Foal won't get up on her own

[Ticker]

It’s possible that the foal has a non displaced green fracture on one of the legs…maybe the front one people are asking about… That is making it extremely painful for the youngster to stand. Once up, the foal is able to act more like a normal foal.

I had a foal with a green fracture and it took awhile to figure out what was wrong …and the multiple vets that saw my foal didn’t have a clue. My foal recovered 100 percent with treatment.

I would suggest having xrays done on the legs and rule out a green fracture…hopefully your local vet has a portable machine. A green fracture can be wrapped or cast for a few weeks. You will still have to help the foal up if it is a fracture…until it heals.

[Color_of_Light]

@lovemylife92@gmail.com

No, front legs are fine just the way the photo was taken

This poor little foal has some serious developmental problems on all four legs. Hind legs look foal is standing too far back on it’s heels from lax tendons. Pasterns look low and fetlocks look dropped, from laxity in tendons. Stifles might be locking because of all this, preventing the foal from standing.

But then you’ve got the front leg deformities compounding the problem. Both front legs are formed very crooked where the canon bone comes out of the knee. Take a straight line from the shoulder to the knee and down to the ground. This is how it’s legs should look, not how they are. (see the mare’s legs for comparison). This foal needs immediate veterinary care. Just those front legs alone can make it difficult for a foal to get it’s legs under itself to stand, but this foal also has the hind leg problems, too. No wonder it can’t get up. There is no way it was just the photo, or how the foal was standing. Sorry, but horse’s knees don’t bend that direction. If this foal’s knees are hinged like that, then you’ve got even bigger problems.

Please get this foal to a vet right away before it’s too late to fix those legs!

[PonyPenny]

Try San Luis Rey Equine Hospital in Bonsall, CA. This is close to Temecula.

[Zu_Zu]

Foal needs to be seen by specialist NOW … IMHO
This is critical for her development / life ! ’
Two weeks is a long time in a new foal’s life.
Jingles this foal is evaluated promptly to ensure her future ~ AO !

[Laurierace]

It could be any number of things and agree this foal needs to go to a clinic or hospital but in my foal’s case it turned out to be a broken pelvis.

[JB]

@Color of Light

This poor little foal has some serious developmental problems on all four legs. Hind legs look foal is standing too far back on it’s heels from lax tendons. Pasterns look low and fetlocks look dropped, from laxity in tendons. Stifles might be locking because of all this, preventing the foal from standing.

But then you’ve got the front leg deformities compounding the problem. Both front legs are formed very crooked where the canon bone comes out of the knee. Take a straight line from the shoulder to the knee and down to the ground. This is how it’s legs should look, not how they are. (see the mare’s legs for comparison). This foal needs immediate veterinary care. Just those front legs alone can make it difficult for a foal to get it’s legs under itself to stand, but this foal also has the hind leg problems, too. No wonder it can’t get up. There is no way it was just the photo, or how the foal was standing. Sorry, but horse’s knees don’t bend that direction. If this foal’s knees are hinged like that, then you’ve got even bigger problems.

Please get this foal to a vet right away before it’s too late to fix those legs!

I am not saying there isn’t anything extraordinarily wrong with the foal’s legs, especially not from this view, but many foals are born with lax tendons and fairly major knock knees, and straighten out. 2 weeks is not very long, and it’s not uncommon for it to take longer. We can’t tell that he’s standing on his heels. I’m sure there is some laxicity issue. But that’s common. We’d need a side view to tell its severity.

You can’t compare new foal legs against adult standards. 2 weeks is still pretty darn new. That’s why the saying “3 weeks 3 months 3 years” is there for judging things. It can take several weeks for legs to finish unfolding, and strength to develop and tendons to tighten. Even major knock knees often resolve with time.

[Color_of_Light]

@JB

I am not saying there isn’t anything extraordinarily wrong with the foal’s legs, especially not from this view, but many foals are born with lax tendons and fairly major knock knees, and straighten out. 2 weeks is not very long, and it’s not uncommon for it to take longer. We can’t tell that he’s standing on his heels. I’m sure there is some laxicity issue. But that’s common. We’d need a side view to tell its severity.

You can’t compare new foal legs against adult standards. 2 weeks is still pretty darn new. That’s why the saying “3 weeks 3 months 3 years” is there for judging things. It can take several weeks for legs to finish unfolding, and strength to develop and tendons to tighten. Even major knock knees often resolve with time.

Which is why the foal needs to see a vet asap, particularly since it can’t stand. This foal needed a veterinary evaluation yesterday. Not standing is a serious issue. It could be from those legs. If you wait 3 weeks, 3 months, 3 years to see what will happen to those legs, it’s far to late. Even 3 months can be too late. Foal legs are compared to healthy foal leg standards, not adult. Yes, 2 weeks is new, but these legs are not right, according to this photo.I seen many foals with lesser degree of angular front leg disparity than this where the owner didn’t do anything. The legs didn’t straighten enough and caused hoof issues. That’s how horses end up with crooked front legs. Toeing out, toeing in, fetlock and pastern problems as time goes by.

