Hock flush after septic joint

[Puzzled]

Had a horse treated for a septic joint (hock) with a flush under general anaesthetic. Unfortunately, this didn’t work and a second flush was done and standing sedation 48 hours later. This was done on the 12th of December. She stayed in the hospital for another week and has been home with me since then revisiting the vets once a week for a checkup.
The hock is still very swollen. She is very happy to take full weight on it and is walking sound but is still lame in trot. Has anyone experienced this before? Could it be down to the large amount of swelling in her hock and general stiffness. She has been hand walked up until yesterday when she was allowed to turn out in a tiny pen. She was definitely more sore having been out all day, although she was jumping around quite a lot having been shut in for over three weeks. Fortunately, I have never experienced this type of injury before so unsure of how long the swelling or lameness would take to go back down. She is due back to the vets next week for another checkup.

 

[Marigold4]

Had a horse treated for a septic joint (hock) with a flush under general anaesthetic. Unfortunately, this didn’t work and a second flush was done and standing sedation 48 hours later. This was done on the 12th of December. She stayed in the hospital for another week and has been home with me since then revisiting the vets once a week for a checkup.
The hock is still very swollen. She is very happy to take full weight on it and is walking sound but is still lame in trot. Has anyone experienced this before? Could it be down to the large amount of swelling in her hock and general stiffness. She has been hand walked up until yesterday when she was allowed to turn out in a tiny pen. She was definitely more sore having been out all day, although she was jumping around quite a lot having been shut in for over three weeks. Fortunately, I have never experienced this type of injury before so unsure of how long the swelling or lameness would take to go back down. She is due back to the vets next week for another checkup.

Is your horse on antibiotics? When my horse had an infected hock joint from an injury, she had IV antibiotics in hospital and then antibiotics in her feed for weeks.

 

[paddi22]

is she on any painkillers? I had a horse that had two ops as well and she was on Bute for weeks after it and then a painkiller for months after that. mine was also on antibiotics for weeks after too.
with my one, the hock swelled and then got repeated abcesses from the joint clearing itself out. that went on for months, hopefully your's won't do that.

what really helped mine was massage treatment and red light laser treatment. the horse can lose so much muscle on the lame side, and then the other side the muscles can seize up from all the extra work its to do. this can add to the appearance of lameness. so you might see an improvement after a treatment?

Please keep posting on how it's going. it's a serious op and I'm happy to offer any advice from experience with it. If you want to post up pics people might be able to see if it's developing normally.

it really took months for the swelling to go down with my mare.

 

[TheMule]

You are very early days- mine had surgery for a septic fetlock joint and was on box rest for 6 weeks with just hand walking (5mins per day increasing by 5 mins every week). It remained swollen and he was still a bit lame in trot at the end of that so I had it x-rayed for my own peace of mind at the 8 week mark and got the all clear, it gradually improved from then so I very slowly brought him back into work and he has been fine ever since

 

[Alexanderevan145]

Yes, this is common. The swelling itself is likely causing the trot lameness, especially after increased activity. It's a severe injury, and recovery takes months, not weeks. The fact she's weight-bearing and walk-sound is positive. The soreness after turnout is normal due to stiffness and too much excitement. Strictly control her movement. Discuss a detailed, long-term rehab plan (like gradual walking exercise) and ask your vet about using supportive bandaging to help manage the swelling. Be patient.

 

[Puzzled]

Thanks all. So far she’s improving each day…much sounder than Friday (touching wood!) She was like a rodeo star on the lunge this evening despite having had small pen turnout all day. I think the swelling has reduced and she’s definitely much sounder than 5 days ago. I think the hardest part will be trying to keep her calm as she was literally 6 feet in the air this evening! Unfortunately, we have too much snow and ice to hand walk but my arena is frost resistant so that’s the only option at the moment.