FOAL IN NEED OF HELP-DWARFISM?

[sedeh]

Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your cute little filly! :aktion033: :aktion033: I'm no expert but I have a minimal dwarf rescue that I saw when he was a newborn....he certainly had a "funny look" about him that yours does not have. I really don't think she's a dwarf. Hopefully she just needs some time to get her strength up and get the hang of nursing. Don't give up! She's precious.

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[Helen]

FIRST WAS A FOOT THEN WE SAW A BIG PINK TONGUE,I MEAN BIG PINK TONGUE

I believe that this is very normal for the tongue to be sticking out. I remember when my colt was born and his tongue stuck out, it was a bit of a shock, but I remembered reading in Theresa Jones's book on foaling, that it was normal.

Congratulations on your filly, she is adorable. Looking at the pictures posted, I do not think she is a dwarf, she looks normal to me.

 

[Mini Brook Farm]

Perhaps check to ensure she does not have a cleft palate.

She's a cutie.....best of luck.

 

[ChrystalPaths]

Faith is absolutely adorable, I see many have shared their experience and I am glad Janelle came on as she and Bill (wwminis) are the dwarf king and queen. Hopefully in a bit of time she will get stronger and latch on. Otherwise you'll be a mommy again and you sound very up for the job. Congratulations and welcome :saludando:

 

[Rauchmini's]

She is precious

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[lyn_j]

Im going to stick my neck out here and say I think she may be a dwarf. Her nostril placement, underbite, slightly bigger forehead when viewed from the side. It also looks like she may have short upper limbs. and her neck is short. She is however adorable for sure! A large tongue that cant latch on to nurse is another sign.

Im sure you will do the best you can for her.

Lyn

 

[palsminihorses]

Your filly is, indeed, adorable! We had a dwarf born last year, and, to me, your filly does not appear to be a dwarf. Our little dwarf's legs were/are very crooked, and his head is much bigger than your filly's head. I think her head is really nice! Also, dwarves have very short necks. Your filly has a nice neck. I'm sure she will get the hang of nursing from mama. You're doing an excellent job with her!

Pam C.

 

[Margo_C-T]

She appears very cute-but of course, what miniature foal ISN'T cute?? It is true that most times, the signs of dwarfism(by outward physical appearance)become more obvious/evident as the foal gets older. (My vet was here at the birth of my one dwarf: he didn't recognize her as a dwarf(she was what I believe is the most common type seen, unofficially called brachyocephalic)-and had a fairly severe manifestation, though not the worst I've seen....I had never seen one 'in the flesh', but realized at once that she was a dwarf--my point is that even a vet, inexperienced in seeing dwarves, might not recognize one...)

I really can't say from the posted photos; but from what I feel I CAN see, I would have some concerns, due to the appearance of the hind limbs, that she *might* be a dwarf of the type where the major manifestation is the short upper limbs(in my experience, a less-commonly recognized form of dwarfism, as the animal often doesn't have all, or at least, as many, of the physical deformities/problems as in the type mentioned above...) I would also have concerns about a foal BORN WITH a serious underbite/jaw misalignment--though I agree that that ALONE does not mean a horse is a dwarf, I would consider it a notable conformation flaw, and would never breed a horse that I KNEW had been born with a serious jaw misalignment, by personal choice. It is likely that as time goes by, her true situation will reveal itself....

I do hope your baby learns to nurse, and thrives--even if she IS a dwarf, she might well be able to do fine, and with your loving care, she can have a good life, and give you many hours of loving companionship. LOVE and GOOD CARE is what's important, and it appears, you are doing a fine job of both!

Best wishes,

Margo

 

[TINALEE]

