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Mare with stiff back hocks.

3K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  equus717 
#1 ·
PT my gray mare has a dropped hip but I noticed yesterday that she isn't bending her back right hock when she walks. I am wondering if there is anything that I can do for her. I am also asking my vet about this as this used to be her horse that she wanted to find a good home for. She has had her since she was a yearling. I flexed her hock yesterday and she walked off just fine. I am also looking into a good supplement for her but should I use something for the joints or something more that pertains to the legs and more specifically the hock area. Thanks guys for the info.
 
#3 ·
Her hip was broken as a yearling. My vet got her from her original owners that wanted to put her down but she had just gotten out of vet school and wanted to see if she could do something for her. She did surgery and it healed great but it didn't set at the right point so when you look at her her left hip is higher than the right hip. I had a friend of mine set her back because it was out of alignment but she is also carrying so I am not sure if the foal has something to do with it. Valerie my vet is going to let me know something when she gets back into town on Monday.
 
#4 ·
Sounds like a everything points to that hip, being in foal is only going to aggrevate any hip/leg issues she has, so I would be more supprised if something didn't start to bother her as the belly gets bigger and heavier.

During pregnancy, hormones cause things to loosen up a bit, including ligmaments that aren't to do with birthing, so she could just be having more trouble on account of that. This may be an indicator that this should be the last foal she carries if it's hard on her with that hip.

Being off balance, one hock or the other is going to be overused, so I would be wary of a bone spavin down the road, esp. if her conformation lends itself to it without the hip problem.

Other than good nutrition and mild exercise, not sure there's much you're going to be able to do besides offer a good chiro adjustment now and then and some massage therapy.
 
#5 ·
No she has great confo. I wouldn't of bred her if she didn't. My vet has only had her as a broodmare. No I do not breed my mares every year. When she foals out she will have about 2 years off. This foal will only be her fourth foal. I talked to her today she said that the cold nights might have something to do with it so I will be putting her up at night and turning her out in the morning and see if this makes a difference for her. Valerie thinks that this foal is probably going to be the biggest that she has carried. Her other foals only weighed about 90 lbs. Sky is producing foals that weigh between 100 and 110 lbs. at birth. Maggie weighed 110 lbs at birth and Caddo weighed 105 lbs at birth. She thinks that is probably contributing to the problem. PT is either 8 or 9 months along now. Not quite sure because we bred her in Feb. and again in March of this year. We are not sure when she took. I asked Valerie and she thinks that she took on the first breeding because of how big she is. My vet also thinks that she may be carrying twins again. We won't know until she foals. Going off of the first breeding it will put her foaling on Jan. 17, 2010 but if not then she will foal out on Feb. 15, 2010.
 
#7 ·
Yes I know that but I am not that concerned about her twinning she has twinned before. This vet is a great friend of mine. She is going off of what she looked like when she had her. I have had her palpated she can't feel the other one but that doesn't mean anything because when she twinned the first time she never knew she ultrasounded her and palpated the other foal was lying directly behind the other one the entire time. I am not concerned because I will be there for the delivery and also Valerie will be here as well as she wants to see what the horse (stallion) has produced with her. She was palpated about a month ago to check for twinning and to make sure that she is doing good. Everything is fine right now.
 
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