lame foal with a very small cut?!is this normal?!

[amandaco2]

my filly has a very small fullskin depth cut to the fetlock on the outer aspect of her leg.
shes swollen from the fetlock upwards and she is lame too.
im pretty worried as the amount of swelling seems to be increasing and the cut itself is only quite small.
she is lame in walk on a straight line.
she saw a vet on saturady who said she was ok and gave me some antibiotics for her.
am going to see how she is today
if it normal for youngsters to swell up more than older horses?ive had plenty of similar and worse cuts to horses and they havent swollen and gone lame like this one has.

 

[Bossanova]

I'd be worried she may have an abscess and its fluke that the cut is on the same leg, esp if the lameness is bad- maybe ask your farrier to take a look if it doesnt improve? Our baby had a couple of abscesses and they were very painful

 

[Sparklet]

Its on a joint and despite being small it may be deep. Both would worry me but you do have anitbiotics and the vet has seen her....it may be worth having a word with your vet.

Bossanova also could be right - its bizarre how horses can completely throw you off track by having two ailments at the same time.

 

[emmajanerushton]

has she had tetanus cover ?

 

[AmyMay]

If you don't see any kind of improvement by tomorrow I would have the vet back up. Is foal in or able to move about - even the swelling sounds like infection - rather than filling - it may not be helped by standing in.

 

[Maesfen]

Have you tried poulticing her to see if there is still anything inside? Have you any idea how/where she did it, it might give you a clue. Hope she's had her course of tet jabs too. It could be something as simple as an abcess as Boss said, the swelling has to go somewhere.

 

[sallyf]

I would have the vet back out.
As Boss says it is possible that she has an abcess in her foot but alternatively she may have a joint infection which is potentially much more serious .
I wouldnt expect to see to see much swelling normally.
They do quite often seem to get foot abcess's when they have a cut elsewhere but you need to be sure.

 

[amandaco2]

shes had her first and second tet and flu jabs all done.
the only thing i can think is if mum did it to her,which is another reason im worried
(if if happened when she was laying down or when mum charged at the horse next door to pull a face she could have got a bone chip or something!)
she is in the stable 24/7(as normal yard doesnt have much if any turnout in winter/wet) and in the school once or twice a day.
(i came down on sunday and the vet apparently said not to dress the wound and YO had put the foal in the sand school with the wound uncovered-she also said she advised NOT giving her the antibiotics at all and saving them?!she also said not to bother calling the vet at all and she has some antibiotics i could use..)
however i did insist on calling a vet out as i wasnt happy with a lame horse for such a small looking cut!
there is no swelling from the fetlock down just upwards and it is quite fat and hard swelling.prehaps it is bruising..?it isnt boiling hot but there is heat in it.
should i cold hose it?
the vet said it was not deep(i wasnt there when the vet came) and just said 4 days of antibiotics and he wouldnt even dress it.
i may give them a call myself to just have a chat with them.
am going down later to see how she is.
i didnt want to poltice it sa it is near a joint and i dont like to poltice anything im not sure how deep it is when its near a joint.

i usually have good instincts about these things and ive got a really bad feeling about this

 

[AmyMay]

[ QUOTE ]
i may give them a call myself to just have a chat with them.

[/ QUOTE ]
You haven't done this

 

[Tia]

Not to make light of the situation as every situation is obviously different, however I have a foal who came to me at 5 months old. She had previously injured herself in a similar fashion to your foal and when she arrived there was still a scar from her injury. Her leg was not entirely correct and although there was no swelling anymore, it just wasn't right. Anyway, she has been here for some months now and everything is totally normal now.

Foals do tend to take a little longer to heal than the big guys and perhaps there is nothing to worry about, however I would be. It is definitely worth asking your vet to pop out again today and take a look at her.

Where foals are concerned, my motto is "if in doubt....call vet out!"

 

[amandaco2]

update-
foals leg is much better leg is almost normal sized now.
i know YO is only trying to save me money but that sort of antibiotic use is totally inappropriate and contributes to resistance developing!
i have to admit it was just a small cut so she was right in the end but her leg was just so fat and lame i was really worried!
am going to trot her up today and see if shes sound.
thanks everyone

 

[sallyf]

Fingers crossed that she is sound

 

[amandaco2]

foal is now sound but she still has swelling up her leg between the cannon and the tendon.it isnt warm anywhere except near the wound, which has quite a scab on it.shes been standing in though.
she doesnt mind me poking about.