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Severe stunting- can she ever be normal?

78K views 477 replies 82 participants last post by  Endiku 
#1 · (Edited)
We have a very sad case today, a lovely little one year old Thoroughbred filly who we originally had as a foster from a local rescue. We had her from a little over a month old until she was about 5 months old, and in that time we noticed that she just really wasn't growing the way she should be. Her half brother, our now adopted colt Peppin- is 15.2hh and growing, while only about 15 months old. But in the time he was growing like a weed, she wasn't growing at all. In fact, from a month old until when she was adopted, she only grew 2 inches. Now we dont know a whole lot about this filly other than that she came from a breeder who had a bunch of sorry looking horses crammed into two small stalls at the racetrack, eating moldy hay. They were rescued when she was 3 weeks old (she was born in a stall with her dam and another large mare) and brought to us. We nursed her and her dam to good health, but her dam had a lot of problems with her hooves and had a massive stroke suddenly one day, killing her instantly and leaving Kenzie orphaned at 2 months old. We bucket fed her until she was 4 months old, put her on Nutrena, and she was adopted at 5 months.

She was adopted by a family that sounded great. They werent going to push her very fast and were ok if she never was sound enough to be more than a lead line horse for their children as she grew. However, when the rescue came to check on her last month, they found her in a pasture with no hay and minimal grass, all alone, and absolutely FULL of worms. She's skin and bones. Most shockingly though...she still has no grown. At one year and 3 months old, Kenzie (what we named her. She is now 'boom' according to the owner) is only 12.2hh, the same height as she was at 5 months old, which is the same as what she had been at four months old. The rescue ofcourse immediately took her back, and asked us to take her in again as a foster. She is horrifying to look at. She was seized two weeks ago and has since been wormed thoroughly, so her giant belly has gotten much smaller. She is still unloading worms however and is in quarentine with us. The more she lets go of, the more bones we can see. I'm disgusted. What I can't believe is her height though. Its very obviouse to me that she has been stunted...but I didnt even realize that a horse could be stunted so badly. And what I dont understand is why she was already showing signs of being stunted even when we had her...though she was on high quality food? Her dam was in poor shape when we got her...and I'm sure she was in even worse shape while pregnant, so maybe she was stunted then, and stunted again when her new owners didnt feed her right?

The rescue is having the vet doing a complete fecal and bloodwork done on her this week and she's going to be put on another round of wormer next week. I gave her half a tube of probios today, and we'll slowly introduce her to our feed schedual and unlimited Jiggs Costal hay and alfalfa. If we cant figure something out or if she'll never be anything but a pasture buddy, the rescue is seriously considering euthing her. At this point I dont think she'll be even close to riding sound and she just looks pathetic. Do you guys think there is any hope for her? Or will she stay this small the rest of her life? Its so sad, she looks so lost and like she feels terrible... :/ I dont see how someone could do this.

Add to that the fact that she's a conformational wreck and I wonder if its just cruel to let her keep living. She's had a horrible time of it.


Pictured this morning, right before we bought her home. IMO she looks much worse in person. According to the rescue they clipped her (we're blanketing her) because she was covered in matted fur and feces that appeared to be leftovers from her foal coat that did not shed. She has a nasty cut on her left shoulder as well, which is too old to be stitched but on the mend. The halter she's wearing fits my 34" miniature horse.




pictures of her before she was adopted while she was still with us at 5 months old. She was healthy but very small in these pictures. Same height as she is now.


and as a 1 month old, 11.3 hh again, healthy looking but small.


 
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#2 ·
Id give this baby time and feed her well. She looks malnourished. What kind of grain has she been eating? She has had a rough start in life. She may never be huge but she shows alot of growth potential yet that She has loads of time to spit out.

She was orphaned and born in a bad situation, been moved around a bunch...Give her time. Unless she has some actual genetic issue or disease that hinders her growth, IME, foals will grow and grow and catch up even up to 3 and 4 yos... Her leg shows she has alot of height to gain yet. Get her somewhere stable where she can stay for as long as possible, in with a momma or daddy figure horse, on some good high quality feed and forage and just give her time.
 