[Angela_Freda]

@Color of Light

Which is why the foal needs to see a vet asap, particularly since it can’t stand. This foal needed a veterinary evaluation yesterday. Not standing is a serious issue. It could be from those legs. If you wait 3 weeks, 3 months, 3 years to see what will happen to those legs, it’s far to late. Even 3 months can be too late. Foal legs are compared to healthy foal leg standards, not adult. Yes, 2 weeks is new, but these legs are not right, according to this photo.I seen many foals with lesser degree of angular front leg disparity than this where the owner didn’t do anything. The legs didn’t straighten enough and caused hoof issues. That’s how horses end up with crooked front legs. Toeing out, toeing in, fetlock and pastern problems as time goes by.

And the Vet who has seen it was befuddled by it. That says something to me.

Whether the legs are wonky, wonky for just now, or perfectly fine, the foal, reportedly, can not get up unassisted per the OP. That’s the bottom line.

[BeckyS]

I’m coming from a world of dairy calves with this comment, so someone let me know if this is possible:

Can selenium deficiency cause this? We give our calves selenium at birth to make sure they don’t get white muscle disease. Is this a thing with horses too?

[ThreeFigs]

Is she a preemie? She looks so tiny to me – but it’s been eons since I dealt with foals…

[JB]

@Color of Light

Which is why the foal needs to see a vet asap, particularly since it can’t stand. This foal needed a veterinary evaluation yesterday. Not standing is a serious issue. It could be from those legs.

Of course, and that was my very first comment on this thread.

My only point was that your evaluation of these legs on a 2 week old foal from this angle seems to indicate that you think all foal legs should be perfectly straight from the get-go, and that “compared to his dam” they look awful.

If you wait 3 weeks, 3 months, 3 years to see what will happen to those legs, it’s far to late. Even 3 months can be too late.

I never said do nothing, not for 3 weeks, not for 3 months, and definitely not for 3 years. The whole phrase is “3 weeks 3 months 3 years” and then the 3 WEEKS is because legs are usually still straightening up

Foal legs are compared to healthy foal leg standards, not adult.

You said:

Take a straight line from the shoulder to the knee and down to the ground. This is how it’s legs should look, not how they are. (see the mare’s legs for comparison).

Even the most perfect foal legs do not go in a straight line from the shoulder to the knee to the ground. The rotate out and are wider at the base than the very narrow shoulders and chest.

Yes, 2 weeks is new, but these legs are not right, according to this photo.I seen many foals with lesser degree of angular front leg disparity than this where the owner didn’t do anything. The legs didn’t straighten enough and caused hoof issues. That’s how horses end up with crooked front legs. Toeing out, toeing in, fetlock and pastern problems as time goes by.

Again, I never said do nothing. I’m merely pointing out that the legs here as presented are not far off what MANY foals present at in the first few weeks. Of course many foals have perfect foal legs. But many do not, and it can take weeks for normal life to straighten them out. That’s the point you seem to be missing.

Of COURSE this foal should have been evaluated by a knowledgeable vet by about Day 3 if she was still having trouble getting up on her own. It’s long past time to get her into a specialist.

You should frequent some breeding forums for a while and see some pretty terrifyingly crooked foal legs which straight up all on their own with appropriate rest and exercise cycles.

[caper]

This isn’t about waiting for legs to straighten it is about making it possible for this foal to get up on it’s own. He needs to be seen by a specialist at a vet clinic/hospital pronto.

[Bluey]

I expect your vet has put pictures and videos on VIN and get advice from specialists in orthopedic problems like that?

We foaled many mares every year and never had one with that problem, sorry.

We had a couple with leg deviations that required us to make a metal splint to help correct those, but you need x-rays, etc. for that.
Even those foals didn’t have any trouble getting up with a splint.

There may be some neurological impediment going on there, but that would also show in how the foal moves once up and running?

[trubandloki]

@lovemylife92@gmail.com How is the foal doing? Any updates?

[findeight]

Love an update…know it’s not OPs foal but they seem very involved in its management based on what they have said…things like “Thats our plan” or “We are going to…”

Dont like the leg here but my biggest concern is if it can’t stand on its own, it’s not nursing enough and will fail to thrive. Hope the picture in shortly after birth, otherwise it’s on the frail side for two weeks.

[bt1]

All I can say is that if I owned that foal and came home to finding it having trouble standing I would be greeting people with a baseball bat…unless owner was totally unreachable arrangements for treatment by a specialist should have been possible and if owner knew they were going to be unreachable what ever permissions they wanted to give should have been left in writing. I can’t find an excuse for this no matter how hard I search

[Laurierace]

@bt

All I can say is that if I owned that foal and came home to finding it having trouble standing I would be greeting people with a baseball bat…unless owner was totally unreachable arrangements for treatment by a specialist should have been possible and if owner knew they were going to be unreachable what ever permissions they wanted to give should have been left in writing. I can’t find an excuse for this no matter how hard I search

What are you talking about? The vet has supposedly seen the foal and nowhere did I see that the owner was not aware and involved unless I missed a page.

[bt1]

Yes I know foal was seen by a vet at the farm…I don’t think it mentions contact with the owner but I does say they have been out of the country since before foal was born, but if there was the update should have boiled down to “vet came, baby still injuring itself when trying to stand” in which case I would respond “go ahead and get a referal please n thank you!”

[Angela_Freda]

No updates huh?
So sad. Hope the foal is ok.

[trubandloki]

The OP has not logged in since the day they started this thread.