Check Ligament Injury

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gracee

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Hi, a few days ago I noticed that my horse has a slight swelling under the knee on his front right leg which i kept an eye on however, his legs has recently been stocking up so I thought that it may have been this. I then schooled him and when i got off I cold hosed it as it didn't go down with exercise. Then I turned him out and this morning it has swollen further down and its quite hot but he is not lame. I've walked him on it lightly and cold hosed it. Someone has looked at it for me and said that he may have just twisted his check ligament as he is playing a lot in the field. Does anyone have any advise on how to treat this? or any experience with it?
I was going to cold hose it and ice the leg 3-4 times a day and hope that it will go down.
 
If it is a check ligament injury it needs careful treatment, a vet will want to scan to confirm and see how bad the damage is. They are not always lame or it may just be very slight.
Cold water or ice therapy, total rest, probably box or restricted turnout area. It can take some time to repair fully, my friends horse promptly did the other leg once recovered forcing early retirement.
 
Vet help - NOW !

My horse just the same. except on hind.

10 months in the box, no guarantee of return to competitive arena.

Far more serious than you are giving credit for IF it's a check gone.
 
Our old boy has this, did it in the field. He was retired because of it because of frequent lameness, which still occurs if he runs about a lot. The swelling has never left. As far as I know it can be treated successfully, but as ours was 30 they just said to not ride him anymore. He's 34 now and hasn't been lame for a year. I hope you find the right treatment.
 
Mine did his,had approx 1month in box then a rescan to see if had improved which it had so started hand walking and gradually increased exercise,he's fine now but there was only a slight amount of damage.
 
Box rest and intensive ice therapy. Vet needs to come out to scan.

Mine came in with the same, classical check lig swelling last year, no heat though, and 100% sound. I did the above and called the vet to scan. He had indeed damaged his check, but more significantly had very nearly severed his sdft in addition. We've had a long winter on box rest, walking in hand and then building turnout. He's now out 24/7 but won't be ridden again.

It's not something to 'wait and see' with, please call your vet. If it is a minor check ligament and you ignore it, it could well become a catastrophic injury.

Fingers crossed it is nothing serious.
 
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My mare did hers doing handstands in the field, I saw her do it :mad:

Its important to get the vet to assess it. Because mine is a stress head I discussed treatment with the vet and decided not to box rest but to fence into a small area. As it was winter I was in no hurry to ride so she had around 5 months off and returned to competition with no recurrence of the problem (sadly she subsequently got ringbone so is retired, but not due to the check ligament)
 
Same as with Rhino, our mare was sound and there was no heat but it was a check ligament all the same. She went to Newmarket and had stem cell therapy. Apart from a slight infection shortly afterwards which was jumped on pretty rapidly by our local vet, her recovery went pretty smoothly.

Dont take any chances
 
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