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HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Lameness » Joint, Bone, Ligament Diseases » Angular Limb Deformities in Foals » Premature foal with Carpal Vargus and filling in knee

Discussion on Premature foal with Carpal Vargus and filling in knee

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Scott Cherf
Member
Username: Cherf

Post Number: 4
Registered: 10-2003

Posted on Friday, Jun 18, 2004 - 10:24 pm:

Hi -

We have a 5 day old quarter horse colt born with a very noticable knock knee in his front legs. At first we thought it might be soft ligaments since he was born about 1 week premature, but today we noticed filling in his front left knee and now we're worried that the cause of his condition may have been trauma.

Unfortunately he was born in a pasture, we'd let the mare out for the morning and she foaled while we weren't watching her so we don't know if he was injured during birth.

Is filling in the knee a good indicator of trauma? We had thought that we would wait until he was at least two weeks old before considering any intervention, but the swelling and fluid in the knee concerns us.

Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: Dro

Post Number: 10651
Registered: 1-1997

Posted on Saturday, Jun 19, 2004 - 9:12 am:

Hello Scott,
There can be many different causes of swellings in the knees and for us to judge the significance we would need to both see and palpate the swelling. First if there is any lameness or bad conformation (knock knee?) issues the foal should be stall rested and the vet should be called immediately as damage to the joint may be ongoing. You may be right and this is trauma, trauma caused by the recurring use of a leg with angular deformity.
DrO

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