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March 2008 • VOLUME 31 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine
Springtime and Foaling are upon us.
In that spirit we investigate what is the common denominator in suspensory problems, atrophied muscles, future performance and movement problems with foals? It may be the same common denominator that can happen with undue care and attention with cinching and girthing problems, what you need to know to ensure that you are not creating thoracic and possible suspensory problems with your horses.
Green grass pushing its way through the dark soil. The first flowers unfurl. Insects begin to buzz.
The sun changes and where, before, a light almost bitter blue imbued the air, now a golden haze embodies the day.
This is the time that we look to see life reappearing.
Foaling is always an exciting time, whether you have one mare at home, or a breeding farm with many mares ready to foal. It is a time for joy. A cumulation of an eleven month long anticipatory wait. Dreams of the beautiful foal that is to come. Dreams of what they each will grow up to be. The incredible power, the beauty that we can capture between legs and hands.
But foaling is not always about triumph, sometimes it is about despair. When all the preparations and the most careful thought out plans result in tragedy.
Baby monitors set, video cameras dragged into stalls. Stalls cleaned to perfection several times a day. Straw thickly laid to provide a soft comfortable mattress for the foal that is to come. Sleepless night, of listening to the baby monitor. Afraid you are going to miss that very special moment.
But sometimes the very best just doesn’t seem good enough. Many things can go wrong, a broodmare’s owners nightmare. Problems that can mean the end of all those incredible hopes and dreams in a moment, or problems that will might make the dream a distant reality in that horse’s lifetime. A silent problem that may not be noticed for years to come. One such problem is the incidence of problems in thoracic trauma.
Thoracic trauma and rib injuries is something that we have just recently given attention to and is possibly more prevalent than we realized. Especially in foals.
We have to question .....
How prevalent are rib injuries in foals?
What might be the possible long term problems associated with foal rib injuries?
What are the possible contributing factors to this probem?
Is there anything that we can do to protect our foals?
Do we see similar problems in mature horses and when?
The Livestock Disease Diagnostic Center in Kentucky reported that rib fractures were
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