Contracted Tendons/Ballerina Syndrome

[PennyJ]

Is anyone able to offer me any crumbs of comfort on this please?

I have 10 week old New Forest pony colt foal, who has been diagnosed with this and is currently having the oxytetracycline injections and has had toe extensions put on his front hooves this morning. We are heartbroken, not quite sure how we have found ourselves in this position, they have been part stabled throughout, hay weighed, no hard feed, non edible bedding. Still mum has done him "too well" or else there is something congenitally wrong with him, which actually seems to be the way the vet and farrier are starting to think.

Current treatment is a week on box rest for the 2 of them, mum being on laminitis rations of 1.5% bodyweight per day to try and bring down the quality and quanitity of her milk. If no improvement in his condition by next week then he is to be weaned. If still no improvement then I am starting to prepare myself for the worst, as what future will he have?

 

[Sportznight]

Pictures would help here!

What kind of bedding is he on? Rubber matting is preferable, he needs to get his heel down, not have it supported by shavings etc. Have you been given any kind of massage/stretching to do with him? How hard has the ground been with you this season? It's been so hard over here that any foal with a slight tendency to uprightness has had the issue exacerbated due to the hard ground not having any give. If the foal were mine, he'd be on the Bailey's Foal Assist - he needs the correct balance of protein and vits/mins for growth, but no calories, this is the best way to give him that support.

Good luck! All is not lost!!

 

[PennyJ]

On rubber mats with straw for the first month of his life, then rubber mats and aquamax (wood pellets), and as of tonight in a bigger stable over the road, he is on mats and thin layer of shavings.

Yes ground has been very hard, first proper rain for months was not until 12 June. Then we had quite a bit on and off so the grass grew, now it has gone dry again.

Haven't been given any exercises to do with him.
Prescribed diet by vet has been small handful foal creep pellets (in case he has to be weaned in a hurry next week) to which I have added D&H surelimb.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=67689

 

[PennyJ]

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=67689

Thanks Faracat, but I'd already read that as it came up in the results of a google search. I have been told that the operation does not have a good success rate, just as well, that is where mentally I had drawn "the line".

 

[JRR]

Here in the US we have two products, which ultimately do the same thing, FoalAide Paste and Rejuvenaide (made by Buckeye). The stuff is a freaking miracle in a tube/drench. It's the exactly correct balance of Cah with the Cu and Zn and Se that foals need. It WORKS.

If you know of the forum Chronicle of the Horse http://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=69 do a search for contracted tendons

We also have a product called 'Dynasplint' which is like a physical therapy contraption which you use for a couple of hours a day. It acts on the same principle as braces on teeth do.

And... I have seen two deep flexor tendon cutting surgeries personally and they have resolved the problem COMPLETELY. Don't be afraid of it. It works.

Good luck!

 

[Sportznight]

I believe that the Baileys Foal Assist is the same product as the Foal Aide Paste. The Foal Assist can work miracles and is available in a paste or liquid. Personally I would cut out the foal creep pellets, feed hay and foal assist. Is he better with the toe extensions?

 

[angrovestud]

o give you lots of hope our vet told us when Sylla developed similar probs she was 4 months born fine and then the rain came in August last year she was born on the 10 of April and her feet did the same we kept her as vet said no extensions turnout all day but concrete at night where her haylage was so she had to stand on hard she had very regular trims heels taken down so as she grew she came right we had farrier out every two weeks to begin with, she now has fab feet and you would never have known she went up.
good luck the vet told us the hardest thing you can do is do nothing and he was quiet right. even our farrier is very impressed with this advice.

 

[madlady]

My foal this year was born with quite severe ballerina syndrome - he was going right over onto the fronts of his hooves and there was no give in the tendon at all.

Within 3 days on the oxytetracyclene he looked a lot better but I did have to keep going in and helping him stretch his legs out as much as possible, he stayed on limited excercise for a good few weeks as the ground was very hard and then he was turned out in quite a soft field that has quite a bit of natural groundwater. He has been fine ever since. Also from the pics you have put up my foalie was completely vertical so he was stood right up on his tiptoes so that his tendons were vertical.

I would say see how he comes with the injections, I was amazed at how quickly they made a difference, also are you able to milk your mare off and restrict his milk intake slightly?

 

[Vetwrap]

I haven't read through all the replies and so might have got the wrong end of the stick - in which case, I apologise. My first horse was born with contracted tendons and had his check ligaments cut to drop the heel. He had a slight thickening under the knee, but never had a day's lameness because of it.

I don't know what modern treatments there are now, as this was about 24 years ago.

I wish you all the best with your foal.