rpreast - 2018-04-12 1:25 PM We used an oral supplement called Rejuvenaide for our colt with contracted tendons. We had to drench her with it, I think for 2 weeks. Helped her a ton! http://www.prognutrition.com/pn/products/foal-supplements/rejuvenai...
I agree with Rejuvenaide but haven't had to use it often. I was impressed though and gave it to my colt that had joint ill this summer and just wasn't very thrifty. I have to say, after reading the improvement that I would be optimistic the foal will come around. 

CEFERG - 2018-04-12 11:58 AM We had a foal born on Monday that has some issues and I was hoping maybe someone on here has experienced these symptoms and has some ideas or advice. Please note we have been breeding horses our whole lives and we aren't the types to fight mother nature and have the attitude that what will be will be so please no criticizing our choices regarding this sweet girl; as long as she is trying we are trying. A little background: this is this mares 7th foal, we have never had to assist in a delivery other then she retains placenta almost every year and we deal with that accordingly. The last 4 foals have been born 14-19 days early with no signs she is going to foal (except she makes bag at least a month before foaling and she looks like a milk cow). All babies are big, strong, healthy and running by the time we realized she has foaled. So on to this years baby. Mare wasn't due until the 17th but we've been watching her close for about a month, everything was going as normal for her. April9th she started foaling at 1:50pm on Monday afternoon, water bag presented at 2:00 and foal on the ground by 2:10. She was born outside in the snow because I had turned the mare out for exercise 2hrs before but temps were above zero so let her foal where she was comfortable instead of stressing her out while trying to deliver. Foal was very alert and trying to get up within 10minutes. Mare had absolutely zero interest in mothering her (very out of the norm for this mare - she is usually very protective if you tried handling her baby in the first couple days in the past). I could tell right away she was small for being close to full term. Within half an hour I knew something wasn't quite right she was trying so hard to get up but just couldn't get balanced - further examination discovered she has severely contracted tendons on both front pasterns and a hind pastern and was trying to stand almost on the fronts of her hooves. I struggled with her for a couple hours when I finally gave up and milked the mare and bottle fed her. We gave her a shot of Oxy Tetracycline, Thiamine and Dex at 2.5hrs old as per vet instruction for the contracted tendons. Another thing we noticed is her eyes were sunk in, almost rolled down in her sockets, very bloodshot in the whites of her eyes and the skin surrounding her eyes, and her eyes are almost a green color (she is a light palomino). Our vet obviously didn't give her a very good prognosis but said the first 24hrs will be a telling sign. So fast forward a bit, we milked the mare and bottle fed her laying down every hour and a half for the first 12hrs, at about 12hrs old she was able to stand with assistance to suck from a bottle, 12-24hrs old she was showing interest in nursing from the mare but wasn't balanced enough to latch on. 24-28hrs we worked with her to latch and after she was showing signs of exhaustion from trying we would resort to the bottle. By about 30hrs we got her nursing from the mare but would have to help her find the nipple and balance. 36-48hrs we thought she was going down hill because every time we would get her up to nurse (every 2hrs) she had no interest and seemed very tired BUT turns out she was getting up on her own to nurse while we weren't there! lol So after this long story this is where we are at: she is fully nursing on her own with no help from us, front left pastern has relaxed and she is now walking on her hoof properly (still a little tension), front right pastern has relaxed slightly and is now walking on a tip toe but her leg is tight from forearm down when she is standing and isn't bending at the knee while walking (can bend it while laying down), hind right pastern has relaxed to walking on her hoof but its still tense through pastern. Her eyes aren't as rolled down but still red in the whites and pigment still appears a green/brown color. We are certain she is "premature" as she has a very light coat (compared to our other foals being born with full winter coats, its still winter in Canada!) and she is definitely small. If she wasn't fighting so hard we would have put her down by now but she certainly has the try to keep going. We are giving her another full round of shots today for the tendons and have our farrier coming to check her out today who has a ton of experience in early development. So after this lengthy story has anyone dealt with this? Any ideas what else we can do to help her along? Suggestions about her eyes? I am going to try posting pictures but not going to guarantee I will get them to work! lol the pictures in the snow are when she was first born and pictures in a stall are from yesterday.

CEFERG - 2018-04-17 12:05 AM

Thank you everyone for the replies, advise and or messages.
Unfortunately we had to put this sweet girl down today. It became very evident over the weekend that she had lost all sight in both eyes. She became very confused and upset anytime she was standing and her mom wasn't touching her in some way. Yesterday we noticed she was developing an infection in both eyes and we decided that it just wasn't worth putting her through anymore pain. She was a real fighter though and so disappointed that things ended this way when everything else was looking really positive.