Roachback ... Standing Under himself... Maybe??

[hsrascal]

Hello all -

I am new to the mini world and my first miniature is a bit of mystery conformation wise for me. I've had him about 3 weeks and he is an ultimate joy to own but he is underweight and wormy (maybe hay belly but I have $$$ on worms) To me, he seems to stand under himself when in pasture a lot and appears roachy in the back. I don't think he had an injuries but he's new to me so it's possible.

What he does have is severe thrush in his front left hoof. It is painful for him and being treated now. I didn't know until the farrier came out for him a few days ago

This is a picture of him from about... 3-4 months old.

Here you can kind of see the way he stands, though the sheet hides 90% of his body (sorry haven't had a chance to really attack him with a camera yet for a better shot of it).

Could a roach back appear out of that? He looks fine to me in the first photo and it's been less than 4 months...

Could it be his lack of weight making it look that way?

Do you think the pain in his front hooves causes the sucked back stance?

Anything obvious I'm missing here?

All opinions are welcome. I'd really like to show this guy and would hate for a serious conformation flaw to be a reality

Thanks!

 

[chandab]

You'll probably have to get a better picture of him to show what you are talking about. When you take the picture, get down to his level (usually kneeling works pretty good). Try for fairly square with one side or the other, or even a 3/4 side shot works pretty good (head/shoulder slightly closer to the camera than the hindquarters).

I can see he's standing under himself in the picture, but with the sheet on and the size of the picture, its hard to tell much else. Hard to tell with the grass, but to me it looks like he could use a trim, his front toes look long.

He looked to have pretty good conformation in the first picture (I'm no expert, so I'm not going to scrutinize the picture, but there don't seem to be any glaring faults). [Can't see from his fetlocks down, so there could be something going on there.]

Malnutrition (lack of weight) could probably affect how he stands, it affects so many things, so I imagine it would/could affect how he stands.

Oh, and welcome to the board.

 

[Minimor]

Was he down in weight when you got him, or has he lost it since you got him? He looks good in that first picture--no roach back there. He won't have just had a roach back pop up out of nowhere, but most definitely lack of weight can make a horse's back appear roached. I've seen it in a number of stavation cases--the back can look roached just because the spine is sticking up so prominantly; put some weight on that same horse and the back smooths out, proving it was never actually roached. Makes a HUGE difference having the bones all covered!!

He is standing under in the 2nd photo, but isn't in what I would call a sucked back stance (to me, such a stance would mean he's standing with his front feet out in front a bit and his weight shifted back). Normally a horse with a sore front foot will keep the foot out in front a bit to keep weight off of it. You see them stand under on the front feet when the hind feet (or all 4 feet) are painful--a horse with severe laminitic pain in all 4 feet will stand with all 4 feet bunched under himself in an attempt to distribute the weight and reduce pain in any one foot. (If the pain is only in the front feet, or worst in the front feet, he will rock back on the hind feet and have the front feet well out in front, putting weight only on the heels). It really looks to me as if your guy is just standing under--some horses like to stand this way and it's no indication that anything is wrong.

 

[hsrascal]

Yes I know a better picture is in order!

He was underweight when I got him, hidden by a lot of hair. I was actually more than anything roped into buying one when a barn buddy went to go pick up 2 others so I didn't even get to see him before he came home. They said if I didn't like him they'd buy him so I went with it. He also toes out reasonably up front, but I don't think it's related to the back thing.

His feet were done since that photo! He ended up in good hands, as long as he keeps the good attitude, he stays and gets everything the big horses get (In my "real" horse life I show APHA pleasure horses ;p)

To be honest I got him as a pet. Regardless of how he ends up looking, he will be gelded, loved, and shown in performance type classes etc. but I would love to know if I'm over analyzing him because I'm used to stock type halter or really seeing what I think I see.

....so the solution thus far is a better picture... LOL

 

[minie812]

Having rescued a few underweight and malnourished minis I can say that a couple I had looked roachedback but when weight was added to them they did not look it. Same with toeing out sometimes they are so thin in the front end they look it but get some weight on the front and they look much better.

 

[Magic]

Having rescued a few underweight and malnourished minis I can say that a couple I had looked roachedback but when weight was added to them they did not look it. Same with toeing out sometimes they are so thin in the front end they look it but get some weight on the front and they look much better.

I very much agree.

Also, he could be cold, being underweight (and is he clipped?) can make a horse "hunch up". Not sure where you are and in the pic it doesn't look terribly cold there (unlike here, brrr!) but that is just another idea to consider. From his initial picture it looks like he should be just fine once his weight is back up and his thrush has healed.

Btw, I once was a "big horse person" and now am almost exclusively a "mini person", and I know a lot of people who have done the same thing; these little ones are addictive. *grin* Have fun with your new boy, and welcome to the board!

 

[Furlow]

He looks like a beauty. Once he gets his weight back and healed up i think you will be proud of him.

 

[Charlotte]

Welcome to this special and wonderful little world. Your colt is lovely. In the blanketed picture he appears to be clipped and with just a sheet on? The gentleman holding him has a jacket on so I would suspect the colt is cold if he has no warm hair and no fat layer to keep him warm so he's standing hunched up.

He looks to weigh maybe a little over 100lbs so think of yourself and how you would need to be dressed to be warm doing whatever he is doing. Clipped and thin he is probably going to be cold if it's under 70 degrees.