Slipper
Member
I took my 11 yr old mare hunting 2 weeks ago and we had a very good day. The going was good, there were no slips or falls etc, but we did lose a shoe and as we were on the soft most of the time I didn't realise until we got home. It looks like it came off cleanly. She was not at all lame or sore. She was stabled that night and the next morning her near fore was swollen (medial and lateral), not at all swollen at the back of the leg though. There was some heat and she was a bit lame. I cold hosed and put her in a tiny paddock to rest. It went down almost immediately and the lameness went within a day. I re-started gentle exercise and built up over 10 days or so and there was no recurrence or hint of a problem . My initial thought was that she had done some damage pulling off the shoe and was not too concerned. I hunted her again after 2 weeks and took it very steady, however the same problem occurred, but less so. Much less swelling than before and tiny bit of lameness. My vet is coming to scan on Wednesday. I have been frightening myself reading about suspensory ligament injuries. I do not think that the SDFT or DDFT are involved as there is nothing at the back of the leg and the symptoms do not seem severe enough. My question is this: Would a minor injury to the suspensory ligament resolve so quickly? ie is it usual for swelling to go down and lameness to disappear? She is not lame when trotted in a circle with the affected leg to the outside. There is no pain on palpation to any structure. No previous history of injury either. Anybody have any ideas before Weds? I'm going mad with worry now.