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  Discussion on Big knee - no lameness
Author Message
Member:
Frances

Posted on Monday, Sep 18, 2006 - 7:07 am:

Dear DrO, & others,

My horse came up with a swollen right knee last Wednesday. The swelling was soft and continued down the lower foreleg; there was some heat, but she was sound.

I rang the vet who told me to put her on daily Bute IV and handwalking, then see how she was in a couple of days. She was a lot better by then but I handwalked her the next day as well anyway, and on Saturday my trainer thought I should ride her (walk only) and reduce the Bute to 1 gram daily given orally. On Sunday I rode her out on a trail (walk only).

It seems to me that the improvement has reached a plateau - she's much better than she was, still not in the least lame, but the knee and leg are still bigger and warmer than the opposite foreleg is.

Anything else/different we should be doing? We have upped the Bute to 2 grams orally and gone back to icing the knee. Is riding in walk rather than handwalking a mistake? I was expecting a slow but continuing improvement - maybe that's not how it goes?

I should perhaps mention (although I can't see any connection) that the mare had a long but superficial cut around the right hock one day before the swollen knee. Totally sound, moving well, and we have been spraying it with oxytetracyline every day.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.
Member:
Mrose

Posted on Monday, Sep 18, 2006 - 10:27 am:

Are you very sure there is no small puncture wound anywhere around the knee? Or, anything that looks like a bite?
Member:
Frances

Posted on Monday, Sep 18, 2006 - 12:09 pm:

Thanks Sara, I hadn't thought of that. I'll have a good look in the morning - wouldn't there be pain though if it was a bite?
Member:
Mrose

Posted on Monday, Sep 18, 2006 - 3:26 pm:

Not necessarily. One of our mares got stung in two different places on the inside of her hock by a wasp. Her hock was very swollen, esp. on the inside, but she didn't show any signs of pain. Looking very closely, I could see two small holes where she was bit and a little bit of serum leaking from them. Unless you were really looking, you'd never see the bites.

I cold hosed her for quite a while two days in a row, and it went down. After 3 or 4 days the swelling was totally gone.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 - 6:20 am:

After a thorough exam for a wound, and addressing any issues that exam brings up, you just need to be patient. The one extra thing you could try is pressure bandaging in the stall at night but in the long run probably not necessary.

Without lameness I see no problem with riding unless it worsens the swelling. To get the knee requires you stack a bandage and for more on this see Diseases of Horses » First Aid » Bandaging Horses.
DrO
Member:
Frances

Posted on Wednesday, Sep 20, 2006 - 9:21 am:

The swelling was down yesterday and again today - tendon definition in the lower leg has returned and the knee is almost back to size - just a little heat left in it.

I couldn't see any signs of a puncture wound or stings, but it's very difficult without clipping the knee.

I've reduced the Bute back to 1 gram daily, and started a little trot today.

Thanks very much Sara and DrO.
New Member:
cramer

Posted on Friday, May 22, 2009 - 10:22 am:

My 20 y/o Quarterhorse mare developed a sudden onset, what I could best describe as an encapsulated swelling, mostly to her anterior knee and smaller, softer of the same bilaterally. The anterior nodule has become larger and harder, the lateral nodules are soft and all appear to be nontender.

Pain is elicited when her leg is hyperflexed and she has a 50% limitation in range of motion has been affected. She is not lame, although there has been transient lameness after loping and bucking in the ring.

She has been worked as a cattle horse in her past life, and ridden sparingly over the winter. A friend rode her within 2 weeks before on the trail and said she seemed to moving a little on the gimpy side, which she attributed to needing new shoes. She was set out to pasture until I noticed the swelling within the next two weeks.

As an aside, I also found a hoof print to her ribcage.

Any thoughts?
Member:
mrose

Posted on Friday, May 22, 2009 - 11:20 am:

Andrea, I'd say chances are strong she got kicked in the knee as well as the rib cage if this came on suddenly. I'd examine the knee to make sure there aren't any openings in the skin - cuts or puncture wounds, as if infection gets into a joint it can be a really major problem.

An x-ray would help diagnose. If she has limited range of movement and swelling it could be anything from arthritis to a chipped knee cap or worse. Until you can get the vet, I'd cold hose it for about 10 mins. several times a day. It's really difficult to give advise when you aren't sure what the problem is.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, May 25, 2009 - 8:26 am:

Hello Andrea,
have you had the knee radiographed? From your description of limited mobility I am fairly sure under all the changes you see on the surface you are going to find some remarkable arthritis within the knee itself. As to the surface swellings the hard ones are likely bony exostosis, the soft ones have several possibilities and you will find them described in the parent article to this discussion. You can access the article Overview of Lameness of the Knee (Carpus) off the navigation bar at the top of the page.

Note that the article is followed by a list of discussions and a New Discussion button at the bottom of the list. When posting a question about your horse it is better to start a new discussion rather than interrupting someone else's discussion. It helps us keep organized and you get more and quicker responses. Thanks.
DrO
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