horse with a fat knee? would you turn out/ride??

charlie76

charlie76

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my horse came in with 2 small cuts yesterday , one on the front of his knee and one on the back. It was fine when he came in and I rode him, by the evening it was fat, so I poulticed it, this morning it is very fat but he is not lame at all.
I have turned him out to see if it walks off but now I feel like I might have done the wrong thing, also, would you hack out to see if it will go dow n??
 
I think you have done the right thing. Did anything come out on the poultice. See how he goes today and if he is still not lame on it tomorrow I would gently hack if you can tomorrow. Just keep an eye on it to make sure no infection sets in but in these cases I would do as you would have done.
 
Is there any heat in it or is it just swollen? Personally with anything fat and cold I would turn out but it would depend why its got swollen...
 
I would turn out, but probably not ride. I'd also cold hose if at all possible in this weather! Difficult one with it being so close to a 4 day holiday - you don't want to get whacked with an emergency call out fee if he gets worse and you need a vet over the Christmas period. Why do horses have such bad timing??? I'm not one for calling the vet unnecessarily, but it might be worth getting bute and antibiotics as a precaution? If it wasn't Christmas, I'd wait a while and see what develops.
 
Ethel is forever coming in with cuts on her legs and having some part of her leg being fat. I normally just give the cut a clean with some hibiscrub, shove some dermagel on and turn her out. Sometimes cold hose it if its hot (although I know thats not an option at the moment) but it's normally fine to be left and she walks it off :) So I think you've done the right thing.
 
As long as you are happy its not infected or very sore, keep doing what you are doing. Fat knees usually look worse then they are, but walking it off usually helps. If turning him out isn't visibly reducing it, I would gently hack him if he can behave in this weather. Hacking just helps as some horses don't move around much in the field. If you are lucky enough to have access to a horse walker, 20 mins twice a day will help.
 
is it fat due to bruising or fat cos there is infection brewing? hard one to tell! its a cut on a joint .. can you see if the cut is superficial or deep? if puncture like i would get the vet and some drugs! might get the vet anyhow being as it is on a joint. and you have the added joy of sat/sun/mon/tues are all out of hours/BH call outs! as much movement as possible will help to reduce the swelling, poulticing will help to draw the wound.
 
Depends, If it was just fat with no cut, due to a bump/knock I'd keep him ticking over riding wise and turn out as normal, plus cold hose twice daily.
With cuts, I'd probably turnout during the day, in at night in order to keep an eye on it, and be very sure it itsn't infection brewing, and just a bruise. I'd also cold treatment it.
 
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