I Give Up

[Zipper]

I have been looking for a mare and foal for three years. I finally found one that I liked and could afford and loved the foal at her side as I want to natural horsemanship and want to spend days out in the barn with the mare and foal and bond and all the stuff you see people doing with their foals.

I had her vet come down and needle the mare as she hadnt had any needles so I went to day and picked them up. It was so exciting.

I spent all afternoon with them.

My husband came home and looked at them and when he seen the foal asked what was wrong with its nose. I am so heartbroken as his upper jaw

has something wrong with it. I dont know what as he is 2 months old and has lived this long and the lady I bought them from didnt notice it either.

Tomorrow morning the mare and foal are going back. I cant do it if he has to be put down at a later date as his jaw is really off.

I cant believe my luck which I dont have great luck to begin with.

I got the image to post finally.

 

[Ann knight]

Awwww Cathy, I am so sorry for your heartbreak ! I can't imagine how sad you must be ......Ann

 

[Zipper]

 

[Mini Love]

Aww so sorry, is there a chance you can have it looked out to see how bad it is or fixable or if its something he can live with before sending him back? He looks to be a little old then 2 months by his teeth and thats a good sign, does he seem under weight? But then again I lean tords the ones in need or helped out LOL Maybe the seller could work out something with cost/price since he has issues? I hope things work out for the best for you. in my thoughts

 

[Jill]

I am so sorry

 

[Jill]

The picture wasn't there when I was typing above. Is his bite just off (underbite), or is also his jaw crooked? If he just has an underbite, that's not good for showing, but for being a pet and probably even driving when he's old enough, it will not be problem. I couldn't tell from the picture if it's just an underbite, or if there's more going on. Hoping for the best for sure!!!

 

[valshingle]

Looks almost like a wry bite to me. I've seen them in dogs, but never before in a horse.

Good luck!

 

[REO]

I'm so sorry!!! That looks like wry mouth to me.

 

[Mini Love]

Great info on wry-mouth and he is no where near as bad as these ... if that is what going on.. hows his mouth shaped when closed? can you tell when he is eating?

http://horseandman.com/medical/wry-mouth-not-a-death-sentence/

again I all ways look for the up side with issues

I am wishing you 2 the best

 

[Eagle]

wow Great article Mini Love

 

[mizbeth]

So sorry about this, but it is hard to tell by the photos whether it is underbite or if his jaw is off. Perhaps a photo with him standing and just his lips parted with your fingers. Side and front view. I'm sorry no one caught this. If he is as bad as the photo makes it look, it would be hard to miss by most anyone. I'm thinking it is just a bad photo and his mouth looks twisted due to the position he is sitting in.

If his jaw is truley off like this, this is also a sign of dwarfism.

 

[Eagle]

I hope you don't mind Zipper, I have posted the photo from your other thread for people to see. There are some great people on here who might be able to give you some good advice

 

[kaykay]

I feel so bad for you! Im shocked that the breeder didnt know? You can see that there is something wrong even without opening the mouth. I dont think he will need to be put down as I have seen much worse, but I agree on sending them back to the breeder if you can.

Be sure in the future to ask for pictures of bites, legs etc if you cant inspect them in person before buying.

 

[Genie]

Sorry you had this experience.

.

Poor little guy looks like his head is "off kilter". You must just feel terrible for the foal. Hopefully he finds a home.

 

[AnnaC]

I'm so sorry this has happened to you, and I'm extremely sorry for the little foal - I just hope he will find someone to care for him, or if his jaw is really bad then hopefully he will be humanely put to sleep.

What I cannot understand is why no-one noticed something that looks so 'off kilter'. The owner - well perhaps they were hoping it would not be noticed? But the vet??? Unless of course the owner told him that she had found someone to take care of him? (it was the owner's own vet I think you said, not a vet sent by you?) But you would have thought that someone would have noticed before your hubby did.

Please let us know what happens. Good luck with your search for a new mare - what are you hoping to do with a new mini once you find the right one? I rather presumed that you are interested in breeding, in which case this particular mare would not be a good investment if what the foal is suffering from proves to be genetic.

 

[Michelle@wescofarms]

That's a bummer.

I'm surprised the breeder didn't let you know in advance. That's just bad practice IMHO, and if she/he didn't know they have no business breeding. That's not a slight off-bite that could have been missed, etc.

I would highly recommend if you can have the vet inspect your mare/foal in the future.

Hope it works out for you.

 

[ohmt]

Very sorry for you and the little guy. I had a mare who had a wry nose-my grandmother rescued her as a foal when her breeder wanted to put her down because she wasn't perfect. She was the sweetest, most loving mare and never had any problems. We had her teeth floated once a year and she was good. Never had problems eating or keeping up weight. It's scary finding one of your horses has a 'deformity' but it's not the end of the world and in fact you may just love that horse more.

Here is our mare, Sweetie, pictured in her teens:

as you can see, her nose is much worse than your boys and she did just fine. If your boy does have a mild form of wry nose, there are very successful surgeries to fix them now if you do it early. It is more commonly seen in thoroughbreds and I read an article about the surgery on tb yearlings and 8 of them went on to race and the other 2 did not but did just fine as riding horses.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

I don't know what "needling" a horse is (vaccinations?) but find it difficult to believe no one noticed this. Good lord! Still, with the exception of his mouth he's a good looking little colt with a very kind eye and if you don't plan on breeding or showing I don't see why you couldn't keep him. I'd say the breeder owes you a big refund, but if she wants a home for him someone who just wants to bond with the horse and enjoy natural horsemanship games and such sounds ideal to me. He's clearly in good weight and according to that article has come through the most difficult part.

Leia

 

[ohmt]

P.s.-so far all studies I have read on wry nose, it is not believed to be genetic at this time. We had 6 full siblings to our wry nose mare and many many half and others with her same genetics and have never had another horse like her in over 30 years. I am not sure if what your boy has IS wry nose, but I thought I should throw that out there just in case.

 

[ohmt]

Well now I have to take back what I said-the article posted on here says it is genetically inherited. First one i've found that has said so though-i did a lot of research when I found out that what my 'Sweetie' had was wry mouth.