This is an archived Horseadvice.com Discussion. The parent article and menus are available on the navigation menu below:
HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Lameness » First Aid for the Lame Horse »
  Discussion on Mysterious non pain full swelling
Author Message

Posted on Monday, Jan 22, 2001 - 9:09 pm:

I am sure this topic has been discussed before in the HA, but I am not sure what it is called so I dont know what to look for. So here goes.
We are looking at buying a beautiful 2 year old paint mare from a good friend of my husbands. Last week he called and said that she had some swelling in her hind leg in the muscle mass just below her hip. He thought that she had gotton kicked by the other mares, and was going to watch it. He said she didnt seem to be bothering her at all, and it wasnt hot to touch. He said if it didnt go down he would poke it to see if there was blood, and if so call the vet. Well he poked and and a little blood was there so he took her to the vet. Without remembering the exact words from the vet this is what he told us. That it had something to do with the seperation of the tenants and that it could of been cause by either a kick or not. It formed a pocket in there to allow fluid to build up. They put a drain tube in it and gave her antibiotics. The vet said that this just sometimes happens, and that she should be sound. I was still a bit nervous about it so I asked a friend who is a 2nd year vet student, he too could not remember the proper name for it, but said that if they didnt have to do any type of surgery then yes she should be sound. We are purchasing this mare for a prespective barrel horse so I want to be sure. I know I am being vague on the info, but that is all I know about it. Dr. O can you make out anything from what I have told you here? Or has anyone else had this experience before? I am not sure if "seperation" of the tenants or muscles is correct or not. Please forgive my ignorence on this, we havent purchased her yet, so I havent seen the vet records or anything yet. But basicly it is swelling with no heat or soreness, and easily drained. thanks again

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 23, 2001 - 8:07 am:

There is not enough information for me to know exactly "what and where" but it is possible that fibrotic myopathy might be a concern from such a injury, see Disease: Lameness: Muscoskeletal: Fibrotic Myopathy.
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 24, 2001 - 2:29 pm:

Dr. O,
sorry for my delay is getting more information on this swelling. And I am not sure that the information I managed to aquire is good enough either, but here goes. I am not good at horse atatomy so I went to you pages here, and the best I can come up with between what my husband says the owner says. LOL (i am sure alot is lost in the translation from one to the other) Anyhow the swelling is in the area of the hind leg around the middle joint, in looking at the pics you have i would say it is where the tenants wrap at that joint, below the hip but above the knee, looks to me like it is right in the middle of what i would call the thigh area. This vet suposidly told the owner that this could of happened without an injury persay. That sometimes it just happens. Which in iteself is hard for me to beleive. But the owner again reinforced the fact that she is not limping or even walking stiff on the leg, he claims that she runs and does everything just like she did before the swelling. Again he said something about a "pocket" forming in there that aloud fluid to build. In my mind there has to be a reason for the "pocket" to start with. I am worried about this being an ongoing problem, now my husband (haha) again talked to one of his "good ole buddies" who said that happened to one of his horses once, said they drained it and they have not had any problems with the horse since. This horse is defanatly being purchased for speed events and I am just more nervous about it than my husband, ( i have enough brood mares. haha) hope the information helped some, if not then i will make a trip out there myself to talk to this vet.
Home Page | Top of Page | Join Us!
Horseadvice.com is a BBB Accredited Business. Click for the BBB Business Review of this Horse Training in Stokesdale NC