Newborn filly was very sick, now very lax tendons not getting better

[deltawave]

Hi everyone, looking for collective COTH experiences here. My Irish mare had a nice big filly last week, 342 days, no problems with pregnancy, maiden mare. Delivery was a little slow and the placenta was slow to pass. Filly was slow to nurse and very down on her ankles behind but really no worse than a lot of newborns I’ve seen.

Long story short she became very sick, septic, probably failure of passive transfer because she nursed late and had a bleed from her umbilicus. She was treated in ICU and is doing MUCH better, back with mama, suckling, really got good care and is doing well.

HOWEVER, her ankles have not come up at all behind. She is still standing on her fetlocks. She was too weak and clumsy for heel extensions at first but they may try those again tomorrow. What these vets are telling me is that this is really bad, that she may never be able to walk properly, that at best she may be pasture sound . . . is it too soon to make these sorts of prognostications, or no? Obviously now that she’s not critically ill time is on her side again, but dang . . . any great stories of bad looking tendons in week-old babies that grew up perfect? TIA

[Laurierace]

PM Jackieblue for her opinion, she was my dynasplint rep. She doesn’t do that anymore but knows more about it than anyone on the planet. In the meantime, get some rejuvenaide or foal aide. I know you like data and proof, but you will have to trust me on this one! Many jingles continue.

[deltawave]

She had all that stuff already. I have no aversion to vitamins, etc. so she got them right away. But thanks for the contact idea!

[Texarkana]

I worked in the the NICU at New Bolton Center for several years and lax tendons are quite common with down and septic foals.

How long has it been since she has been up and active regularly? Are her fetlocks actually on the ground, or just low?

Slooooooow introduction to exercise is usually the treatment- stall confinement for days or weeks. They usually respond really well to time. I can tell you about dozens upon dozens of septic foals with lax tendons that went on to be successful… but it sounds like the vets feel this is an exceptionally bad case.

Many jingles for your baby!

[deltawave]

She walks on the backs of her ankles, and really has only been up regularly for a day or two. She is 8 days old. Thanks for your input!

[My_Two_Cents]

No solutions or words of wisdom, just jingles.

[Kyzteke]

I can’t tell you if the vets are correct or not, but unless there is a congenital deformity, I would say the filly should correct in time.

But 8 days is hardly enough time, especially if she’s been sick. I can tell you that one of my fillies had multiple leg issues at birth and I was told when she was 2 wks old (by a vet…a leg “specialist”…) that he was 90% she would never straighten without several surgeries.

Instead, we put toe extensions on her and gave her limited, HIGHLY controlled turn-out (NOT usually recommended for lax tendons, but this filly was contracted) and a supplement.

By the time she was 3 months old she was very close to straight…now, at age 4, she is perfect.

Give it time…just make sure the footing she’s in in #1 Not real deep or soft and #2 not abrasive.

I think in 3 wks you will be amazed at the change.

[Kerole]

Hmmm, this is a one tricky to comment on from afar. From this end, she doesn’t sound any worse than any others but as already mentioned, the vets seem to think your filly is exceptionally bad and are giving you a very guarded prognosis.

I had one that was very lax behind, the toes pointed skyward and he walked on his fetlocks. He was also very knock-kneed and cow hocked and kept getting his legs tangled. He was on limited turnout on soft grass with a firm base. Ortho vet muttered about heel extensions but he came right in leaps and bounds without remedial care. By 3 months he looked great but every now and then the very toes of his hind hooves were not 100% grounded. He was perfect by 4 months and went out and won several championships at major shows

Wishing you the best of progress with your filly. Any chance we may see some photos?

[Fred]

Very sorry to hear about all that you and Bonnie and your little baby have been through,DW.
I don’t have a lot of direct experience with this, but I am in the ‘give it time camp’ too. Careful turnout, to build strength but not strain.

Sending lots of good wishes for a happy outcome.

[elizabeth_Callahan]

dW,
Send some pics to the farrier @ New Bolton, Pat Riley. He can give your farrier advice on some heel extensions which do help. Stall confinement and tincture of time as well, but the heel extensions will help
Pm me if yup need to talk

[Ticker]

I agree about giving her lots of time to correct. I did massage and gentle flexing of the fetlock while baby was resting.
Also, after a lot of discussion with my farrier and at his suggestion, I designed my own extensions using pink styrofoam covered with tape and then attached with vet wrap. I created a ‘wedge’ that prevented her from rocking back that was easy to adjust and change as the fetlocks strengthened. It also put a ‘soft’ material against her heel bulbs and
allowed me to experiment with the best configuration.
It took a while but we got a full recovery.

