Anyway, this filly had one front leg bent back when being born, the breeder was able to get her leg out in front of her and get her delivered, but it took her a long time, and she had to pull very hard on her legs. The filly had very crooked front legs, her knees were swollen and she was over at the knees. She also had tendon laxity in her back legs which left her walking on the bulbs of her heels instead of her hooves. The vet trimmed the "baby slippers" off of her hooves when she was about 12 hours old, but this is what her back legs and hooves looked like when she was only 21 days old.
I took her up to Texas A & M to have Dr. Honnas trim her for me, thinking that perhaps she would still have to wear the shoes after her trim, but as you can see in the next picture, she was up on her hooves perfectly and did not have to wear her shoes!
 Toy's front legs & hooves before her trim |
 Toy's front legs & hooves after her trim |
Toy after her trim at 21 days of age.
It is my opinion and Dr. Honnas', that many farriers are not nearly
aggressive enough when trimming foal's hooves. I took my camera with
me and took step by step photos of Toy's trim.
I am including these pictures in hopes that it will help people and
farriers to trim their foal's hooves correctly; as you can see it can
make a world of difference in these babies!
Toy's
Hoof Trim
Now if Toy had also been rolling over to the side of her hooves, I am
sure she would have had to wear shoes, but she would have still needed
to be trimmed correctly, like this, before the shoes were applied to
her hooves.
Toy is not over at the knees nearly as much now at 3 months of age,
and she is still up on her back hooves perfectly.
Update on Toy: 1/2006
As little Toy matured, it become obvious that she is indeed
an Achondroplasia type dwarf. She has continued having some problems
with her tendons contracting in her front legs, especially the right
one. Her heels grow at a very fast rate, but not her toes, and I have
to admit that I was not aggressive enough in keeping her heels lowered
on her right front hoof, but the left hoof was doing fine!
 Toy at 7 months old November 2005 |
Here's a picture of Toy's front legs before I made a toe extension on the right front hoof with the SuperFast glue. As you can see, the left hoof had improved greatly!
 January 2006 |
 Here is her right front hoof with the extension on. |
After 1 week of having the toe extension on, I took Toy back up to Texas A & M and asked Dr. Honnas to trim her hooves for me again. He lowered her heels on the front hooves, but left the toe extension on, and said to leave it on for a couple more weeks. I think applying the toe extension before taking much of any heels off for a week, was good; as it was a more gradual change for her
 Toy's right front hoof with her heels lowered and the toe extension still on. She is continuing to improve. |