Rescued Yearling. Very Underweight and Clunky Fetlocks!

[Libby83]

Hello, this is my first post here. I've owned horses for nearly 20 years so can safely say I know the basics...but I have recently acquired a rescued ISH yearling filly. At a guess she is around 16 months and standing at 14.2hh. She is very underweight and nervous although handling is coming on in leaps and bounds. She is currently stabled at night with daily turnout and I'm feeding as much good quality hay as she'll eat. I have introduced feeds of Alfa-A Oil twice daily. I have now had her for 10 days and I've noticed that she's quite upright in her hind pasterns and her fetlocks 'clunk' as she walks. I've had a youngster with contracted tendons before and I eventually lost him, I hope I'm not facing a potential similar problem again. I know I have to feed her up slowly to avoid problems but is there anything I can do to aid her fetlocks? Could it simply be to do with age, growth and the fact that she has been neglected? Is she likely to grow out of it?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Kat]

Get a vet to look at her. No point in expending time, money, energy and emotions getting her up to weight and well handled if she won't come right. Better to do the decent thing sooner rather than later.

 

[Goldenstar]

Do you mean she moving very close behind ?
If so this should reduce as she gains weight and strength .
I agree with the poster above you need some veterinary input at this stage .

 

[mynutmeg]

vet to look at the fetlocks, for weight highly recommend micronized linseed - I wasn't overly sure it was as good as the hype but tried it on my youngster as he was really getting too skinny and the difference it made to him is amazing and it has the major advantage of not overloading the babies on starches etc which can cause joint problems.