#3 · (Edited)
double post. Here are a few pictures of her a week after loosing mama, not in good condition and not eating well, but you can see how she doesnt loose her winter coat (this was late spring) and how her pasterns almost fold when she walks...and that she looks exactly the same now...only thinner.


Ignore the water, our farm flooded. click for video.
H-A-Handhalter019.mp4 video by asylumescapee95 | Photobucket









Trinity, thats probably half the problem. She's been moved around so much. From tiny stall to a rescue to quarentine with us to a pasture to another stall to a pasture when she was starved, back to the rescue, and now back with us- hopefully to stay for a while. Unfortunately we just cant assure her a forever home because we're barely staying afloat ourself. We can foster her for a while, but thats about it.

I dont know what she was eating at her old owners, but the rescue said that the other horses (a 3 and 9 year old) were eating all stock feed and cow hay. I'm assuming thats what she was getting >.>

We'll have her on a mix of Nutrena Mare and Foal and XTN per the vet's reccomendation, as well as rice bran slowly added and the probios. And unlimited Jiggs/alfalfa hay.
 
#4 ·
If her growth plates have not closed yet then she will still grow. How much she will grow though, is anyone's guess. She probably will not reach her genetic potential. I fostered a severely stunted 2 YO grade mare and she grew a little in the time I had her. An equally stunted Quarter Horse colt came in with my little mare and he was euthanized because he was double cryptorchid and didn't have the temperament to merit the expense of gelding him.


There might be a future as a lead line pony for her if she has a good temperament.

Sweet Firefly, before I took her home and made her fat. She was so sweet and is now in training to be someone's lead line pony. :)

 
#5 ·
Agree with Trinity here. I had two ex racers, who came to me as 3year olds and both grew 2" in the first 6 month off the track. She will grow, provided she eats well and has some stability in her life now.
Put her on alfalfa and a good youngster feed, make sure she has enough vitamins, minerals, protein, have her feet done, and, yes, a friend or two and lots of TLC......
 
#6 ·
Poor thing. She's sure had a rough go of it. I wouldn't worry about her height just yet. She's still young and still has a lot of time to grow. I wonder if, perhaps, the reason she hasn't grown is the lack of long-term good care. A few months of good feed between long instances of poor-to-nonexistent food wouldn't make up for what she was lacking. Her body was probably still working to get itself healthy before it began to grow. It just didn't have the chance.

IMHO, even if she never really grows much in stature, she will fill out as she grows older and may eventually make a suitable mount for a small rider or a child. At this point, I don't see any reason to euth her unless she's unsound/in pain for whatever reason.

If you could either continue to foster her or find her a good home where she will be taken care of properly, then I believe she should be given a chance.
 
#11 ·
Give her time she'll come around with good nutrition and care. I rescued a yearling paint colt that was skin and bones. Only as big as a four month old colt was a sorry looking sight he measured 12 hands tall. Hes now healthy strong 11 year old cant tell he was starved anymore. Grew to be 14.3 hands tall not huge but a nice size for my daughter.I will try and find a picture of him two days after i brought him home. When i find it i"ll post it here.
 
#12 ·
Thank you everyone for the advice and care. Kenzie (I refuse to call her Boom, I'm sorry xD) is now bedded down in a deep stall of straw. I decided to stay the night with her last night since she seemed to be very stressed, and she finally laid down at about 10pm but is now refusing to stand. I pushed her up onto her stomache and propped her up, but I think she's just entirely exhausted and doesn't feel like trying. I guess we'll have to change that.

I'm not going to bother with the farrier for a week or two right now, I'm pretty handy with the rasp so I'll do that but I really dont want to traumatize her further at this point. Once we have her settled in, gaining weight, and eating, we're going to help the rescue pay for her to get her teeth floated.

