Horse with a very big leg - Anyone had a similar issue?

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dexterpat

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We have a horse on the yard who has a massive leg at the moment. The sunday before last her owner took her out on a hack, then as she went to put her into the field she noticed she was dragging her toe a little. She put her out in the field anyway!
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When we went to fetch her back in she was walking like a crab going sidewards using her off hind and near fore to walk straignt her off fore was dragging. Leg looked a little swollen on the tendon - not much else quite a bit of heat mid cannon bone.

Cold hosed her leg but it kept growing was a normal big leg! Vet came out on the tuesday - no pain in foot but BIG leg swelled right up to elbow. She's on 4 bute a day and 10 days box rest and her leg is still getting bigger as her leg is full it is filling up to her shoulder and her armpit. Vet wanted to come and see her when the swelling has gone down - doesn't think it is an infection. YO very worried - Vet will be out agaain tomorrow but have any of you seen / heard of this type of symptom - etc before??

well done for getting this far!! thanks in advance
 
No temp - we queried this with the vet as we've had on with lymphangitis - She was ridden and not lame - then started dragging her toe on way to field - She is so swollen now she cannot bend her knee!! poor girl she's only 5, I though fracture but i don't see how or when - unless owner took her out lame and didn't notice!
 
first guess would be cellulitis.

my 4yo's leg came up just like that-wasnt lame just couldnt flex his joints properly because of the swelling.

the skin then started to sort of crack and burst in the areas of worst swelling/stretched skin.

he needed 10 days of antibiotics to clear it.
 
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then started dragging her toe on way to field

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Actually, it may be a good idea to get the farrier up and the shoe off. It could just as likely be something in the foot.
 
Sounds like cellulitis. Was there a cut or a scratch on the leg? Years ago my horse cut his elbow. It was stapled by the vet the same day, but the next day the leg had swollen and was losing all definition. He went on to a course of antibiotics which brought things back down to normal.
 
...'tis the season for mud & bugs - a small cut then exposed to the bug which causes mudfever (Dermatophilus congolensis) can have dramatic swelling effects on a horse!

I know it sounds like a long shot, (but there has to be either a bug, virus, cut or a kick involved) - things dont swell like this for no reason.

Try checking for tiny grazes round the coronet/heel - you never know!

scotia
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You will still need the vet out asap as even if you find a cut/scratch the swelling is unlikely to go down on its own.

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It does say earlier that the horse is under veterinary treatment.
 
have a really good look at teh leg - my friends youngster had something like this, and on close looking, it turned out he had a tiny thorn in his heel, we tweezered the whole thing out and it just oozed pus and went down really quickly. Would get a second vets opinion though
 
My horse had this exact same thing last year. In the end it did turn out to just be a huge infection (we never found out what from!). He didn't have a temperature, and whilst not hopping lame, he was obviously not comfortable on it. When the vets first came out the treated him for an infection, but when the antibiotics didn't reduce the swelling, we had to wait for it to go down before they could scan his leg (they thought he had injured his check ligament). But the leg wasn't going down after 10 days they gave him steroids, which brought the swelling down enough to scan. Scan came back clear. Eventually the vet gave him more steroids, and the strongest antibiotics available, and within a week the leg was nearly back to normal. Your friends horse seems to have the same symptoms a my horse did, even if the vets think it is not an infection, they can sometimes get it wrong (as they did in my horses case!).
 
You have had all the right advice.
When my horse had same problem leading to cellulitis I found tiniest little nick on inside around fetlock area really hard to spot and was missed until it got much worse .It could be the area just underneath where boot should go she would have caught herself when hacking.
 
i reckon cellulitis - mine had to have eggbar shoes on front sue to navicular so i put overreach boots on overnight in field - it rained overnight - bought her in took them off (summer) to stand in for the day - she was in for 5 hrs i went down in afternoon - and her foreleg was huge - called vet - he couldnt come same day came day after and other leg was up too - was cellutis - yellow ooze from skin. - was obviously caused by overreach boots causing a tiny rub on back of heel and caused cellulitis. - check for yellow oozing skin. - its nasty to get rid of. and must be painful for them
 
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