Ballerina syndrome

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fallenangel123

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Hi does anyone have any positive (or I suppose negative) experiances of this?
My miniature filly has been diagnosed with it during her present growth spurt. Her right front is just a bit upright, but her left fore is completely on her toe now. Sadly I have been trying to get my farrier out for the last three weeks and it has got gradually worse! Fortunately my old farrier who has moved fifty miles away has spoken to the vet and is going to come down and try toe extensions on her.

In the mean time I have taken them off the grass to try and cut some calories out, and put them onto rubber mats so she is on a firmer surface, but any other advice would be great!!
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My colt had this. It developed when he was around 3 months (ID x TB). The farrier had a look and said to get the vet who decided it best that he went to Rossdales for an examination.

Their initial suggestion was me to take him (& his mum) every week to visit their remedial farrier. This was not practical and we ended up having him operated on. It can be treated by a good farrier however.

I really think you should get your vet to take a look as it is important that this is treated sooner rather than later.
 
One of my boys ended up with it, restricted turn out, not too much bedding/rubber mats and get a good farrier in, and speak to the vet. Also cut down whatever the mare is getting, put her on poor hay etc, as you need to slow down the growth of the foal

I worked with both the vet and farrier very closely, and have had a really good result. Now you can hardly tell, mine had a toe extension on one side, it wasnt required on the other.

Dealing with it as quickly as possible really is key, so you need to get something done asap if its been noticable for 3 weeks. My boy literally changed overnight, was all quite a shock but it is managable! As said above if toe extensions dont work, you can try shockwave therapy, an injection (i think its oxytocin but its not 100% guarunteed), or surgery/stripping.

Wishing you the best of luck tho, its hard work, but worth it in the end!
 
My TBxSelle Francais foal developed this at 6 weeks old over a period of 10 days. The first line of treatment by our vet was a 3 day course of large amounts of tetracycline which relaxed the tendons initally but did not fully let her heels touch the ground. So with the help of an amazing remedial farrier who has pioneered 'imprint' shoes foaly was fitted with a pair of toe extensions and her heels were trimmed every week.After 3 weeks the toe extensions were removed and replaced and heels again trimmed every week .This has been repeated two more times and finally at the age of 4 months foaly is now well on the mend. Along with this mare and foal were only allowed out for an hour and a half each day with only a small amount of hay when they were in. I kept them in a large cattle pen that was partly covered with rubber mats so they had a very firm surface to move on. My advice is you must ,must get help ASAP from a vet who is knowledgeable about foals and a farrier who is experienced in using the new types of plastic toe extensions. It is a very expensive problem to sort out but it is amazing what can be done.
 
one of my liveries is a 13 year old gelding with ballerina foot. His breeder didn't bother doing anything - just turned him away and left him. My livery felt sorry for him a bought him. The horse has fantastic conformation apart from this one leg and on that he is so on his toe. He is extremely unlevel, his tendons on that leg are s tight if he messes around I am sure they will snap, he is stiff right through that shoulder. He is also prone to foot problems on the other fore - probably because of all the pressure he puts on the other side. He is likely to be PTS in the next year of so as he is definitley getting worse - he will never have had a days work in his life and he has probably never been totally pain free. Nothing can be done for him as he was left too long and everything has fused or compensated for his deformity. Had he had some care as a youngster he would have been a lovely horse but someone in their wisdom decided just turning him away was the solution.
 
Another thing is to feed at chest height rather than ground level. Many foals go up on one foot, and this is usually the one that they don't extend when grazing. Watch foals graze, and a lot of the time as they do the 'splits' grazing they favour one leg in front. Then they take a smaller step with the other before extending the favoured leg again. This stretches one legs tendons etc and not the other.

If they feed at ground level while in they are able to keep doing it, standing square in front whilst eating does help this.
 
Thanks for all this, nice to know I am going the right way. The vet is due in a couple of hours, and my old farrier, fortunately a good friend, has agreed to do the work on her. My regular guy can go fish, especially as he has made it worse by moving the appointment for three weeks!
I definitely see the logic in feeding at chest height, ironically I have Great Danes and never feed them from the floor for similar reasons! Duh!!!
Great to know there is light at the end of the tunnel for her!
 
we have had this in mild case in one that we bred, you need to work closely with vet and farrier but needs to be cuaght very quickly and done little and often so dont be surprised if they say every week. also like sid above you need to slow the growth down so no hard feed, poor hay etc. it is treatable but with careful work and patience.
 
Hmmm . . . interesting. I commented about the foals to the stud owner and when he told me they were both by ********, I did wonder about the genetic/hereditary thing as it seemed a bit too much of a coincidence that both foals were similarly affected (it wasn't a stallion belonging to that stud, I hasten to add)
 
Just an update on Blossom,She had an oxytocin drip yesterday and her heels are on the floor this morning, yeah! Farrier and vet booked for her next drip next week. She looks a little sorry for herself today so big cuddles for being brave. Mum not impressed with being on a diet either!
Interesting about it being genetic but as this is a first foal for both stallion and mare I may have to wait and see on that one.
 
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Just an update on Blossom,She had an oxytocin drip yesterday and her heels are on the floor this morning, yeah! Farrier and vet booked for her next drip next week. She looks a little sorry for herself today so big cuddles for being brave. Mum not impressed with being on a diet either!
Interesting about it being genetic but as this is a first foal for both stallion and mare I may have to wait and see on that one.

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would be oxytetracycline that she had not oxytocin
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Oxytocin is what they give broodmares to get rid of uterine fluid
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Great news on it working so fast you must be relieved
 
My 4 month old foal last year had this slightly over night, her heel was only slightly off the ground and only on one side. We weaned early as she was huge already (14hh). She was trimmed every 10 days initially, then every 2 weeks, then 3 weeks and now 4 weeks. She is now 14 months old and they are almost identical now, one just very slightly larger than the other but most people cannot notice even when i point it out.

Definitely regular trimming is the key, along with all feed fed from chest height (i hate haynets but we used them and it really helped). I also cut out all hard feed except for a handful of balancer and a mineral lick.

Best of luck, my vets were keen to operate / shoe my girl and I am so glad I persevered with the regular trimming.
 
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