foal with swollen tendons .. x

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parkvillenerog5

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Our 7 month old foal was out for a play about in the field (supervised) .as thought he was 100 miles an hour..

Anyway about a day or so later i noticed swelling in both forelegs originally stemming from below the knee to the fetlock in the bow shape.. to say it made me gutted is an understatement...

Anyway cold hosed 3 times a day for 15 mins per leg each time, on vet advise gave him bute for a week...

After a week the swelling had reduced but still evident.. there was heat originally but has subsided with no lameness...

The vet came approx two weeks ago and on initial examination didnt think there was much of a problem,,after his trot assesment (no lameness) his legs were rechecked, the one that is less swollen produced some heat with the more swollen one staying cool??

vet reccomended box resting for 4 weeks and continue hosing.. they have come down loads but im worried with him growing will they become larger or is age on his side??

She will be back out in another 2 weeks to reassess and we will go from there i.e if scan is needed etc...

he is being such a good boy,, vet said he could go for small hand walk to graze although this was sacked off after he got extremely giddy bless...

im hoping he will heal well with his age.. he lets me cold hose and he stands there for a good 40 mins while i do both legs...

Anyone on here with experience with bowed tendons, especially in young horses??

Thanks in advance xxx
 
parkvillenerog5 said:
Our 7 month old foal was out for a play about in the field (supervised) .as thought he was 100 miles an hour.. galloping then stopping dead.....

Anyway about a day or so later i noticed swelling in both forelegs originally stemming from below the knee to the fetlock in the bow shape.. to say it made me gutted is an understatement...

Anyway cold hosed 3 times a day for 15 mins per leg each time, on vet advise gave him bute for a week...

After a week the swelling had reduced but still evident.. there was heat originally but has subsided with no lameness...

The vet came approx two weeks ago and on initial examination didnt think there was much of a problem,,after his trot assesment (no lameness) his legs were rechecked, the one that is less swollen produced some heat with the more swollen one staying cool??

vet reccomended box resting for 4 weeks and continue hosing.. they have come down loads but im worried with him growing will they become larger or is age on his side??

She will be back out in another 2 weeks to reassess and we will go from there i.e if scan is needed etc...

he is being such a good boy,, vet said he could go for small hand walk to graze although this was sacked off after he got extremely giddy bless...

im hoping he will heal well with his age.. he lets me cold hose and he stands there for a good 40 mins while i do both legs...

Anyone on here with experience with bowed tendons, especially in young horses??

Thanks in advance xxx
Click to expand...

Edited to say, no bandages have been used as this wasn't advised by the vet,, not sure if this may have been cause his bones are still growing, bandaging may cause more harm than good? Xx
 
parkvillenerog5 said:
Our 7 month old foal was out for a play about in the field (supervised) .as thought he was 100 miles an hour..

Anyway about a day or so later i noticed swelling in both forelegs originally stemming from below the knee to the fetlock in the bow shape.. to say it made me gutted is an understatement...

Anyway cold hosed 3 times a day for 15 mins per leg each time, on vet advise gave him bute for a week...

After a week the swelling had reduced but still evident.. there was heat originally but has subsided with no lameness...

The vet came approx two weeks ago and on initial examination didnt think there was much of a problem,,after his trot assesment (no lameness) his legs were rechecked, the one that is less swollen produced some heat with the more swollen one staying cool??

vet reccomended box resting for 4 weeks and continue hosing.. they have come down loads but im worried with him growing will they become larger or is age on his side??


She will be back out in another 2 weeks to reassess and we will go from there i.e if scan is needed etc...

he is being such a good boy,, vet said he could go for small hand walk to graze although this was sacked off after he got extremely giddy bless...

im hoping he will heal well with his age.. he lets me cold hose and he stands there for a good 40 mins while i do both legs...

Anyone on here with experience with bowed tendons, especially in young horses??

Thanks in advance xxx
Click to expand...

