hernia in foal

Sorry, not in a foal but my 2yo old had one. Less than one finger so has never been done but I'm thinking of having it banded this winter just to tidy it up. I bought her this year so don't know about in foals. How big is it? Is it like mine and a non medical issue? If so you can probably just leave it?
 
I dont know what you want people to say as you havent given any details about the hernia. Hernias come in many sizes. there are a few different ways to deal with them. Your vet will be your best adviser.
 
Well I did it and mine is just fine :) Like I say mine is less than one finger and on some days you can hardly see it so as long as the vet confirms it is really little it wouldn't stop me. As you mention if it upsets you to look at it can be banded. I certainly wouldn't write a nice horse off over a tiny one!
 
One of our foals had a small hernia and the vet advised it would settle down and become hardly noticeable which it did to my best memory, think it almost disappeared in fact, it was about 12years ago now :eek:
It certainly never caused him any trouble
 
A foal I bred had a hernia after being gelded, I found him the next day with loads of fatty tissue hanging round his hind legs. The vet came and pushed it all back in, stitched up and I had to keep foal and mum (as not weaned) in for a month which wasn't fun. However the same foal is now 16 and his hernia has never given any further complication. I hope this helps, but my advice is to ask your vet for a proper opinion as every case is different.
 
will go away in time alot of them, but if it is quite big and still really there when foal is 5mths, get vet to band it. make sure vet does it, as i have heard storys of people doing it as it looks simple put a band, but alot of people lost horses doing this themselves.
 
You really need to ask the vet, as some hernias can have gut poking through them which can be fatal so need fixing straight away. Banding is fine but all it does is get rid of the excess skin round the hernia - the hernia itself which is a tear/hole in the muscle wall will still be there. If it is very small, size of the end of your little finger for example, then they can be left and cause no problems - although if in a mare you can't breed from it, and I wouldn't breed from a colt that had had a hernia either.
It wouldn't put me off buying a youngster with a hernia unless you were wanting to breed at a later date, but I would ask the vet when you get a vetting done to see if it needs an op - as you could be looking at a couple of hundred pounds to fix it - so need to calculate that into the purchase price.
 
My homebred filly (now a strapping 6 yr old) was born with a hernia. It was a bit smaller than a golf ball. At about 9 months (after weaning) she went to horsepital and had simple surgery to fix it.

Never had any problems at all with the sight where it was.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top