any ideas?

[yoho2]

i have a mystery regarding my 22 yr old mare. she came in from the field 4 months ago with a swollen foreleg, and was lame. We cold hosed, ice-tighted, bandaged and box-rested for 3 weeks-ish. She was then turned out in a small paddock on her own, we assumed she had damaged a tendon. Throughout this episode the other foreleg was also slightly 'puffy'. About 6 weeks ago the hair on the backs of her forelegs started coming off and has now grown back white. We still do not know what caused the initial injury, has anyone come across anything similar?

 

[vicster]

My horse had splints which were operated on as when he was younger he was a show cob and they could not go showing with those kinds of things - but he got an infection in the leg after the op and his hair came back white - i know it is not simmilar but something has obviously gon wrong there for the fur to grow back like that. Did you get the vet ou?

 

[AmyMay]

Sounds like you may have overbandaged.

 

[kerrylou123]

i agree with amymay!
My mare has bandage scars on her forlegs for that very reason. Nothing to do with me as it was before i had her.

 

[RachelB]

Yup I agree, classic sign of poor bandaging.

 

[yoho2]

this is going to sound very defensive but i really don't think it was the bandaging - i've been bandaging for years, and the white marks are stripes DOWN the backs of her tendons, not round the leg. Also, as she was weightbearing equally we only bandaged one leg for some time, but both legs are equally affected.

 

[Sparklet]

White hairs are because the hair folicle has been damaged. Perhaps she got herself trapped and scuffed the backs of her tendons causing damage but not in an obvious way. Being an older horse perhaps her skin does not heal as well.

 

[yoho2]

thank you, that sounds like a possible explanation, though what she got trapped in i have no idea!! she is no longer lame at all and we are considering bringing her back into work. It'll probably always be a bit of a mystery! thank you all for your solutions though.