knock kneed youngster

[silverstar]

My friend has a 2 yr old miniature colt. It doesnt do any work and has been roughed out most of its life. It was born conformationally sound and has never had any problems so far. However over the last month or so she has noticed that its front legs appear to be going "knock kneed"

He has his feet trimmed regually and this has never been noticed before. I know this can be caused by abnormal growth plates but would a youngster of this age still have them?? I was under the impression if it was to do with this it would be in the first few months of life? Is this something that can just appear at this age if it wasnt born like this???

Is there anything that can be done or is he likely to be just growing funny and hopefully grow out of it??

please help she is slightly worried and not sure whether a vet could do anything.

many thanks on her behalf

 

[HGFarm]

First of all, I certainly WOULD contact the vet.... it could be due to one of many reasons and she needs to find out why. It could be nutritional, a bad trimming job (though the foal is trimmed, is it in BALANCE?), etc.... Her vet could probably narrow it down or find the reason why this is happening.

It could be due to other reasons and if she lets it go, as the foal grows, this has a possibility of becoming permanent damage in my opinion. It is better to nip it in the bud than to let it go and try to fix a bigger mess later!

I would vote on the vet option and spend the money now on a vet call, because there is no telling how much it might cost to try to fix something that is really a mess (surgery, special shoes, or ??) and what kind of soundness and quality of life will it have with a problem?

 

[Minimor]

It is possible that a horse this age could go through a growth spurt and have this happen; I once worked with a Morgan filly that was as straight as could be through her 2 year old year, then as a coming three year old she got quite obviously bowlegged in front. By the summer of her 3 year old year her legs were straightening out and by fall she was absolutely correct again.

I once had a neighbor that raised a 1/2 Arab foal out of her grade mare...that filly was bowlegged from birth but the owner apparently didn't see it. She thought the filly was absolutely perfect and wouldn't have appreciated anyone pointing out that there was a problem. I did actually think the foal would straighten up as she grew up, but she didn't change much. The filly was in her two year old year when the owner called to tell me that her filly was suddenly bowlegged. She wanted to know how could this happen so suddenly when she was never like this before. I really didn't see the filly as being any worse than she'd always been, but for some reason the owner had finally noticed there was a problem there. A long standing problem was "sudden onset" to the owner.

 

[jwagner]

Sounds like he needs corrective trimming, have the blacksmith leave the outside of the hooves longer on the outside and shorter on the inside, correcting the problem.

 

[Minimor]

All that correction is likely to do is give you a knock kneed horse that toes out...

In any case, no way would I run a correction on a horse that is two years old. Make sure he is trimmed correctly, of course, but that's it.

 

[MiLo Minis]

Sounds like he needs corrective trimming, have the blacksmith leave the outside of the hooves longer on the outside and shorter on the inside, correcting the problem.

All that is going to do is make the problem worse! If he was indeed correct as a younger horse and it is due to incorrect balance from trimming then it is because he was trimmed shorter on the inside - it wouldn't have to be by much and over 2 years time it would have an effect. You can actually do corrective trimming on a horse this age if the growth plates haven't closed yet. It would need to be done very gradually with regular rasping as often as twice a week.

 

[silverstar]

Thanks everyone. The mini is trimmed quite regular and she says she has every faith in the farrier as she doesnt seem to have had any complaints so far. He came out yesterday and he has left the hooves longer on the inside this time but it didnt seem to have much of an effect yet?

Milo minis - At what age do the growth plates usually close???

 

[MiLo Minis]

Thanks everyone. The mini is trimmed quite regular and she says she has every faith in the farrier as she doesnt seem to have had any complaints so far. He came out yesterday and he has left the hooves longer on the inside this time but it didnt seem to have much of an effect yet?
Milo minis - At what age do the growth plates usually close???

If it took 2 years to grow that way it isn't going to change overnight and it really shouldn't!!! If he left the inside NOTICEABLY longer you could cause the horse pain. What he really needs is to have his outsides continually rasped to keep them from growing due to the horse putting most of his weight to the inside of his foot. Hocks and knees are the last joints to close usually between 2 and 3 years.