WOW,LOTS OF INFO TO TAKE IN!!!THE VET IS NOT SURE IF SHE IS DWARF,HE SAID VERY MINIMAL IF ANY,HE FEELS SHE IS A HEALTHY BABY WITH A 'BAD BITE' BUT HE IS NOT SURE AT THIS POINT,TIME WILL TELL.I AM HAPPY TO SAY THAT SHE IS DOING MUCH BETTER TODAY,SHE IS MUCH STRONGER.STILL DOESNT LATCH ONTO PAIGE (HER MOMMY) BUT THIS MORNING I SAW WHY SHE DOESNT REALLY TRY,WHEN SHE GOES TO EAT PAIGE JUST LETS LOSE AND STARTS SQUIRTING HER MILK OUT AND THE BABY JUST LICKS AND LICKS INSTAED OF SUCKING SO SHES ONLY GETTING A LITTLE.LASTNIGHT WHEN I WAS MILKING PAIGE I WENT TO MILK THE OTHER SIDE OF HER AND NOTICED MILK WAS STILL STREAMING INTO THE CUP,NOW ALL I DO IS GIVE PAIGE A TREAT,PUT A CUP UNDER HER AND MILK STARTS INTO THE CUP. :aktion033: I NEVER REALIZED HORSES COULD DO THIS,WHAT A GOOD GIRL SHE IS,SHE IS A GREAT MOM-KEEP IN MIND SHE IS A MAIDEN MARE!I COULDNT ASK FOR A BETTER MOM AND HELPER FOR HER BABY FILLY.I BOUGHT FAITH A NEW AVENT BOTTLE THIS MORNING-SHE EATS REALLY WELL FROM IT.GOES THROUGH 5 OUNCES OF MOMS MILK IN 5 MINUTES!I HAVE FAITH THAT SHE WILL BE JUST FINE.

: WE LOVE HER SO MUCH ALREADY-SHE IS INDEED MY NEWEST BABY.THANK ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR HELP.I WILL BE SURE TO HAVE THE PROPER TEST DONE WHEN SHE GETS OLDER AND THE VET FEELS IT IS TIME TO REALLY CHECK HER OUT.RIGHT NOW HE SAYS KEEP ON FEEDING HER AND LOVING HER AND WE WILL GO FROM THERE....NOW I DO HAVE A SILLY QUESTION WHEN FAITH WAS BORN I GAVE HER HALF OF AN ENEMA-SHE POOPED THE HARD BALLS.NOW I HAVE NOT SEEN HER POOP OR EVEN TRY TO POOP OR PEE.HOW OFTEN SHOULD THEY BE GOING POTTY?I KNOW MY MARES AND STALLION GO EVERYTIME I LOOK AT THEM

: IM NOT SURE IF I SHOULD GIVE HER ANOTHER 1/4 OF THE ENEMA TO BE SURE EVERYTHING IS OUT OR NOT.I DONT WANT TO HURT OR STRESS HER.I THOUGHT ABOUT BRINGING HER UP TO THE HOUSE TO WATCH FOR A FEW HOURS BUT PAIGE THREW A FIT SO I DONT WANT TO DO THAT.I GUESS I COULD JUST SIT IN THE BARN FOR A FEW HOURS WATCHING HER,IM DOWN THERE EVERY HOUR AND A HALF FOR A HALF HOUR TO FEED HER PLUS DOWN TO DO THE BARN WORK AND NEVER SEE HER GOING POTTY....I WILL GET NEW PICS TODAY FOR ALL OF YOU WONDERFUL HORSE PEOPLE-YOU ALL HAVE BEEN REALLY GREAT! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

 

[Miniv]

It sounds like you're going through some stuff that we've gone through in the past......with a foal not connecting, etc...

May I suggest that before you bottle feed, milk out Paige a bit so she isn't "streaming" and then encourage your baby to nurse. Force her to try a little harder to investigate the nipples. If you do it while she's hungry and the milk isn't flowing in her face, she may figure out about the "latching" part.

About the enema.....Don't be afraid to give her another one, especially if you haven't seen her poop again. A Fourth of an enema won't hurt her, but straining too hard will.

Just my opinion.....

MA

 

[qtrrae]

Oh! She is just adorable!! I do have 2 dwarves and they both looked quite minimal at birth but we could definitely tell they were dwarves.

It is so hard to tell with your precious little Faith! Doesn't matter, I know you are already in love with her. Whether she is a dwarf or not will soon be evident.

I got both of mine Treasure and Buddy from a friend right after they were born and I dealy love both of them - they both just turned 2 years old. They have given our family so much love and joy, I wouldn't trade them for anything!!

Both of my dwarves got the nursing figured out soon after they were born, you may have to let Faith get just a bit hungry and force her to eat on her own - sounds like Paige is an excellent Mom.

Hugs and prayers for Paige, for you and for that precious little Faith!!

