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  Discussion on All lower legs swallen, but without indication of pain
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New Member:
Lilou

Posted on Wednesday, Feb 16, 2005 - 3:14 pm:

Hello everyone! I am fairly new at the riding and the horse world so forgive me if i am not well informed on things.
I have a 12 year old Hannover mare named Lilly. I've had her for a year and a half and never had any serious health problems, as far as I know at least. We live in Greece and we work out every day. We go to competitions regularly.

This past Monday morning (February 14)I saw that all four of her legs were swollen in the area of the fetlock and downwards at the pastern and coronet (not the cannon bone).

I would like to give you a very short history:

SUNDAY morning – The workout program consisted of endurance flat work and some simple ground polls exercises; there was no jumping. I rode her for about one and a half (1,5) hours. This is not an unusual training for Lilly since she has a very good stamina, we do endurance once or twice a week, she never seems to want to stop and never gets extremely tired and her breathing always comes back to normal very fast. Sunday was also a warm day, about 16˚ Celsius, and she sweated a lot which was also not very unusual since she is not clipped. After the workout I gave her a quick shower and walked her for about one hour in the sun till she dried. I took her back in to her box and I gave her lunch. I would like to note here that I did two things at that point that I had never done before: a) since I had run out of Electrolytes I added 1 table spoon of regular cooking salt, in her oats, and b) for the first time I rubbed some Absorbine Gel on to her legs.

MONDAY morning – I saw that all four legs were swollen around the area of the fetlock. They were very warm and the swollen area was very soft. She didn’t react at the touch at all, and she didn’t seem to be in pain. Following the Greek vet’s instructions I walked her for about 20 minutes and then I let her loose in the paddock where she played, rolled and run for almost 30 minutes. All this time she was neither limping nor hearting. Later I washed down her legs with cold water and applied some cooling gel on the legs. I took her temperature and it was normal (37, 1˚ C). I also gave her the homeopathic medicine Arnica 30ch. The swelling did come down a little but was still obvious. In the afternoon the groom saw her and said that they were very swollen and he put bandages on.

TUESDAY morning – The swelling continues, slightly reduced. We worked out normally and immediately after the workout the swelling was gone. I gave her one more Arnica. Washed the legs with cold water and put some cooling gel on. In the afternoon the swelling was back but a lot less.

WEDNESDAY morning (today) – Same thing as yesterday; Legs were a bit swollen but after the workout, it was gone. Washed the legs with cold water and put some cooling gel on.

I was given many theories about this and I am very confused and worried. This had never happened before.

The vet said that it is probably because she worked hard on Sunday. But she works like that very often and sometimes even harder including jumping, and she has never had any problems. And even if it was from the workout, shouldn’t the swelling be gone by now, after three days? Shouldn’t the cannon bone also be swollen?

Another theory was that it could be a digestive disorder. However her diet has not changed lately and I am always very careful and preparing her meals myself.

I was also told that this could be a problem in the circulatory system and the heart. Or maybe the kidneys or the liver! I tried reading about all these scenarios and I can’t figure it out.

Looking forward to any advice or explanation you might have.

Thank you in advance.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Feb 17, 2005 - 7:00 am:

Hello Helen,
First we put in our standard disclamer about homeopathic medications: they provide no medical benefit.

There is no information in your post that explains why this is happening and there are certainly many possibilities so let me direct you to another topic that covers your case a bit better than this one, Equine Diseases » Skin Diseases » Swellings / Localized Infection / Abscesses » Diagnosing and Assessing Swellings in Horses. Also you cannot rule out work because of the length of time or the fact the cannons are not swollen.

But let me give you a little philosophy based on experience. These type swellings are extremely common in horses and while it could be associated with serious disease this is not likely without other signs. So relax, read the article see if something makes sense and treat it symptomatically if neccesary. The article above has links to such articles.
DrO
Member:
Lilou

Posted on Thursday, Feb 17, 2005 - 11:59 am:

Thank you so very much DrO. I read the above articles you suggested and i found them very helpful. I will follow the advices and I hope that she will get better. Thank you again for your help!
Helen
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