Best of luck to you and your little one!

[Pennywell_Bay]

I’m in the give it time camp. I had a filly who was down on her fetlocks, as well, though not septic. With stall rest and minimal turnout, she is now perfect. She and mom had a jumbo stall (at my barn, 20 x 14).

I had a different mare that had a very guarded prognosis from Mid-Atlantic last summer. Prognosis as in I was in tears every day. She pulled through, we joke now that a gelding would have layed down and died (she’s a chesnut mare, btw). Not the same scenario, but vets have to be guarded.

I wish you and the filly well. Horses are so fragile.

[Laurierace]

I do have to wonder how much experience those vets have with newborns as that seems like a very dire prognosis for a very common issue. I hope it is just an overreaction to something they are unfamiliar with. I look forward to hearing what Morgen thinks!

[ahf]

I had two of these. Both maidens, both large foals. The first was windswept as well. With good farrier work and supervised turnout for short periods (as soon as the fetlocks started to look more lax while in turnout they came right back in. The idea was to very mildly stress them but not make him sore). By three months, he was looking much better. By 7 months, he was fine. My repro vet did a lot of consulting with other vets and surgeons during this time, took videos, sent them off. The vet was very positive to me. He later admitted it was the worst case he’d seen, and wasn’t at all confident on the outcome.

Based on that experience, when I had the second one years later, I wasn’t that worried. I should have been. By three months he was still very lax. He wore heel extensions from 3 weeks until 7 months. By 9 months he “looked” normal. Radiographs told a different story. P1, P2 P3 looked like a zigzag, and there was a terrific amount of remodeling. I gave him to a fellow CoTHer who was looking for a companion. At 2 he looked so good (and was sound) she took him to Kent Allen for an evaluation. Dr. Allen looked at the radiographs from 10 months, and the 2yo in front of him and said “This can’t possible the the horse from these rads.” So he took new ones. Oh yeah - same horse. Still more remodeling. He ended up being sound for light hacks only.

[JB]

[QUOTE=deltawave;7551652]
She had all that stuff already. I have no aversion to vitamins, etc. so she got them right away. But thanks for the contact idea![/QUOTE]
But she’s only a week old - she can’t have been on Rejuvenaide as a “proper” supplement It’s not something you give once or twice. It’s something they stay on for weeks or even a couple of months, depending on the issue

[MysticOakRanch]

I’d agree w/ the others here - it can take MONTHS for lax fetlocks to tighten up. Even in a healthy foal. None of us are vets, but most experienced breeders deal with this at some point.

I had a youngster that had to go to inspection before he was totally tightened up - you’d think the inspector would recognize it, but he got marked down, missed premium because of it. A couple of months later, he was perfect.

My other uber-lax foal experience walked on his fetlocks for months - we wrapped them to keep him from getting sores. He is also perfect now - it took about 5 months for him to really straighten up. ETA - agree w/ Texarkana about wrapping - this was just light wrap to protect from soring, which can happen, especially once they start turnout.

I wouldn’t give up yet…

[Texarkana]

Usually wrapping is contraindicated with the exception of protecting sores like in MysticOak’s case. If sores developed and became irritated, we used a really light bandage-- nothing supportive.

Anything that supports the leg, i.e. bandages and splints, will make the problem worse. Time, confinement, and hoof support are always the way to go.

[Highflyer]

My mom had one last year that was very bad on both hinds-- it took almost 6 months but she is a normal yearling! We did roundpen turnout and taped extensions on for the first couple of months, then glue-on extensions (we used Pat Riley at New Bolton as well) and very gradually increased turnout. She had to have her heels wrapped to prevent sores for a while but the vets were uniformly opposed to splints.

[ise]

Give her time and keep her inside so she can build strength in those tendons, etc. and not make it worse. Mineral drenches are what we use when we have foal that are down on the ankles. All of ours that had “squishy” situations improved and were fine. We used Foal Aide for ours. Buckeye makes it.

[Zuri]

Deltawave, just wanted to send jingles to all 3 of you. I am learning so much just from your post and posters here. Hoping for a most excellent outcome.