Is this tendonitis?

[SMF1]

Hi All

In need of some advice for my Hanoverian x Cob. We've had him for around 6 months now and when he came he was a door kicker. His right lower leg under his knee started to swell and originally we thought it was down to this. He also had badly overgrown feet so farrier said that could be a contributory factor too.

When you run your hand down the back of his leg you can feel there is fluid retention that he'd unable to get rid of. Sometimes there's very little heat and other times there's nothing at all. He is totally sound even when it's at it's worst but today he wasn't 100% sound and I put him to rest.

He's had a week or two off at points during bad weather since he came and the swelling fluctuates and goes up and down but rest doesn't seem to help it. He also points his feet at times too.

I've attached some images in the link, it's his RIGHT that is the troublesome one and his left is fine, as you can see there is a difference. After having given it time to come down, padding his door, having his feet cut etc it's not budged and we're out of ideas so next stage is the vet but wondering what to expect if anyone has seen anything like this before.. his leg is definitely not bowed.

Left

Right

 

[Birker2020]

I don't like the look of the right leg, there is no definition or shape on the outside of the leg.

If it were wingalls you would expect to the see the same shape of the fetlock joint on the inside as the outside whereas with your horse it seems to have filled more on the outside. They are usually bilateral - i.e. both front legs are affected. The inside of the left leg looks a bit puffy too, but I still wouldn't say it was wingalls. My own horse has them, sometimes when stood in all day on a hot day his legs resemble fat old ladies legs! They always go down with work, quite dramatically!

Tendonous windgalls are very slightly higher up the leg and are caused by an excess of fluid in the sheath that wraps around the flexor tendons. The synovial fluid is dispersed around the joint by the horses body in an effort to prevent injury and they disappear with work and reappear when the horse is at rest particularly when it is hot weather, when they can appear on all four legs.

I would say from the photo your horse has sprained a tendon, maybe a flexor tendon at best guess. I'm not a vet by any means, but by going on the photo I would say its something like that. If his feet were poor when you bought him and his toes were long and his heels low this would put a lot of pressure on the tendons that run down the back of the leg.

 

[KautoStar1]

ONLY a vet can diagnose such an injury and you would be best placed to ask the vet to examine your pony ASAP. it could be anything from a foreign body to a tendon or ligament injury or a minor fracture or many of the other things in between. I would not say from your photo it looks like A, B or C, I would say call the vet.

 

[be positive]

ONLY a vet can diagnose such an injury and you would be best placed to ask the vet to examine your pony ASAP. it could be anything from a foreign body to a tendon or ligament injury or a minor fracture or many of the other things in between. I would not say from your photo it looks like A, B or C, I would say call the vet.

This, I think after so long you need to get a vet as he is now going lame on it, unless it is a poor photo to me his leg conformation is not good as from the front it is not straight and that may either be contributing to whatever is going on or could be the result, either way it is not good and you need to get it investigated and stop trying to self diagnose/ treat.

 

[Birker2020]

ONLY a vet can diagnose such an injury and you would be best placed to ask the vet to examine your pony ASAP. it could be anything from a foreign body to a tendon or ligament injury or a minor fracture or many of the other things in between. I would not say from your photo it looks like A, B or C, I would say call the vet.

I didn't mention her getting a vet as she has already come to the conclusion that the next step is the vet, but she just wanted some ideas in the meantime.

 

[SMF1]

Please don't think any treatment has been delayed, just didn't want to put out obscene amounts of money for something that wasn't that bad to begin with and could've been caused by his door kicking or his poor feet. Already organizing scans and the like to see what's causing my boy the trouble he's in.

 

[Birker2020]

Hi SMF1

Sometimes its better to take a step back and assess the situation for a couple of days rather than rush headlong into getting the vet out with the expense that is involved when it may be better to observe the horse and how he is reacting. I'm not suggesting that you do this is there is an obvious injury, or the horse is uncomfortable or in pain. And any horse that is non weight bearing on a limb is a medical emergency. Obviously this is not the case with your horse.

Having spent many thousands of pounds on my own horse over the years (and not having money trees at the bottom of the garden) I am more proactive in assessing before calling the vet when it is a non emergency situation. However that said, I can honestly say that those that know me are aware that I am more than happy in calling the vet when a situation calls for it.