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  Discussion on Hind end weekness
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Member:
america

Posted on Tuesday, Apr 10, 2007 - 3:56 am:

A friend of mine has a Appaloosa mare that is a 8 year old that started shaking bad only in the hind legs as she backs and has swelling in her hind legs as well she move forward just fine this started about 9 months ago. She was with foal. The mare had the foal 3 weeks ago and would not let the foal nurse . She has had several foals before with no problem. The foal died after 2 days. I would say the mare is a little over wait and she is out in pasture daily. does anyone know what might be wrong here with this mare?
Member:
freshman

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 11, 2007 - 1:10 am:

I think that the hind limb lameness and the pregnancy/foal issue are probably two seperate problems, or at least I can't fathom how they might be related. Perhaps the mare became more uncomfortable in her hind end due to the excess weight of her pregnancy, but it doesn't follow that she would reject her foal.

Many mares are reluctant to allow a new foal to nurse, usually due to the pain associated with it nursing. It is necessary to restrain the mare in these cases so that the foal can nurse. Usually, the mare is becomes more and more comfortable as the bag is stripped, and the situation corrects itself. Of course, the mare should be checked to make sure that their is not more going on than some tenderness in the area, so the owner should examine the bag and milk some from it. This confirms that the mare does indeed have milk (not to be taken for granted) and that it is not discolored, foul, etc, which would indicate mastitis. Sometimes it is necessary to sedate the mare in order for her to let the foal nurse. The fact that the mare is a proven broodmare does not make her immune to this sort of foal rejection. The bottom line is that it takes swift and diligent care in these cases to ensure that the foal is able to consume colostrum in a timely manner and nurse on an appropriate schedule--as in every 2 hours. Otherwise, it is not surprising that the foal's condition deteriorated rapidly and that it died. Newborn foals can crash and burn really, really quickly.

I think that it is impossible to speculate about the mare's lameness problem without more information, and only a veterinarian can shed more light on it. The trembling in the hind limbs could be due to a generalized lack of fitness, a neurologic condition like EPM, etc, or just a pain reaction to some source of physical pain in her hind legs or back.

Please encourage your friend to have the mare examined by a veterinarian if her lameness continues. If she has any other mares that are due to foal this season or she plans to breed this mare back, perhaps you can suggest to her ways that could prevent the loss of future foals. There will be lots of great info and advice on this site! Good luck!
Member:
america

Posted on Wednesday, Apr 11, 2007 - 9:16 am:

thank you for your info. Karen Umphryes
New Member:
tobias

Posted on Wednesday, Sep 23, 2009 - 8:46 am:

I just vetted a 3 year old mare yesterday. She has been under saddle for 4 months but not ridden for the past 2 months. Basically she is very weak, out of shape and has no muscle on her. However she is a lovely mover and has all the right blood lines for dressage. The flexion test was excellent. She did not take one wrong step. However then the vet did some neurological testing and that did not go so well. He did the "spinning", put one hind foot over the other and pulled her tail as I walked her slowly. He said it might be that she is so young and has no muscle on her that she is like a gangly 12 year old that doesn't know where to put her feet. Or it could be something more serious. Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Sep 23, 2009 - 9:53 pm:

Hello Marina,
Without examining the horse we really cannot pass judgement on this horse and personally I believe you have to be very careful about interpreting subtle problems on these tests in a horse that moves in a coordinated manner when not being tested for more on this see Diseases of Horses » Nervous System » Incoordination, Weakness, Spasticity, Tremors » Diagnosing Incoordination, Ataxia and Weakness. However, weakness which you describe yourself, is a characteristic of a number of diseases. Our advice is to not buy a horse that is already showing signs of health problems unless you think the increased risk of the horse not meeting your goals worth while. Alternatively maybe they will let you work the horse for awhile so you can see what direction these problems are going in.
DrO

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