# Foal with crooked legs



## sjomelco (Jul 12, 2012)

I have a 1 month old palamino stud colt that is knock kneed. What I am looking for is an in expensive flexible leg brace to pull them back in line while there is time to correct this. I have came across a couple that are only sold over seas (RedBoot) nothing in the USA. These will run $800 plus shippping and handling. It amazes me that this sounds like a common problem with the turn back hoofs and tendon problems in foals that there is not products out there more readily available.
I have read some of cutting a peice of PVC to make a splint with and may have to resort to this. The red boot fit over the hoof to above the knee and was hinged so the foal would be able to get up and down easier. It also was adjustable to fit up to a 3 month old foal. When the correction would be easiest to make. Any body know of anything out there?


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## aforred (May 12, 2010)

Did you ask your vet?
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## MHFoundation Quarters (Feb 23, 2011)

I don't have any experience with it, been fortunate to always have good legged babies. But if it were mine, I'd be calling my vet & farrier and seeing if they could come up with something together. Though at a month old he very well may straighten out on his own, I've seen some pretty wonky legged babies over the years that eventually straightened out with no intervention.


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## sjomelco (Jul 12, 2012)

I had the vet outwhen he was 10 days old and he has him on Leg Aide suppliments in case it is from poor nutrition from the mares milk. Considering this is her third foal and the studs first he is leaning torward a hereditary problem and agrees that braces would probably be a good way to go. The thing is even he hasn't seen much out there at the trade shows and such for for this kind of thing. Dynasplint has something that is above the knee and below the knee but it doesn't go all the way to the hoof to pull the tendons in line. We arre talking possibly surgery to correct this after he 3-4 months old.


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## sjomelco (Jul 12, 2012)

Also the vet did trim a little on his hoof to try and turn it in.


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## aforred (May 12, 2010)

Have you tried contacting vet schools? I'm not sure of they would have anything, but it's worth a shot.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

Several things here:

First, has this foal been kept in a stall? If they are very crooked, they will get worse with exercise and should always be stalled.

Second. Has a 'good' horse Vet seen this foal? What has he/she thought about this being correctable? What did they say was needed to happen for the best outcome? 

Third. If splints were going to be used, this foal should have been splinted 2 or 3 weeks ago. Is it better, the same or worse than it was at 1 week of age?

Finally, yes you can make splints from PVC pipe. You need a pipe that is at least an inch larger in diameter than the leg would require. It must be split lengthwise. The square edges need to be rounded at the top and bottom and well padded. It needs to be bigger so that you can pad the foal's leg very well with 1 inch roll cotton -- the kind with gauze on each side. If you do not pad it well, you will get pressure sores overnight that can expose bone. It also helps to put a knit tube sock -- the kind that comes in a roll and is used under a cast -- on the foal's leg, either next to the skin or over the cotton padding. Place extra padding on the inside of the knee and the outside of the cannon and forearm. 

You place each half of the pipe on the inside and outside of the leg and tape them together with duct tape or hold them together with heavy-duty ACE bandages and a little Duct Tape over them. 

The earlier it is done, the better it works. You almost always get pressure sores, so you must be very careful. 

Since a knock-kneed foal is also putting a lot of off-balance pressure on their feet, they will also need glue-on or taped-on plastic shoes to help straighten up the legs and to keep the feet from becoming deformed. They are available commercially. 

Above all, keep this foal inside with little or no exercise. That alone straightens up many of them. Until it learns to get up and down, you may have to help it for a while. That means 2 or 3 trips in the night so it can nurse.

I would also give this foal Vitamin A (we use the injectable form but give it orally) and I would supplement Calcium. 

When we started giving Calcium and Vitamin A to broodmares, we never had another crooked foal or a retained placenta to deal with after that. We have dealt with several that belonged to other people, though.


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## sjomelco (Jul 12, 2012)

I had the best horse vet we have in the area out when he was 10 days old and he has him on Leg Aide suppliment. He did not feel we needed to restrict his movement over what it already is. He is in a 30' round pen with a run in shed attached, with his mare and my gelding. Since I haven't seen much change in the last 2 weeks the vet is agreeing I may need to do something else. Basically I think they are the same as they were at 1 week of age, I don't think they are any worse. I was just kind of amazed in doing research on this that there are not more products out there to work with this at the foal to weanling stage. Hoof boots and etc.


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

By weanling stage it is usually too late. About 30 years ago our Vets went from recommending exercise to completely restricting it. We had figured it out before that. Every foal we saw that had such damaged joints that they had to be put down at weanling stage were foals that could exercise and put pressure on their crooked joints.


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## Clava (Nov 9, 2010)

Have a look at this thread For anyone who has a foal with birth defects, there is hope (pics) - Horse and Hound Forums


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## sjomelco (Jul 12, 2012)

I did talk to the vets at the "U" of Minn and I have him restricted to a stall. They did not want me to brace or splint his knee at this time as it could mess with the fetlock area and they said as long as that is in good shape not to mees with the knee area. Knees you can fix but the fetlock you can't once they are set. They weren't sure about the Leg Aide Suppliments there is nothing out there to say for sure it works but I will stick with that for now. I almost beleive I am seeing some improvement in the last week from when I first had the vet out so we will see.


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## sjomelco (Jul 12, 2012)

I have to thank everyone for the feed back. I followed a combine advice from my vet and U of MN and Cherie. Gave him the suppliments and restricted his movement down to a 10 by 12 stall and now I have the nicest looking baby you could ask for.


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## Cherie (Dec 16, 2010)

I'm happy it all worked out for you and your little one.
Cherie


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