I don't have her in with any friends at the moment because its too risky. She has a runny nose, is still getting rid of worms ( a few live >.> we'll be starting another set of wormer soon ) and I really don't want to infect any of our horses since we have so many. Once she is rid of the worms and sniffled though, I'll probably bring either Bree in, hoping that they'll recognize eachother, or our 'Uncle Buddy' who has proven to be a good nurturing type gelding dispite the fact that he's our herd alpha. Once she's stable I'll also turn her out into a small paddock rather than this stall. I'm sure she's had enough of stalling for a lifetime.

What I'm worried about is her overall leg soundness. I can already tell that she's tied in at the knees, has extremely awkward pasterns, and very little bone. Her dam had a lot of problems with her hooves (very thin brittle walls, an old nail injury or something that didnt heal right, one club foot) and with tendonitis in both fronts when we brought her in, and we were actually going to euth her for that and the fact that she just couldn't gain wait well before she had a stroke. She had been lame from the day she came to us to the day she died, no matter what we did.

The vet told us to treat her as a weanling and a yearling at the same time, which is why he recommended the feed mixture. Because she was starved as a baby, she probably hasn't developed at all the way she was supposed to and needs the nutrience for that growth as well as normal yearling growth.

Just as a note, her dam was about 15.2-15.3 (we didnt ever really stick her) and her sire is supposively 16.2hh. Her half brother, our lovely colt Peppin, is string tested to grow to about 16.1hh.
 
#13 ·
Poor little thing! She could still grow with proper care and nutrition as everyone has said.

The QH filly I got as a teenager had been born to a dam that was starved during gestation. Gal grew just fine. My dad bred her when she was about 4 I guess (long time ago) and the filly, Scarlett, was just fine. Dad later bred her again when I was 20 or so. The little filly was darling - but at 1 year of age was only about 12 hh or less. This was a registered QH so I know there wasn't a "pony" in the family. She was well put together but just small. I sold her when she was about 15 months old to a little boy who loved that she was not a "big" horse. Don't know how she eventually out and I always attributed it to perhaps something in Gal because she had not come into the world with the best of nutrition.
 
#14 ·
What you just mentioned about her mom, typical TB problems. If taken care of, not so much of a problem, but it was obviously not done.
As your vet says, Kenzie needs nutrition, period. She will not reach her full potential in height, but I think her legs will straighten out once the necessary upholstery is there. My QH mare came to me 300lbs underweight with a "chicken chest", very narrow. Now in good weight, she's about twice as wide.
Weak pasterns...foals who are kept inside, on soft bedding, get like that. They need to move and eat right to strengthen. But they will.
Careful with worming, don't overwhelm her with chemicals in the state she's in right now.
UC Davis recommends straight alfalfa for starved horses, first little but often, going up to free choice within two weeks. They say no grains and supplements as it throws off metabolism since it's pretty fragile in a starved horse. She had grain, so I guess you could add that little by little.
Having a buddy will get her spirits up.
 
#16 ·
I had to go to church but just when to check on her again. She's still laying down but I had one of the boys help me flip her over onto her other side and prop her up again so that she doesn't get pressure sores or anything. She won't eat any grain but has eating a few pounds of hay so far and is drinking, which is good. I mixed electrolytes into her water and she seems to like it. If she isn't up by the end of today the OUR vet is going to come out. I like the rescue's vet but he isn't quite as knowledgable as I feel is neccesary for some cases such as this. I had her blanketed but she was sweating and has a slightly elevated temperature so I just took it off for now. I'm worried about her.

I'm going to try and make her a mash for dinner and see if I can't get some of that down her when I go out to feed Sour and Honor. I'm honestly wondering if she's in some sort of shock with the way she's behaving. I'm no expert though, so I really have no idea. The vet didn't seem overly worried but...I don't know.

If I can get her eating, I think what we'll do is the free choice hay (we unfortunately can't do straight alfalfa because its hard to get around here and our other TBs eat it as well. But I can give her as much as half and half. Our jiggs is high quality as well.) I'll start her at half a pound of Mare and Foal in the morning and half a pound of the other at night, and up it to one pound of each but not much more than that until she is much healthier. I'd like to get her where she can be out in the paddock to graze at will within a few weeks if she makes it.

