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I have found that there is a great need for information
on how to help young horses with their many leg problems. Not only dwarf
miniature horses, but normal miniatures and big horses as well. I do not
claim to be an expert on horses or their legs by any means; however, I
have had a lot of experience with horses that have leg problems, and I
wanted to write down some of my experiences and include photographs, hoping
that it may be of some help to others out there seeking advice on leg
problems in horses. My first experience was with my little dwarf miniature horse, Tessa. I didn’t adopt her until she was nine months old; she had never had her hooves trimmed until the day we picked her up. |
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Tessa’s coronary bands were getting very close to the ground! I took her to my equine veterinarian, and he said that she needed to have surgery on both legs. He told me that he was going to insert metal screws into her legs and put her in braces for 6 weeks. I wish I had known about making these shoes when I first got little Tessa. I know I could have corrected her legs with the little * Magic Shoes*, and she would not have had to go through that awful surgery. Tessa is doing very well, however, arthritis seems to settle into the joints of dwarves at a very early age, and I think it is beneficial to start them on a joint supplement as soon as possible. It should have all three of these ingredients: Glucosamine, Chondroitin and MSM. |
 Tessa before surgery |
 Tessa 3 months after surgery |
 Tessa at age 8 |
 Tessa's front legs at the age of 15 years old |
When Tessa was about four
years old, I was asked if I would take another little dwarf; he was 12
days old and all of 10 pounds and 13 inches tall, I named him Little Bit.
The night he was born the owner of the mare took him and his Momma to
the vet clinic, because his legs were too weak to hold up his weight,
and he was too short to reach his Momma’s teats. The vet braced
all of his little legs and tubed him twice with the mare’s colostrum,
but told the owner that she did not expect him to live through the night.
Well, she was only the first of many vets that he would surprise in the
next three years! I am sorry to say that at 17 1/2 years old, life was just getting to hard for my sweet little Tessa. Arthritis was in every one of her joints and her front legs had become so very crippled up....she was very tired, weary...... I felt that I had to be strong for her, to give her my last gift of love and have my vet help her cross over the Rainbow Bridge. Rest in peace my sweet baby girl, we miss you Tessa Louise ..... 1/28/1996 - 6/19/2013 |
When I got Little Bit, the breeder had stopped bracing
his back legs, but as you can see in this picture, the tendons were still
very loose. |
 Little Bit at 14 days old |
 Little Bit at age 3 grazing with Tessa |
| Little Bit was walking on
the bulbs of his hooves instead of his hooves. But after about a month
and a half of trying to keep some little wooden shoes taped to his back
hooves, his back legs had gotten strong and the tendons had shrunk back
up to where they should be. His front legs were another story; Little
Bit’s fetlocks were very weak, especially the left one, and without
braces he would walk on the side of his hooves. When Little Bit was almost
3 months old he started getting a pressure sore on his left fetlock from
his braces, and I knew something else had to be done for him. I took him
to Texas A & M University and Dr. Honnas trimmed a lot off of his
hooves; they bled, but he said it had to be done. Then he used a heavy
mesh and a product called Technovit to make his hooves larger around at
the bottom. That was all it took to keep his little hooves from turning
over! That was the first time I had ever seen him standing without braces!
I just stood there and cried. But because the Technovit had sealed off
the entire bottom of his hooves, he started getting an infection in the
bulbs of his hooves, so the extensions had to be removed. |
| Shortly after my Little
Bit passed away, a friend of mine contacted me about a little eight-week-old
filly she had that was born with tendon laxity in all 4 of her legs. This
filly was actually walking on her fetlocks; her hooves were not even touching
the ground! For the first two weeks of her life she was at the vet clinic
because she was also a “sleeper” foal. The vet taped tongue
depressors to the bottom of her hooves, but once my friend got her home,
she could tell that this was no longer working, so she took her up to
Texas A & M. The vets there made her extensions like they had my Little
Bit, except the extensions were in the back of the hoof only. Here’s
a picture of the filly when she was about three weeks old, before they
had put any extensions on her hooves. |
 Fairy at 3 weeks of age |
 Fairy with a shoe glued to her left back hoof |
In this picture you can see that the tongue depressors
had helped her, especially the front legs, at least she was no longer
walking on her fetlocks, but she was still walking on the bulbs of her
heels. My friend felt that she just did not have the time and patience for this filly, so she gave her to me. That is when I took the Technovit extensions off of her and glued the little Magic Shoes to her hooves. About four weeks later I took her back up to A & M and Dr. Honnas trimmed all of her hooves again. When he stood her up this time, she was walking on all four hooves!! He was really surprised at how quickly she had gotten strong; four weeks is a lot less time than four to six months like he had thought it would take! I am very proud of Fairy’s progress! She is such a little sweetheart. Thank you Maxine for giving her to me! |
 Fairy at 3 months old, foot-loose & fancy-free! |
If you have a horse that you think might
benefit from the little *Magic Shoes*, please call me at or 832-217-0058
e-mail me at Copyright ©2000 Little Bit's *Magic Shoes* All rights
reserved |
| Links |
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You may also find the glue at: www.jeffersequine.com
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