 

[TINALEE]

I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO POST PICTURES ....WHEN FAITH STANDS STILL SHE KEEPS HER BACK LEGS TOGETHER AT THE JOINT TO KEEP HERSELF STURDY.I WAS HOPING THIS IS BECAUSE SHE WAS JUST BORN BUT SHE IS STILL DOING IT TODAY.SHE WALKS FINE AND EVEN RUNS A LITTLE(VERY LITTLE) ITS JUST WHEN SHE STANDS SHE HOLDS THEM TOGETHER TO SUPPORT EACHOTHER.I POSTED (OR AT LEAST HOPE I POSTED) A PICTURE SHOWING WHAT I MEAN.FAITH IS 17 1/2 INCHES TO THE LAST HAIR ON HER MANE.

 

[Tony]

Tina wrote me before she posted this thread and I told her then that her filly is, unfortunately a dwarf. She shows:

Achondroplasia

Literally "shortened extremities", some types of equine achondroplastic dwarfism have specific physical characteristics such as short limbs and small ears with a normal head, neck and torso. These deformities do not adversely affect the intelligence or lifespan of the horse.

Basically in the early days of miniatures this type was called a "midget" while the more severe type was called dwarf. If you will notice her back leg angle from the hip to the hock. It is almost 60" of a circle with the hock being far too close to the hip. This will stay constant as the filly grows older. She will develop more of an appearance of a "weiner dog" with legs short, but body growing fairly normally and likely her head will be narrow and long.

Here is a link to an article that was printed in the Miniature Horse World years ago, but helpful to new comers to the industry. Dwarfism in Miniatures

Here are a couple of colts that we have had in the past with the same type. Note that their legs are normal from the hock or knee down, but the tops are severely shortened:

 

[Little Bit]

[SIZE=10pt]I myself would REALLY hate to say YES Faith IS definitely a dwarf just from the pictures that have been posted of her so far![/SIZE]

I would like to see pictures of her taken from the side, directly in the middle, when the photographer is squatted down to her level. purdy please.... Pictures taken looking down at a horse of any kind is going to make it's legs look shorter than they really are!

From looking at these few pictures, Faith's body does not look to be overly long, unlike my little Achrondroplasia type dwarf's was at birth....here's a picture of my Toy at 12 hours old:

As you can see she was also over at the knees, and very cow hocked in the back.

[SIZE=10pt]Here's a picture of her at about 7 months old:[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt][/SIZE]

Here she is at almost 2 years old. I feel that her ears are too small in comparrison to her heard, as well:

[SIZE=10pt]In the two photos Tony posted, I can see that the little bay colt is most definitely an Achondroplasia dwarf, but the little pinto does not look like one to me. Yes it has crooked front legs and tendon laxity in it's back legs, but I do not see the long body or the short forearms and gaskins that I see in the bay colt or in my Toy. I would like to see a picture of the pinto colt when it was a little older.[/SIZE]

Again the only thing that makes me wonder about little Faith, just from these pix, is that she seems to be quite weak in her back end. I see her tongue is NOT sticking out the side of her mouth, that's good!

I'm tickled to hear that she is getting along so well!.... Keeping her in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[Marty]

Hello Tina, pleased to meet you. And oh, I don't know much of anything.

However I do want to tell you that when my first foal was born, he was so entirely goofy looking, that I really didn't know what he was. I was on the phone with half of the world, and I was emailing the other half. If any foal was "wrong", it was mine. His head was strange, his legs were weird, he had no neck, you name it, he was just one heck of a little mess.

Today, he's one of the most gorgeous colts I have ever seen.

My second foal did pretty much the same thing.

Go figure.

I look around at other people's foals that look so darn mature and perfect at birth and I can't understand why mine seem to not look so hot for a while. But then, they turn out wonderful. I think anyway, and I am proud of them.

I do wish you much love and success with your new pretty baby.

 

[KayJay Farm]

Unfortunately I can't help much but to offer prayers and support. You seem to be on top of things. Asking questions and reading is the best bet. Faith is a doll baby!!!

 

[wwminis]

Hi Tina,

Here's a story I've only told a few people, but it needs to be told again!

