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  Discussion on P2 Misshaped
Author Message
Member:
Rhondahi

Posted on Friday, Dec 31, 2004 - 1:56 pm:

My 10mo old filly has flexor tendon contracture
with the popping in the fetlock as she walks. She also appears slightly lame. The vet did several x-rays, joint blocks, nerve blocks etc. He did find in one of the x-rays a problem with the P2. The x-ray that shows the problem was taken from directly behind the left rear hoof. The left side of the P2 was about a cm longer than the right side. He is baffled by her whole situation and is sending off the graphs to a specialist. My question is, since she is so young, is this just growing spurts or will that bone never change? Thank you.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Dec 31, 2004 - 4:31 pm:

No, simple growing spurts will not cause such uneven growth but a radiograph that is not taken correctly might cause such a distortion. Odd that you are not discussing angular deformities instead of flexural deformities with such a finding. When you look at the pastern and foot from the front does the foot angle off remarkably to the short side of the P2 bone?
DrO
Member:
Rhondahi

Posted on Monday, Jan 3, 2005 - 8:51 am:

The main problem is her popping fetlock. After reading your report, I took this to be a flexural deformity. When you look at her, it doesn't appear that anything is wrong with her legs. She gets better when she is in her run for a while but if I let her out to play in the pasture it starts popping again. Unfortunately I did not see the graqhs taken from the front angle but they were sent off to a specialist so I would assume that if it is an error in the shoot he would report that. I am so at a loss Dr. Oglesby, I bought this filly 4 months ago and she has had this popping from just after I brought her home, I feel like she must have went from a poor feeding program to a good one but I have cut her back and it doesn't seem to improve. They gave her the Tetracycline and that really did not improve her either. I sent the vet I am using your article because although he seems very knowledgable, he has had no direct experiance with the popping in the fetlock. If you have any suggestions for me, I would love to hear them. I will let you know when I get the results from the radiographs. Thank you!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Jan 3, 2005 - 1:26 pm:

No you are correct the fetlock popping forward most likely represents a flexural deformity, either the deep or superficial (or both) flexor units are shorter than they should be so the fetlock cannot settle back and be stable when standing. What I cannot understand is how P2 can be so sigoggled and the foot pastern and cannon line up when viewed from the front. We will wait for the second opinion before we worry about that.

As the article should explain, tetracycline is not effective in weanlings. You say you have cut back on feed. If you will give me the weight of the foal (by weight tape) expected size of foal as a adult and an exact accounting, including weight and time on pasture, of what you are feed now I would be glad to evaluate it.
DrO
Member:
Rhondahi

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 11, 2005 - 6:15 pm:

Hi Dr. O, well, the results of the radiograph came back and the Radioligist said that there is nothing on the film that would be causing her popping problem. He said even the P2 that is slightly irregular should not cause this. I haven't had a chance to get her measurements yet as I am in the middle of year end and I haven't seen daylight in a week. But I will get that this weekend and post it. As far as I am concerned, she just needs to grow out of this. I have had her in that run now for 31/2 months and I feel like I need to just let her out and let her grow. Of course feeding morning and evening and putting her up at night.
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