Update on My Mini Babies

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HollynIvysMomma

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Joined
Oct 30, 2013
Messages
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Location
Virginia
Hi everyone! I haven't posted in a while, but you may remember me as the clueless lady who asked a bazillion questions about her little mini babies
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Things are going very well. We are on a good routine. Mom gets the girls out of their stall in the morning and gives them a morning portion of their protein feed and lets them out in a large paddock to play and run. Then when I get off work in the afternoon I drive over to the farm and muck out the stalls and get the girls with their halters, lead them around, lots of pets, brush them, etc. Then it's back in their stall with their second half of the protein feed. And they have hay with them all the time. Oh and I only have the halter on them when they are going to be led, otherwise I leave them off.

They've had their shots, and the farrier is coming out next week to do their feet again.

The bad news is that Ivy has locking stifles. It comes and goes, so I am hoping that she will grow out of it. She leads GREAT and likes to go walking and evening trotting, so I am hopeful. Any advice on that is welcome

Here are two pictures of them now. No more hay belly, and getting longer manes. Ivy is a month younger than Holly, but bigger. Holly is catching up though! Ivy is the lighter one, Holly is the brown one.

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Happy to hear everything is going well for you and your minis!! Never had any problems with the locking stifles so I can't offer any advice there. I can't remember from your original posting but how old are they?? I also see you are from Va, I am too!! Where do you live in Va?? I am in Culpeper, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge about 30 mins from Charlottesville.
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I live in Danville, but I used to live in Louisa and have been to Culpepper
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They are 8 and 9 months old I believe.
 
I have had locking stifles. Exercise in the form of walking helps. Straight line leading and some hills, not lunging. Angle of hoof trim can affect stifles, mention to your farrier the problem and caution him against picking up legs too high for trims and you should do the same for hoof pick out. If they lock, gently backing up can help unlock if problem is severe. It can be caused by lack of angle and rather posty legs among other things. I have had some stifle issues in both biggies and minis. I never had the problem so severe that it was terribly painful. I do not recommend breeding horses with locking stifles... just tossing that one in.

You might need to build some muscle when the weather gets better. Lack of exercise and conformation seems to make the problem.

Thats all I can think of right now. I can tell you really love your babies and are wanting to do the best you can for them. Thanks for posting. I am sure you will get some additonal advice and help here.

PS, they are still babies and could grow out of the stifle locking as they mature and gain muscle. math is not my strong suite, nor spelling for that matter. haha. But I would say that aprox. 1 year old babies can enter a bit of an awkward stage of growth around then. I did line driving and hand walking with my horses to make the supporting ligaments stronger that hold the stifle in place.. for lack of a better description this condition is kind of like a person with a slipping knee cap and the doctor recommends physical therapy to tighten things up... best wishes....

PS, I wasn't saying I thought your baby had posty legs... that reference was for my mini that was very straight up and it was the obvious cause.
 
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Thank you for the suggestions! I am hoping she grows out of it. I'm excited for the weather to be warmer so we can go on more walks, but even in the stinky winter cold I try to take her on a short walk every day. They also have room to play when we turn them out during the day.

No worries, I'm actually not planning on ever breeding either of my girls. I love them to bits, but I also know they don't have the best conformation, and I certainly wouldn't want to breed Ivy with her stifle issue.

Luckily,m it is just Ivy (the light colored one). Holly has no problems with her stifles. It is interesting, bc in person, you can actually tell the difference in those hind leg muscles. Holly has nice thick legs, and Ivy's look puny. She grew quite fast and was considerably larger than Holly when we got her...and ivy is younger. I'm hoping that her body just grew faster than her muscles and eventually the muscles will catch up.

It comes and goes and isn't too terrible, but I had a heart attack when I first saw it and before I knew what it was.
 
Yes it is rather distressing to see... they look like their leg is just hanging back. You can google things like locking stifles and upward fixation of the patella on the internet to get more information that would be more technical than my description. In adult horses I have used yucca pellets but have no idea if you can use them for babies. I have had very nice farriers for biggie horses make a mess out of my minis on hoof angle. My current farrier is very precise and I have not had issues with his trimming as related to legs and angle and stifles.

take care.
 
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You are doing very well with them!
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Are you giving them wormer too?

They are very lucky girls to have you as their mom!
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I'm no help with the stifle issue but I'm thrilled to bits to hear how things are going otherwise!!!
 
YES we have wormed them. I waited after two frosts and wormed them with...okay I think it had ivermectin? is that it? Anyway it was supposed to kill bots.
 
Since we are discussing wormer... You should avoid using Moxydectin wormer for minis.

I rotate between a couple of different wormers, but do not ever use Moxy.
 
Today did my heart good! We put halters and leads on the girls and took them out to lead and walk. Ivy was SO happy and excited to be out with her people that she kicked up her heals and ran and trotted. Her legs weren't locked or stiff at all today! I have lots of hope she will grow out of it!
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<3
 

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