Windswept...

[ThirdCharm]

Latest foal was a couple weeks early, so I was not surprised he was pretty windswept behind. Front legs are great, hind legs both were a bit to the right at the hock. Right leg straightened, left is still cowhocked/weak looking. Vet coming out today today to evaluate mare to rebreed. So as foal is a week old and left leg is still wonky will see what he says… But… Thoughts/experiences? When he walk the leg comes forward but when he pushes off hock turns in, stifle and hoof rotate out. This is my first foal with anything more alarming than pasterns that took a day to stand up straight…

He is alert, runs and bucks, happy little guy who whinnies when he hears people outside his stall…

Jennifer

[TwoTrickPony]

With good care, you should be fine. My last one was huge and massively windswept. We ended up putting some hoof extensions (like glue) on her feet and monitoring it. She’s perfectly straight and sound now at 7.

A hoof extension to force that left leg to stay straight might be what you’re looking at. I’m sure he’ll be fine.

Is he the super cute pinto? If that’s him, what you’re working with is really minor.

[ThirdCharm]

Yes that is him. Every time he takes a step it freaks me out a bit LOL

[JB]

In the EquineRepro group on FB, there was a majorly windswept foal a few years ago. It was bad enough there were many on the breeder’s team suggesting he should be PTS. It was bad enough it looked like if you put a 5lb weight on his rump, his legs would crumple in half sideways.

With strategic rest and turnout, he’s not a perfectly healthy youngster. Maybe filly - can’t remember.

What you describe sounds pretty mild, and I wouldn’t worry. I’d just do a bit more confinement when you see him tweaking more. Some Rejuvenaide or Foal Aide might help.

[MysticOakRanch]

I had one one years ago - huge baby - I think folded up in the uterus. She looked like a crab when she scuttled along sideways - which was the ONLY way she could move. I’d never seen anything like that before:eek: Her hocks swivelled, her hip seemed dropped on one side, I was worried I would have to euthanize her. Vet told me NO - this is not a big deal, give her time. Three months later, her hocks were still a bit loose, but she was straight, and six months later, she was just gorgeous. 6 years later, she was intercollegiate champion jumper on the East Coast.

No intervention other then careful weekly work on her feet, and much anxiety.

[gumtree]

We have bred and foaled a lot of mares in any given year up until recently. Have seen my fair share of what appear to be “total wrecks” right out of the box. The vast majority resolve with little to no intervention in a couple of weeks, months. I don’t put a lot of stock in “hoof extensions”. They can be a PITA anyway depending on the foal. IME pretty much a waste of money and time. They have their place but IMO it would only be on exceptional cases. We used them for a while than opted out, took a chance. Things resolved just fine without.

Usually the best “treatment” is restricted, managed turn out for a couple of weeks. This is where having a bunch of porta-paddock panels come in handy. You can move the paddock each day to keep the grass from getting grazed down to mud. We have a grass area outside our foaling stalls. So we just set the paddock up outside the stall, Mother and child can come go as they please.

Pictures speak a 1000 words post some. There are a couple of a filly born with “issues” not the worst issues I have dealt with. But certainly was of a concern.Taken not long after foaling and a year later. I posted these before, one of these days I dig out the CD that has others on it.

OP tag your thread, windswept foal, This is how people can do a search. You can see the “tag” at the bottom of your fist post. Click edit and add. This is important IMO. This question, concern as come up a number of times. [ATTACH=JSON]{“alt”:“Click image for larger version Name: issues 1.jpg Views: 2 Size: 25.5 KB ID: 9785304”,“data-align”:“none”,“data-attachmentid”:“9785304”,“data-size”:“full”}[/ATTACH]
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[FatCatFarm]

I’ve had a couple; one severe and another moderately so. The severe one did have to undergo periosteal stripping at one month of age at Auburn Univ. He was so bad he had to be bottle fed initially as he could not stand to nurse. He was a Holsteiner x Arabian colt. Large colt but not abnormally so. Was totally surprised at what a mess his legs were. The stripping did the trick though and he did great following.

The moderate guy was born August of 2015 and a large Irish Draught x TB cross. He was windswept to the left involving both hinds and the right front. My vet wanted to do periosteal stripping. I reserached the advice of others on here who said wait and also got a 2nd opinion from another vet who also thought with good farrier care, that he would be fine, and he was. We didn’t do hoof extensions but for the first several months, kept his hooves rasped every two to three weeks. His affected hooves turned out and as their hooves grow to the high side, we trimmed/kept rasped, the outsides of his hooves, so his hooves were higher on the inside edges, to help them turn back into alignment. Sounds counter intuitive, but it works. He sold as a long yearling and you would never know he had any issue at all.
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