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[SIZE=18pt]Our little Angel had very bad legs at birth, she was 14" talland weighted about 12 lbs. The vet that came to check her said, I think you need to put her down, she'll never walk! Well, I showed him the driveway and took matters into my own hands![/SIZE]

She could not stand to nurse, so we took turns every 2 hours going to the barn and holding her up to Mom to nurse! We did this the first 4 days of her life, then on the 4th day I went out to help her nurse and as I got closser I could here a sucking sound! There was Angel standing on her crooked legs and leaning in on mom and nursing! :aktion033: That's when I made that little girl a promise that I would do what ever it took to help her survive!

First we put splints on both leg and wrapped them very heavy with cast pad and vet wrap! That worked long enough for us to find a different solution! I went on Lil Bebinnings and ask for help and a very nice lady replied named Janell! She said she had some shoes that just might help our little Angel! So I traced Angel's feet and sent it to

Janell! I talked to her several time and she explained to me how they worked and how to put them on! The shoes came in just a couple days and I glued them on Angel! She took off like a race horse across the pasture to find her Mom! Wanalynn and myself both stood their with tears in our eyes watching our little Angel run for the first time! I looked at Wanalynn and said, Those are truly "Magic Shoes". I called Janell and told her how they worked and we were both elated! Then Janell said, That's a wonderful name for my shoes! And the rest is history! Little Angel will be 4 years old in June and she still wears "Magic Shoes" on both front feet! We take the time to trim her hooves and reset her shoes every 4 weeks! Had I not found Janell and her "Magic Shoes" our little Angel would not be here today! Thank You Auntie Nell from the bottom of my heart for giving my little Angel a chance at a normal life! This is why I'm here helping and why we try to help any little dwarf we can! These are truly God's creatures, sent to us to care for and look after until he wants them back!

Bill

Here's Angel when she was a baby! Look close and you can see her "Magic Shoes" on her front feet!

Here's Angel as a 3 year old summer of 06!

 

[Margo_C-T]

The moment I came back to this thread and saw the most recent picture posted of this foal, I felt w/o a doubt that it was of the 'short upper limb'(my own term) type of dwarf. To me, those 'overbent' and set-behind-the-body hind limbs are an absolute sign. I was then so glad to see that Tony had posted; his two examples perfectly illustrate the 'range' that the manifestation of this type of dwarfism can take. There is NO question in my mind that both of the foals whose photos he posted are of the type I describe as 'short upper limbed'(achrondoplastic?)dwarves-even though the pinto is long-legged/tall OVERALL, and the other, shortlegged/short of stature OVERALL-you can see that BOTH indeed have VERY short upper limbs, both front and rear, w/crooked(over at the knee, toeing out severely,and 'overbent' to a degree behind-the short bay worse than the pinto, at this point) forelegs, and both are 'built uphill'...I have noticed, in dwarves of this type, that the fore legs are OFTEN splayed AND over-at-the-knees, at least on young foals; the hind legs are 'overbent'--too much angle to the hock(I have seen adults with this condition who almost seem to be 'sitting' on their own hocks)--they are often also VERY cowhocked. The torso often ends up being overlong, and distinctively, the horse appears 'built uphill'. I notice that Janell's b/w pinto seems to have restricted flexor tendons in front, as her heels are literally off the ground, even though she appears well-trimmed. I expect this is yet another manifestation of the condition, though perhaps not one of the most common ones? She doesn't appear as 'built uphill' as some, but does have the overbent(and look to be cowhocked?) hind limbs, the overlong torso, the problems in the front legs...

It appears to me that there are 'some' characteristics that are common to all w/ each of the various dwarf manifestations, while other characteristics may vary in both appearance AND intensity; viewing of the various photos of dwarves really brings this home, IMO. Hopefully, the research will address and make more clear, ALL of the clues to be able to use in identifying horses with the conditions, no matter how mild OR severe--in addition to the most important aspect of answering the questions of how the genetic inheritance operates.

Margo

 

[Tony]

Here is an example of a grown mare of the type we have been discussing. When I was young and foolish I bought a herd of horses that had gone through the Bond sale in order to get a stallion that I really liked. There were two in the group that were of this type. I called them midgets, one being 28" and if her legs fit her body she would have been 34". This one, Bond Penny, stood 26.5". Can't believe that I let a newspaper take pictures of her for an article! We ALL learn, eventually.

 

[Beccy]

Welcome to LB

There are several people here on the board that have experience with caring for dwarves and their special needs and no doubt would be a wealth of information to you. Good luck with her, she is a little sweetheart

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