Anyone ever seen this before?

[Firefall]

When my filly was born and in getting her dried off I noticed her feet looked grayish brown they looked strange so I started inspecting them, come to find out it was wet thick matted hair on both front hooves and easily rubbed off when I touched them. Where could this have come from? I first thought it was from mom ingesting hair from grooming but thats impossible for it to end up on the foals feet isn't it?

No way it came from mom during the birth, it was there when I broke the sack. Thought she had black hooves at first. Could this little girl been floating in hair? ewwwww............maybe she shed?

 

[nnadams]

I have never heard of that....did you happen to get a picture of it?

 

[Firefall]

No, I didn't have my camera with me.

When I saw what it was I couldn't believe it. It was like you'd find in the bottom of a bath tub after giving a dog a bath.....only caked on her hooves. I never thought about pictures at the time but thought later I should've saved it.

 

[nnadams]

It must have been hair she shed?? Did you check her first stools? If it was there when you got her out of the sack, she must have been floating in hairy amniotic fluid

Yuk!

 

[tagalong]

A couple of years ago I foaled out a filly who had clumps of wavy hair stuck to her legs and her little butt. It was not attached, just sitting there - at first I thought I had pulled it off as when I guided her front legs some clumps were all over my hands. That made me worry - as a foal who has been dead a while will be sloughing hair. But the filly was very much alive and normal in every other way. In 20 years of foaling - I had never seen anything like it. Even the vet was dumbfounded. He said he had heard of it but never seen it.... and yes, I put some of the clumps in a baggie for his perusal.

So yeah - it happens.

 

[backwoodsnanny]

tagalong Did the vet say if it was from the baby shedding or what the reason was for it?

 

[jleonard]

I;m not a breeder, but it sounds like milk toes?

 

[Dontworrybeappy]

yes. the soft covering at the ends of the hooves can look like "hair" and it rubs off, or the mom will chew it off, or the baby wears it off when walking. It's designed to protect the womb from sharp little hoofie edges!

 

[backwoodsnanny]

We have had several foals here and I have never seen milk toes that looked like hair.

 

[tagalong]

yes. the soft covering at the ends of the hooves can look like "hair" and it rubs off

NO - this was not milk toes or golden slippers - nothing like that at all - and I have seen a lot of them in 20 years. They do not look like hair in any way to me... how so? They are rubbery and maybe a bit feathery looking at first - but not like hair in any way what so ever.

These were wavy clumps of ACTUAL HAIR that I wiped off her legs and body. She was black - so was the hair. There ended up being about a loose sandwich baggie full. They were not attached - just stuck to her because she was wet. There were also a few clumps in the sac. Not from shedding per se - but who knows? We'll just chalk it up to an oddity of nature.

 

[Firefall]

Tagalong, I'm glad you've seen this before, I was beginning to think that I may have imagined it.

It was on her milk toes and actual hooves. Thats what caught my attention, her milk toes (I've seen many) where dark and sort of spotted. There wasn't any other hair on the towels I used to dry her off with. It was short hair but brown like her and her dams.

I have been wondering if the climate change affected her coat somehow? I bought her dam in warm CA and she came here to cold Idaho roughly 6 months into her gestation. But she could've kept her coat not loose it. Dang i wish I had sense enough to keep the samples.

Oh and her stools were normal.

 

[tagalong]

See, Firefall? You did not imagine it.

I had the samples for a while - and ended up tossing them. They looked like what you sweep off the floor after clipping a very fuzzy mini....

And the filly involved here was perfectly normal in every other way!