Leg Ultrasound?

C

Cripple101

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 April 2014
Messages
78
Visit site
Just after some advice/reassurance if possible!

My 4 year old warmblood came in from the field with a swollen, mildly warm left fore about a month back, swollen from just below the knee right down to the fetlock, and was mildly lame. Concidently, the vet was coming out later that day to look at his teeth (he's considerate like that!). She could feel nothing of concern on any of his tendons/ligaments but did mention she couldn't entirely rule out a minor tear to the tendon/tendon sheath without a scan. So she recommended box rest for 2 weeks with in hand walking and cold hosing twice a day and see how it went, and if not right to scan it.

Leg came down within a week with no heat/no filling etc and came totally sound. Started to reintroduce turnout and all stayed okay.

Until yesterday! He's came in with slight swelling in the gap between the suspensory and flexors, more 'filling' than anything else. Mildly warm, but still totally sound. Spoke to the vet and she's agreed to come out and scan tomorrow, but I'm now in a total panic that my lovely boy is going to be crippled before he even starts his ridden career :(

Has anyone else had anything similar to this and care to share their story or offer any reassurance??

And has anyone got any particular questions or anything I should be asking while the vet is there? I don't really know what to expect so trying to prepare myself!

Thanks for reading my panicked rambling if you got this far!
 
Easier said than done but try not to panic and over think it until you know what you're dealing with. Could be something, could be nothing...

I've lost count of the number of scans my older mare has had :o I tend to do it fairly early but she's a bit prone to soft tissue injuries so there's no point in waiting! Hopefully as your chap came sound so quickly the first time , it's something really minor.

My vets usually place the screen so that I can see what they are looking at, they freeze the images so they can talk me through what they are seeing and then we discuss next steps. Sometimes they want to sedate a horse to scan it but we've always done mine unsedated as she stands nicely.

You'll be able to have a good discussion after they finish. If there is something that needs treating, just make sure you are clear around timescales and whether he can have turnout/exercise etc because those are the details that matter on an everyday basis :)

fingers crossed it's nothing serious.
 
milliepops said:
Easier said than done but try not to panic and over think it until you know what you're dealing with. Could be something, could be nothing...

I've lost count of the number of scans my older mare has had :o I tend to do it fairly early but she's a bit prone to soft tissue injuries so there's no point in waiting! Hopefully as your chap came sound so quickly the first time , it's something really minor.

My vets usually place the screen so that I can see what they are looking at, they freeze the images so they can talk me through what they are seeing and then we discuss next steps. Sometimes they want to sedate a horse to scan it but we've always done mine unsedated as she stands nicely.

You'll be able to have a good discussion after they finish. If there is something that needs treating, just make sure you are clear around timescales and whether he can have turnout/exercise etc because those are the details that matter on an everyday basis :)

fingers crossed it's nothing serious.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply Milliepops. Unfortunately I'm a huge panicker and have already made the massive mistake of googling it - oops!

So what's your experience with soft tissue injuries in terms of working them in the future? I guess it depends hugely on the injury but I'm already stressing that he'll never have a proper ridden career (told you - drama queen!!)

He's never had clippers near him before either, so god knows how he is going to cope with having it clipped!
 
Well, where to start. My mare has done 2 check ligaments in her front legs, SDFT tendon sheath & manica on one hind leg and currently has an inflamed tendon sheath on the other hind leg.... :o she does it to herself playing in the field, I can't stop her being a horse.. but she's come back into full work each time. It's clear from the way she keeps picking up these injuries that she has some kind of weakness or predisposition to it so I am fairly careful with her though. She's 20 this year and as they age I do find the healing takes longer... we might be at the point of retirement now but she has done all 4 legs! I think my girl has been really quite unlucky.

But seriously, don't start googling and worrying until you have a diagnosis. It won't help and you'll just get more stressed... wait and see.

Likewise don't start worrying about the clipping, just let the vet know and they might want to sedate him for safety. All in a day's work :) Good luck.
 
That's positive to hear! You read so many nightmare stories online, but always forget people don't post the positive stories much! Yes that's the problem with mine - since being sat on he's never done any work, as he's just spent so much time growing! So this has been in the field, but he can be a bit wild in the field so not altogether suprising he's done something!

I'm hopeful for him as a competitive horse so very hopeful - but a long happy life for him is much more important! He clearly doesn't want to come into any work, this has happened just when I had the saddler organised to come out haha.

I will try to stop panicking, promise ;)

Thanks so much! I'll update tomorrow. Just hope this day hurries up!
 
milliepops said:
Well, where to start. My mare has done 2 check ligaments in her front legs, SDFT tendon sheath & manica on one hind leg and currently has an inflamed tendon sheath on the other hind leg.... :o she does it to herself playing in the field, I can't stop her being a horse.. but she's come back into full work each time. It's clear from the way she keeps picking up these injuries that she has some kind of weakness or predisposition to it so I am fairly careful with her though. She's 20 this year and as they age I do find the healing takes longer... we might be at the point of retirement now but she has done all 4 legs! I think my girl has been really quite unlucky.

But seriously, don't start googling and worrying until you have a diagnosis. It won't help and you'll just get more stressed... wait and see.

Likewise don't start worrying about the clipping, just let the vet know and they might want to sedate him for safety. All in a day's work :) Good luck.
Click to expand...

So Update - you were right, I was panicking over nothing!

Vet agrees he's 100% sound on a straight line and on a circle but there is some minor filling. Said he suspected Inferior Check or DDFT (Cue - further panic!)

So the scan shows no lesions but a slight thickening of the ICL. All the inflammation is between the tendons/ligaments but there is no sign at all of serious damage. So he thinks there could have been a tiny lesion right at the edge of the check when it initially came up as the thickening is consistent with a month's healing time. So he's got a rehab programme to strengthen it and suspects we'll have no further issues with it :) Just pleased I box rested/hand walked/cold hosed when I did as he thinks that will have speeded up the healing. So relieved!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top