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  Discussion on Stocking up after minor injury?
Author Message
New Member:
easia

Posted on Thursday, Oct 7, 2010 - 8:56 am:

I am a new horse owner, I bought my first horse 4 months ago. I have seen a lot of posts similar to mine, but not exactly the same. About 3 weeks ago, I went to the barn to find that my horse's right hind leg was extremely swollen from hock to hoof. On advice from my trainer, I cold hosed the leg, and walked him and the swelling went down a bit. By the next day, what appeared to be a minor wound on the side of the leg about three inches below the hock had opened up and was draining pus and blood. We wrapped it for several days, and the vet put him on antibiotics for two weeks and the wound seemed to be healing nicely. At this point there is a small scab that is barely visible. I thought everything was fine, because when I would come to ride in the afternoon or evening the leg looked completely normal, however the barn manager mentioned that the leg was somewhat swollen in the morning after being in his stall all night. He goes out 7 days a week from about 8am to 5pm, and I know the swelling goes down within an hour of being turned out. Throughout the horse has been completely sound.

For the past week, I have stopped in at the barn on my way to work in the morning, and the swelling never seems any different. Doesn't matter if he was ridden the day before or not. It is swollen enough that you cannot see the fine structures of the lower leg, but when measured the leg is only about 1/2 inch larger than the one on the left.

When I spoke with my vet, she was not concerned since the swelling goes down right away. After reading other posts on this site however, I am concerned that perhaps there is still some low level infection in the leg, and/or that this swelling may become permanent due to loss of elasticity. Is this a normal part of the healing process, or should I be concerned?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Oct 7, 2010 - 5:03 pm:

Welcome easia,
It is normal for a leg that has had a remarkable inflammatory event and swelling to stock up for awhile afterward. The article on Stocking Up discusses this in more detail.

The question is whether you should poultice this at night to prevent further loss of tissue elasticity in the leg. It may help keep this from becoming a chronic event but from your description of the mildness it may in time disappear on its own.
DrO
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