lymphangitis

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eventgirl

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My best friends horse was diagnosed with lymphangitis today. Shes an 8yr old TB mare and other than a kick injury to her hock in the summer, has never had a problem with her legs. The affected limb is her off hind and it is like a tree trunk from her udder down to her pasturn. She is very lame on it and reluctant to weight bear on it.
Has anybody had experience of this before?what is the prognosis and what is the best course of treatment?
Also any ideas on what has caused it? Mare has been fine up until now, just a little bit 'flat' maybe, but my friend put this down to the time of year.
Any help greatly appriciated.
 
Reduce feed and give a dose of epsom salts. I expect she has a tiny cut somewhere on her leg and will need antibiotics and bute. I have a horse that is prone and it sometimes takes 2 or 3 courses of antibiotics for his legs to come right down.Walking exercise will help but maybe quite painful at first so take it steady, bandaging can help but make sure the pressure is even and over plenty of padding
 
Hi one of our horses had this on all 4 legs! The vet thought she had a viral infection which had caused the legs to swell so much, so he put her onto a 10 day course of antibiotics, she was turned out in the school for a couple of hours daily and also walked out in hand to reduce the swelling, legs were bandaged at night to stop anymore swelling, within a couple of days were back to normal, she has now finished her antibiotics, the bandages are off and all legs completely back to normal. Hope this helps x
 
My Arab gelding has had this in the passed.

This year he was slightly under the weather and his leg blow up after a small cut. I have now put him onto the Hilton Herbs "Cleavers and maigold" mix and he is so much better.

Worth trying this mix
 
can echo the epsom salts, it makes them drink more and the water they drink helps to flush through the fluid and poisons that build up in the affected leg. A tablespoonful in evening feed for a couple of days was enough for my boy, along with cold hosing, leg wraps (thermatex) and lots of gentle walking exercise twice a day. He wasnt as bad as your case but the principle is the same I think.
 
Be WARNED about Giving too much Epsom Salts. You could easily dehydrate the horse. By making them pee more they can be losing essential electrolytes those unbalancing them.


There are better things on the market
 
[ QUOTE ]
. I have now put him onto the Hilton Herbs "Cleavers and maigold" mix and he is so much better.

Worth trying this mix

[/ QUOTE ]

I have just started using this too after Marley getting Lymphangitis
smile.gif

She had one very fat leg, didn't want to put weight on it, then 3 days of antibiotics from vet. This brought the leg down in size but not back to normal, but she was completely sound on it. Saw the marigold flowers in a tackshop and thought it was worth a go as her leg still hadn't gone back to normal and yesterday it was looking lovely again after just over a week of the marigolds
smile.gif
 
A horse at our yard has got this for the second time. The first time was caused by a tiny cut, this time from the beginnings of mud fever. Despite him wearing turn out chaps to try to prevent it.

His leg looks awful, like a tree trunk as OP says is probably the best description of all.

He is now having his legs bandaged overnight, is on antibiotics and bute and is turned out in the sandschool during the day to move around. That does help the swelling but at the moment it has still come up again overnight.

I'm going to print this off and show the owner re the suggestions on here.

Hope your horse is clear of it soon OP.
 
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