Professor ... I know what you are saying about the offset...but htis isn't a problem with the horse, and definitely isnt what I am seeing.

The horse leg movements are not in a 'problem plane' since the horse legs pivot in line, and do not move outwards noticably.

Also.... what I am seeing in teh problem animations is parts of the body that are not moving in line with the bone in any way. The 'broken' picture in animerge has vertices in the hoof attached to the base leg bone... but swinging wildly away from the actual bone positions. Also...when you see it moving, you can see it is spinning around the hoof position in a wild way. It is clear when you see it in action that the vertices are NOT following the movement of any bone in the model at all. It doesn't show in still shots... but it's quite clearly not in synch with the animations. Ironically...the hoof is acting just like..er..a sling

I agree, though, about making a double skeleton. I would rather book myself in for root-canal treatment minus the anaesthetic than try that...