Monday, July 24, 2017

Baby's First Vet Bill


Now upon first glance the picture looks like baby Z is just resting his hind fetlock. But as soon as he started walking he dragged it behind him rather alarmingly. 

I had never seen or heard of it, and neither had CJ. She was afraid he broke his pelvis. Luckily this was not the case. While waiting for the vet I posted on one of my fb groups and quite a few people said it was locked stifle. I spent a few monutes googling and it seemed like that to me too.

The vet confirmed the diagnosis and told
Me its common in young horses. The medial tendon that supports the patella was loose and slipping. The vet gave him some IV bute and told me to bute him over the next few days then start exercising him to build up muscle and tighten the tendon. 

He immediately went back to normal! So I guess baby horse has to start "working" a little earlier than I wanted. We will just be handwalking hills, he has a lot more growing up to do before I get too crazy with his work.

6 comments:

  1. Wow Scary!!! glad he is ok, I have never heard of that either. -Kelly @ HunkyHanoverian.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. OMG that is scary! I would have thought the worst!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Aww that is scary. Did they say if it will effect him throughout life? I know that can sometimes be the case with locking stifle.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Definitely heard of it, never experienced it first hand

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yikes. Glad some exercise should help resolve.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Whoa! I have never heard of this. Thanks for sharing. I would be completely freaked if it happened to my horse. Glad you horse is okay.

    ReplyDelete