# Cow Hocked Foal, supplements???



## MN Tigerstripes (Feb 20, 2009)

No supplements that I know of. How old is he? Can you post pics so we can see the degree? What do you plan on using him for? There are plenty of horses that are cow-hocked and don't have problems, so it really depends on how bad it is and what you want to do with him. I really advocate staying away from supplements unless absolutely needed. Also, I would listen to your vet here, if she specializes in horses she's probably aware of anything that could help him.


----------



## bubblegum (Oct 6, 2009)

he is currently 5 months old, i will take pics in the morning and post them, its pretty severe, when he is standing still his knee joints meet and when he is walking they sometimes brush off each other, but he can bomb around and have fun. just thought there might be some supplement i could give him that could help that she didnt mention.


----------



## kevinshorses (Aug 15, 2009)

I have seen some really hig dollar foals that had cow hocked legs. As they grow and thier muscles develop thier legs will straighten out.


----------



## tealamutt (Aug 21, 2009)

A lot of foals straighten out with time. If you had the vet out and she gave you her advice, you should stick with that. There are a lot of dangers in over supplimenting and no one on an internet forum is going to be able to give you better medical advice than the vet that examined your foal in person. If you don't intend to use him as a high performance horse, he probably will be fine. Only time will tell, in the meantime letting him run and play and be a foal will be the best thing for him.

PS. His knee joints (stifles) are actually up much higher (near the hip area). Just lettin ya know so that can use the right terms when describing his legs to someone over the phone or internet. =) The hocks are another joint entirely.


----------



## bubblegum (Oct 6, 2009)

tealamutt said:


> A lot of foals straighten out with time. If you had the vet out and she gave you her advice, you should stick with that. There are a lot of dangers in over supplimenting and no one on an internet forum is going to be able to give you better medical advice than the vet that examined your foal in person. If you don't intend to use him as a high performance horse, he probably will be fine. Only time will tell, in the meantime letting him run and play and be a foal will be the best thing for him.
> 
> PS. His knee joints (stifles) are actually up much higher (near the hip area). Just lettin ya know so that can use the right terms when describing his legs to someone over the phone or internet. =) The hocks are another joint entirely.


 
ooops sorry about that, will get my chart out again get confused some times and mix them up


----------



## gypsygirl (Oct 15, 2009)

it obviously depends on the degree, but i prefer horses who are cow hocked ! also, as stated above, they can grow out of issues like that as they grow their angles with change some


----------



## My Beau (Jan 2, 2009)

gypsygirl - I also like slighty cow hocked horses, slightly being the key word.

I agree with the others - no supplements can fix it because it's genetic and they might straighten out over time. Let him grow and see what he ends up with.


----------