No don't bandage. I've never seen/had bowed tendons (touchwood!) in a foal and I've bred quite a few. It could be growth related, I have had a couple with that problem and they do swell up without lameness. The foals I've seen it in were around five to six months old and it is that they are growing quickly and the leg bones are growing faster than tendons and ligaments. If it is this then stop feeding all bucket feed and change to a hay with low feeding value so that you slow his growth down a bit, this will not harm him. It can take couple months to sort itself out, restrict exercise to large stable. Mine also had three jabs of oxytetracycline -the first two given two to three days apart then a third one five to seven days later, its an antibiotic but in a large dose it will help tendons and ligaments relax and stretch. Often given to newborn foals who are born with contracted tendons. You could ask your vet about trying that if you think it could be growth related. It can turn into contracted tendons and that would probably require surgery but I've never had that happen.
 
Silverfire said:
No don't bandage. I've never seen/had bowed tendons (touchwood!) in a foal and I've bred quite a few. It could be growth related, I have had a couple with that problem and they do swell up without lameness. The foals I've seen it in were around five to six months old and it is that they are growing quickly and the leg bones are growing faster than tendons and ligaments. If it is this then stop feeding all bucket feed and change to a hay with low feeding value so that you slow his growth down a bit, this will not harm him. It can take couple months to sort itself out, restrict exercise to large stable. Mine also had three jabs of oxytetracycline -the first two given two to three days apart then a third one five to seven days later, its an antibiotic but in a large dose it will help tendons and ligaments relax and stretch. Often given to newborn foals who are born with contracted tendons. You could ask your vet about trying that if you think it could be growth related. It can turn into contracted tendons and that would probably require surgery but I've never had that happen.
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thankyou so much for your response... to be honest when it happened originally i thought it was possibly growth related as he was on a lot of feed (reccomendation off baileys), i did have a plan designed as this was my first foal in 30 years of owning horses lol, so wanted to make sure he was being fed the right things.. he was 8 months old yesterday but the issue originally started approx 6 weeks ago now, so he would have been around 6 months old...

Just as a precaution we kicked all the mix on the head, so he is currently getting 600 grams of balancer mixed with a handful of dengie, he is on haylage but wont be a problem to switch to hay..

if it is growth related would his tendons still have that bowed apperance?? The vet looked at his growth plates and wasnt concerned but the amount if feed he was on makes me think this us highly possible... i kicked feed out anyway as i didnt want to pump him full of stuff and him not be able to burn it off...

do they recover well if it is growth related?? Thanks xxx
 
not something I've dealt with but feed wise I wouldn't have a weanling on anything other than a stud balancer (gives vits&mins plus protein as needed) then hay and micronised linseed if extra calories are needed to keep a reasonable weight up - I am not a fan of stud mixes or cubes as they are very high starch etc which is soooo bad for their joints and growth
 
Can you get a photo of his tendons? And I will tell you if it looked like mine did. I have only seen it in front legs once, others were back legs. If it is growth related and all goes back to normal looking then no he shouldn't have any more problems from it. As its both front legs I would think it more likely to be a growth problem than injury. The ones I had with it were still on mum and having milk and haylage no feed.
 
Silverfire said:
Can you get a photo of his tendons? And I will tell you if it looked like mine did. I have only seen it in front legs once, others were back legs. If it is growth related and all goes back to normal looking then no he shouldn't have any more problems from it. As its both front legs I would think it more likely to be a growth problem than injury. The ones I had with it were still on mum and having milk and haylage no feed.
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Thats what i thought he is one unlucky foal to bow both tendons in the same day??... Im not sure how i post pics lol.... xx
 
I used to use the hose for swellings but the reaction to cold and wet is to throw up heat to dry the skin and hair,which would seem to make hosing a waste of time , also can not be very nice at this time of year.
Can I suggest that you have a look at Arnica Gel which will keep the legs cool and help with any soreness and swelling.
Hope this helps.
 
shergar said:
I used to use the hose for swellings but the reaction to cold and wet is to throw up heat to dry the skin and hair,which would seem to make hosing a waste of time , also can not be very nice at this time of year.
Can I suggest that you have a look at Arnica Gel which will keep the legs cool and help with any soreness and swelling.
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...


Hi,, yes i love arnica im on my 2nd lot of it along with witch hazel.. im hosing them still, but i have said i think the swelling comes up after hosing more.. was going to try and leave hosing for a few days to see if theres any diffrence, after all were going into the 7th week since it first occured so its not at the brand new stage where hosing us highly beneficial...

im getting them scanned when the vet comes back just to reassure me xxx
 
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