Boney leg injury

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Lunatic'srider

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Hi, I have a 16 hand thoroughbred mare who I team chase and hunt as well as a bit of everything else. She has done 4 team chases so far this season. At the grafton, which was her 2nd this season( on good ground compared to atherstone when it was still very hard) she developed a hard boney lump on the middle of her near hind slightly to the inside. It is about 2 inches long and under and inch wide. Immediately she showed no tenderness and there was no heat at all. She is very good at developing these sorts of things so I didn't think much of it. She then did 2 more team chases which she was great at and absolutely sound as a pound the next day. Since bicester last Sunday I gave her a few days off as she will have a bit of quiet time until next year. I rode her for the first time today and immediately she felt uncomfortable, which I am now putting down to a coronet band injury, but on arriving back to the yard this boney lump was raging hot and sore to touch. I cold hosed it and left her in, 2 hours later it was completely cold and not sore at all. Now confused as to what it could be and whether to investigate further. She is typically a very stubborn mare who will not admit to being in pain until she really can't bare it anymore. advice would be greatly appreciated . Thanks in advance
 
It didn't originally present itself as an injury, the horse was not sore, lame nor was it tender to touch or have any heat in it at all. There has been no heat or puffyness in it at all until I rode her today, and then it was really hot immediately afterwards and sore to touch but then after cold hosing returned to normal temperature quickly. I'm not sure as to whether it is a splint due to where it is on the leg.
 
I have had a tb produce an identical sounding lump on the outside, high cannon. My vet said it was an extosis, probably caused by a knock, and to ignore it.

I'm guessing your mare has knocked it again, hence the current heat. If she is still sore after the abscess has gone, I'd call the vet, but not before because there is so little you can do about it anyway at this stage if she team chased on it happily before.

There is stoic and stoic. A horse can't team chase on a broken leg :)
 
That was my immediate thought as well, sounds identical to your tb. That's what I thought, she tough, but she is not that tough. It's quite likely that she may have got herself in trouble in the field then combined with the brewing foot abscess it has made me think the worse-and feel guilty!! Thanks very much, I will keep an eye on it. In actual fact just received my video from Cotswolds teamchase and she hit the last fence hard with both back legs, so that can't have helped, glad I invested in good boots! Thand again!
 
Lunatic'srider said:
That was my immediate thought as well, sounds identical to your tb. That's what I thought, she tough, but she is not that tough. It's quite likely that she may have got herself in trouble in the field then combined with the brewing foot abscess it has made me think the worse-and feel guilty!! Thanks very much, I will keep an eye on it. In actual fact just received my video from Cotswolds teamchase and she hit the last fence hard with both back legs, so that can't have helped, glad I invested in good boots! Thand again!
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No problem :) I have had another with a more diffuse lump and slight lameness that was a sequestrum, where a chip of bone was loose on the x ray, and while plenty of people will tell you that will not heal and has to be removed, mine reabsorbed it with no problem. I would just err on the side of caution if the horse appears at all lame or if it stays hot, because if there is a sequestrum the bone will temporarily be weaker.
 
That gives me a lot more confidence, and makes me think it is most probably an extosis and hopefully not something more sinister! She will have a few quiet weeks now until the new year (especially with the absess) but will hopefully be able to do a few days hunting before the spring season. Thanks so much for your advice!she is my absolute pride and joy so I manage to always convince myself that she has done something really serious!
 
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