I'm starting to suspect that she has thrush though. I cleaned her hooves and they smell raunchy, so I'll go ahead and treat that and possible pack it as well. She also has callouses on her legs and stomache. Don't they usually get that from laying on very hard surfaces if they're thin? The gash on her shoulder looks like it did a pretty good job of healing itself thankfully, and I'm just rubbing some wild honey into it to help with proud flesh (which is the stage its at right now) and I'll continue that as needed.

Poor thing looks so pitiful there...I really wish I could bring a friend in for her but its just not something we can risk. But what about a goat or a chicken? We have two goat kids (6 months old each) who get along well with horses, but I dont know much about their immunity. Both are routinely wormed but I'm just not sure...

If anyone knows of someone in Texas or somewhere near that would be willing to adopt a poor little neglected filly, feel free to contact me. What she needs most right now is a forever home. We can substitute and take care of her for now, but with 42 animals on the property and a training/therapy facility to run, we're short on people and I'm the only one that even has a little time to help her out. We can fix her basic needs but we just can't provide the love that she needs right now, unfortunately :/ I'm doing my best but I'm stretched tight as it is.

Thank you all for the uplifting stories about horses that made it through the odds. I only hope that little Kenzie can be added to that list of sucesses in a few years.
 
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#17 ·
Good idea getting your vet out. She is probably coming down with a cold, being young, malnourished and stressed out is THE opportunity for nasty bacteria or a virus.
Have hay, half and half will do, always available, tepid water will most likely make her drink even more.
Super slow with the mare&foal, it's a change of feed her gut bacteria has to get used to. Not that she ends up with diarrhea...last thing she needs now.
Ask you vet about injectable B-vitamins to get her appetite up.

If I was closer I'd take her in a heartbeat(not that I need another horse), but unfortunately ......
ETA: agree with cat....balancing her ration is very important to avoid too much growth, or she might end up with contracted tendons and clubfeet.
 
#19 ·
I think she needs a vet. She might need an IV with some fluids for a bit. They go down fast and once dehydrated it is hard to get them back without an IV. That might perk her up enough to stand and eat. She needs some seriously good quality food now. She is really a pretty little girl. Hope she does alright and can recover quickly. How sad is it that she has been through so much in her short little life. This little girl needs a break.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Should I be going slower than the half pound and half pound then? Maybe just one pound all together? Thats what I'm feeding my miniature horse mare, and I guess they probably weigh about the same pounds...Kenzie can't weigh more than 300 pounds or so.

I'll definitely my vet about the Vitamin B shots. We should also be getting her stool samples and blood panel back soon so that will be very helpful for knowing just what parasites and deficiencies she might be dealing with.

She had her coggins test back when we had her, but that was months ago. So I doubt she's been tested again since then. Yet another reason not to let her around the other horses. Do you guys have any opinions on the goats though? Or even chicken? Just something to be around her all of the time. And I'll see if we cant get her coggins tested when the vet is out.

I know she'll need a lot of vaccinations as well once she's better...this is going to be one expensive recovery. But, if we can make a difference for her, it will be well worth it.

I tried to feed her some mash a little while ago when I went out to feed my mare and filly, she ate a few handfulls and cleaned up another flake of hay, which is great. Not much water, but she drank some this morning and doesnt seem extremely dehydrated. Still refusing to get up though :/ I honestly don't know what to do. Its dangerous for her to be down this long isnt it? Should I spend another night with her?

Also, should I blanket or not blanket? It will be 40 tonight, and I'm not blanketing anyone else but they all have winter coats and are fat if anything.

Inga, the vet doesnt want to come out until tomorrow but I have a feeling they'll want to do IV fluids then. Her gums are pale pink, but pink. She drank one and a half bucket today, but I'm not sure how much she should have drank at this point. I did mix electrolytes into the water though.
 
