clearances above, her elbow was not affected.  So she's begun training in agility (Yes we're being careful and any sign of a problem, she'll retire) and she's a speed demon and a whiz.  We do plan on her competing.

More good news is that although her leg isn't perfect looking and does affect her gaiting, I did enter her in a show as a lark and she won her first two points towards her Championship.  We'll have to see if she can compete in bigger shows and hold her own, even with the deformity but for the moment, this little girl is ready to go places!!!!

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