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| Discussion on Chronic Caster...Why? Problems? | |
| Author | Message |
| Member: fahren |
Posted on Tuesday, Jan 23, 2007 - 7:11 pm: Hi Dr O and Others,I have reed the other posts on casting and preventing casting but they did not answer my question. I have a 20 month old Belgian Warmblood colt, "Fahren". He is 16hh and about 900 lbs. I have had him since the last week in October 2006. In this time he has really cast himself where he needed help three times. The first time was in a 11 x 11 1/2 stall. Then we moved him to a 11 1/2 by 17 stall that he can go in and out of and he has cast himself twice. The last time was tonight. When he does this he has his legs up against the stall wall. I had previously been able to pull him around enough the first time for him to get a grip. The second time my husband and I flipped him using cotton ropes. This time I had to call my friends who are bigger and stronger then me as his hind legs were up at almost an 80 degree angle and his front legs were tucked close to his body and up against the wall and floor, his neck was stretched flat out. My friend was able to drag him backwards and away from the wall. He had trouble getting up because it seemed his hind leg was asleep. When he has been cast he does not help himself at all. He is very calm and just lies there. He does not care what you do ropes pulling etc. My friend used to have to manhandle cows, so this seemed to be on the same lines. Fahren also lies down for very long periods of time to where I feel that I should intervene and have him get up (it is not uncommon for him to be down in the same spot from 8 am till 2 pm) He flails around like a newborn giraffe when he gets up. He always seems to have a hard time. I know he is young, growing etc and likes his naps, but I dont think it is normal that he gets stuck so often. I think he is week behind and that might be why he has trouble getting up? This is my colt with the Juvenile bone spavin. He also had had some overgrowth that was no longer a problem, but when I got him he had been kept VEERY thin and had no muscle tone. He was at a point where the vet said it was ok to bring him back to normal weight and he has been getting stronger and just recently has been having an easier time getting up. Why do you think he has these problems or is it just that he is big, clumsy and lazy? Thanks Zoe 
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| Moderator: DrO |
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| Member: fahren |
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| Moderator: DrO |
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| Member: fahren |
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| Member: shanson |
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| Member: fahren |
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| Member: jmarie |
Posted on Thursday, Jan 25, 2007 - 6:57 pm: I may be off the mark here, but I had this problem with my Paint gelding when he was the same age. We went through three severe castings in four days before he figured out that he was too big to roll all the way over in his stall. In our case the problem was that he'd been moved from a much larger foaling stall to a regular box stall and had, simultaneously, shot up from little guy to big guy. It took him a while to realize that. I put up a casting strip, which helped, and he has never cast himself since. That's 8 years cast-free, though he's made rolling an Olympic-level sport. I wonder if some horses are just a little slower on the uptake than others.
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| Member: mcbizz |
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| Member: jmarie |
Posted on Friday, Jan 26, 2007 - 9:01 am: Carolyn, you really brought back a flash of memory with that dog story! My in-laws once bought an Irish Setter puppy who spent happy hours under the glass-topped coffee table for his first year or so. He grew unusually rapidly, however, topping out at over 100 lbs. He still slept under the table, and managed daily to jump up and whack his head on the glass. Daily! He lived for nine years and never figured out that he'd outgrown the table.
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| Member: fahren |
Posted on Sunday, Jan 28, 2007 - 8:43 pm: I think that it most likely is the great dane puppy synDrOme in a horse. He IS too big to roll over in his stall
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