Mysterious lameness UPDATE

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Foxfolly

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Ed has now been on bute for 2 days.. and still on box rest.

Last night the near fore leg has gone down a bit and is definitely less tender on palpation.
There was a small amount of swelling just above the fetlock on the inside of the near hind.
Also there was a large hard hot swelling the size of my hand in the inside of his thigh, looking just like another fly bite reaction, there were also approx 2x 50p sized lumps down the front of the same leg, and his sheath was slightly puffy.

This morning his near fore is a lot better, still a little filling but not much now, and almost no reaction on palpation.
Near hind is now very filled below the hock and the other fly bite type swellings have gone.
His sheath is now really swollen, hot, hard and obviouslt very tender on gentle palpation.

I haven't trotted him up but he does seem sound when he's playing silly buggers while tied up trying to avoid the hose, nibbling me or trying to take the cap off the closest persons head!!!
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I am now pretty sure that this is all due to fly bites, other than fly replellant and garlic in his feed to put the flys off biting him in the first place, does anyone know of any herbal remedies I can add to his food to help him stop reacting to them so severely?

I am going to call the vet myself this morning to discuss it with them as I am not convinced that bute is actually going to help much at all, I think he needs some kind of antihisamine (sp?) for it.
 
Just a thought, I believe lymphangitis (sp) can cause a swollen sheath. My TB had this a few weeks ago in his hind legs and the vet told me to keep an eye out for this as a sign of it not responding to the antibiotics.

Did he respond well to the first batch of antibiotics? Is there a chance that he has a lymphatic infection?
 
Trust me, his sheath is definitely bites, you can see the dots of blood where the nasty beasts have eaten him!! My other gelding get is a lot too, they seem to go for the bits where there is no hair!!

But I think I'm defintieyl going to take him out for a walk in hand tonight, as I think it will help his legs too!

Unfortunately his stable is right next to the edge of a wood, so we get a lot of midges!!

Vet has called me back and is coming back tomorrw with reinforcements, the partner of the practice, the scanner and poss X-Ray machine too! I will make sure I am there too so between us all we can pin him down! Found out his hatred of vets comes from when he was castrated, he went into shock afterwards and was stood in the field shaking, then wouldn't let the vet anywhere near him, he's been a bit of a git with them since then!
 
Flower of Sulphur powder... I swear by it!!!

Grace has really bad reactions to fly bites, to the point where she looks like a toad through the summer
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The Flower of Sulphur lowers the blood temperature therefore lessens the reaction. I think she is sensitive because she is orange
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But I have noticed a real difference this summer on the powder, especially as the nasty biting ones were out in force with the damp weather.
 
That is a really old remedy we used to use it a lot......
where do you get it from?
P.s. FF, hope BSH is much better
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Vet came out this morning

Not great he found a bit of thickening in his tendon on the hind leg he was and evidently still is lame on.
But also he thinks he may have pulled the check ligament in his front leg that is fat now!
So poor sod is on box rest for at least a month and hopefully if this works will be in a big yard after that then hopefully come back into work around Xmas time!

Now vet hasn't scanned or X-rayed or anything and has just gone on feel.. he doesn't think either are badly damaged as the swelling isn't that much. He said he was 2/5ths lame behind and didn't look lame in front. He did flexion test on the hind and it made no difference to the degree of lameness, also he did check all joints for signs of pain as he is such a big horse OCD may have been a possibility.

Would you take his word as enough or do you think we ought to get it scanned?

God knows what he has done or how he had done it but then horses like to find inventive ways to get out of hard work!!
 
I would defo get him scanned. He is a nice horse, you might as well get a full picture of the damage (if any) and work off that.
His original problem still needs investigaing as it's probably going to reappear next Spring.
Have you got any cattle tags that you can put around his stable to keep the flies down?
What a shame for him, give him a carrot from me
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