Yearlings front les?

Question

i have a 1 year old filly and since i have had her her front legs bend a bit back,but they have gotten better to when i frist had her.is this a problem?or does it happen to most?and will they stright out? some times a strech her legs a bit and lunge her,what can i do to make them better.

Answer 1

There are some things you can do to encourage her to develop more structurally sound knees.

First, quit lungeing her...it could do irreparable harm

Have the farrier trim her toes as short as possible...long toes and low heels will cause the condition to get worse.

Clear this with your vet, and at some point you can begin exercises to strengthen the muscles of her forequarter.

Both hill climbing and trotting over cavallettis will work, but as I said, consult your vet before you begin these.  Keep any exercise sessions short, as she is more prone to injury if her muscles are fatigued.

This conformation makes it easy to strain the tendons and ligaments at the back of the knees, and to incur stress fractures in the undersized carpal bones.  With careful management, you can do quite a lot to improve her knees, and with poor management, you can destroy them premanently.

Answer 2

Can you post pics and are you graining her?

EDIT- ok thanks, please post pics of the whole entire leg too when you do, it will be easier to figure out.  Has she been vetted?  If so what did the vet say and is there rotation of the bones into the joints?

Answer 3

Sounds like she is Calf-Kneed, aka behind-at-the-knee. It is a leg conformational flaw but depending on the degree it might not be that bad. Can you post pics? Does she look like the one pictured as Calf-Kneed here?

http://www.horseinfo.com/info/faqs/faqco...

Edited To Add....Yes, you definately need to stop lungeing here. I personally doubt that a vet can apply a brace to a yearling, as I've only saw that done with small foals.

No yearling ever needs to be lunged but being back at the knee puts even more stress on that her knee joints than on a healthy knee joint. If she was mine, I'd get a vet out for X-rays and find out the full extint of the malfunction.

If she's just a little off everything might be OK if you baby her along, don't lunge, don't back until she's at least 4, and after that nothing too stressful on the knees, ie no jumping or barrel raceing ect.

The equine body is amazeing and can adjust to many things. I recall  beautiful Morgan Park Horse Gelding. An absolute perfect show horse but he was so far back at the knee every step looked like his legs would snap. They never did, he was extremly successful in the ring and last I heard was still going strong in his late teens.

We're not trying to say that your horse is "no good for anything" just that you'll need to be more careful with her. Get her vetted find out exactly where she is. It might not be enough off to even bother her once she's grown as long as she's just a regular riding horse.

Answer 4

This is one that you will have to take to the vet to get advice.  Depending on what you want the foal for and how severe it is this could be anything from a minor flaw to a major problem.  However a vet can put the foal in a brace that helps straighten the legs as they grow.  Whether it is worth the expense depends on your intentions and the severeity of the problem.

Answer 5

I agree with the other poster ... sounds like she is behind at the knee.. I have seen some yearlings get over this with time as their legs develop...

Honestly you shouldn't be lunging a yearling ... going in a circle puts alot of stress and strain on growing bones, tendons and muscles...

We don't even start working our horses until they are 2 1/2... what we do work on is ground work , leading, tieing, grooming .. basic manners.

Answer 6

Pics would help, but for heaven's sake please do not lunge a yearling!  That will NOT help matters.

Answer 7

Quit lunging her...that's for sure. That is too much stress on young legs. Take her for walks and teach her ground manners until she has those down perfect.

Other than that you should really talk to your vet and get your farrier involved to as corrective trimming can help.

Do you have pictures?