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#21 ·
It's good that she's eating and drinking well, though not wanting to stand at all is concerning. It may just be that she is so weak that standing is difficult for her. Is he peeing and pooping? I would worry about scald if she's not standing to do that as it will get on her skin. The fact that she has calluses indicates that she's probably been spending a lot of time down anyway, so I wouldn't worry quite as much as I would if it was a normal, healthy horse who suddenly wasn't wanting to stand. At some point, as much as you don't want to be rough with a horse who's had a tough go of it, she has GOT to get up, for her own good, and you might see if you can motivate her to do so... either that or she should be turned from side to side every 2-4 hours around the clock. :(

If you can get her through this, she probably won't look outwardly better for a month or more, but rest assured her body is putting the calories to use inside, fixing her organs and immune system and balance. Once that's done, in a few months, she'll actually have everything inside fixed up enough to start growing on the outside where we can see it. Horses grow up to 4 and 5 years old- she may not ever be as tall as she might have been, but she's got plenty of time to put on size yet anyway.

I wouldn't feed anything but hay without double checking with your vet given that she's a 'down' horse at this point. But hay, hay and lots of water. She'll be in my thoughts. I don't think I'm anywhere near you in TX or I'd come out and lend a few day's labor to her cause.
 
#22 ·
She peed once today, no poop that I'm aware of. I immediately took up the straw that she soiled though. The last thing she needs is scald.

What is your suggestion on getting her to stand? I'm not strong enough to lift her myself, and the boys are all gone for the night. They'll be back at 6 am. I'm going to stay with her though and have a list of vet numbers to call if I need to. I'm able to roll her myself and I've done so three times today. She's flat out right now with her head on a blanket that I brought, and she's alert which is a good thing. For a few hours she was up on her stomache, but she doesnt seem interested in doing that anymore. I'd have to drag some bales of hay to prop her up again but I'm willing to do that if it will help.

Poor little gal is so sorry looking, but she's a total lover. She keeps trying to comfort nurse on my hand though, which I found a little odd. I wish she'd been able to kee her mama for longer, she'd probably be in much better shape :/

Vet is schedualled to come out tomorrow at around 8 am as one of his first rounds. He's all the way in Waller county though so tends to be late. Hopefully she pulls through at least that long...I'm very worried.

For what its worth, I contacted a vet tech friend of mine who is willing to do water through IV for her if anyone thinks that might help. Her skin is still fairly elastic, her gums are still pale pink, but her eyes are dull. She hasn't tried to eat anymore hay but its right by her if she wants it. My guess is that she has probably eated about 7 pounds today, give or take a little.

I've left her blanket off for now, and I'm keeping a log of her temperature and pulse just in case. Her temp reads 102.2 so just between the verge of being slightly elevated and dangerous at least according to what I've been taught, which might be wrong. It hasnt risen or fallen since she came here. We have a small stethescope in our veterinary kit which is coming in handy, I've been listening for gut sounds and to her lungs. To me they seem slightly rattly but I'm praying its just a cold and not pneumonia or something... I'm sure that laying down really isnt helping her either.
 
#23 ·
If she is flat out and not willing to get up, that is not a good sign for her survival. Horses are not made to stay in that position.

If she prefers to be in that position, but is ABLE to get up and proves it to me, that's one thing. If she's so weak she can't get up, she may not make the night. :( If that kid was in my barn, some not so pleasant 'persuasion' might be used at this point, starting with some solid kicks in the bum and going up from there. If she does get up, I'd keep her up and walk her slowly (just enough to keep her from laying down) for at least 15 minutes. The fact that she's not pooping is another sign something is seriously wrong, but gentle movement might get the gut moving.
 
#26 · (Edited)
She's sort of able to get up onto her stomach with some rocking, but in the time I've been here she hasn't tried getting up onto her feet whatsoever.

I'm going to try to get her up right now. I feel horrible doing anything to her, but I know that she's going to die if I can't get her up. I'm going to call my best friend right now to come help me if he can, to pull her up onto her feet and keep her up. Good thing in this situation is her size I guess...theres no way we could get a normal 700+ lb yearling up by ourselves. :/

I'm just so worried that I'm being selfish with this, wanting her to live so badly. We just had our beautiful Noah pass away last week, I can't bear the thought of another dying during the night...and on my birthday/christmas even of all things. My only prayer is that she makes it through the night until the vet gets here.
 
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