Swelling inside cannon bone..

[brightlights]

I took my sweet girl for a lesson on Monday and it seems she's sustained an injury. I am for sure fearing the worst, and have her booked in with our sports medicine vet as soon as they can see us, this coming Monday. I am following their care suggestions in the meantime.

I stupidly hoped she was just stocked up, as the swelling did seem to lessen with walking the following day. She wasn't visibly lame after the ride or the next day (off) either, though does seem to be slightly favoring that leg now.

The leg feels full and soft to the touch, with some warmness inside. No cuts or surface wounds. She'll lift it for me happily but doesn't love me pressing on it. Swelling is much reduced after wrapping but returns if wraps stay off. She is mostly standing square, occasionally rests it, and seems "normal" other than having a very puffy leg. She's on box rest now except a few steps out for hosing, but does not seem terribly uncomfortable on those steps. I have no experience with ligament or tendon injuries, but am fearing either suspensory branch or deep digital flexor. I have always been very careful with my horses and have also been very lucky/blessed (!) not to have had any soft tissue injuries before... so I don't have enough experience to know what I'm looking at. Does anyone here have any other possible guesses, since I'm fairly certain to be torturing myself until she's seen? I've read all about the path back from these tendon and ligament injuries, so I'm aware of all that and will cross that bridge Monday. Luckily we have a great vet...

 

[milliepops]

No point guessing unless you have localised swelling or know what you're palpating if the horse reacts to you poking and prodding.

I've currently got one on pen rest that has done the medial branch of her sdft in a really unusual way, that presented as generalised heat and swelling from fetlock to knee but the injury is right down at the bottom of the pastern so I'd never have guessed that.

I have had my fair share of soft tissue injuries, they are frustrating and can be slow to heal & rehab but the main thing is to keep the horse's movement restricted for now so it can't make anything worse, and plenty of cold therapy (ice or cold hosing) to keep the inflammation to a minimum while you wait for a scan, so you're doing all the right things for now.

 

[brightlights]

Thank you, Milliepops. I know you're right. I stay relatively calm around the horses but quickly become overwrought once left to my own devices... It could be so many things. I should probably stop prodding the poor horse since I have no idea what I'm feeling

They certainly keep us guessing. Best wishes to yours on pen rest.

 

[milliepops]

sending healing vibes to yours too. Mine is doing pretty well so far, had our 6 week scan today and looking good at the moment so just have to keep on keeping on.
The not knowing is awful, I know the feeling of driving yourself mad thinking about it. Fingers crossed it's something minor on Monday.

 

[hopscotch bandit]

I took my sweet girl for a lesson on Monday and it seems she's sustained an injury. I am for sure fearing the worst, and have her booked in with our sports medicine vet as soon as they can see us, this coming Monday. I am following their care suggestions in the meantime.

I stupidly hoped she was just stocked up, as the swelling did seem to lessen with walking the following day. She wasn't visibly lame after the ride or the next day (off) either, though does seem to be slightly favoring that leg now.

The leg feels full and soft to the touch, with some warmness inside. No cuts or surface wounds. She'll lift it for me happily but doesn't love me pressing on it. Swelling is much reduced after wrapping but returns if wraps stay off. She is mostly standing square, occasionally rests it, and seems "normal" other than having a very puffy leg. She's on box rest now except a few steps out for hosing, but does not seem terribly uncomfortable on those steps. I have no experience with ligament or tendon injuries, but am fearing either suspensory branch or deep digital flexor. I have always been very careful with my horses and have also been very lucky/blessed (!) not to have had any soft tissue injuries before... so I don't have enough experience to know what I'm looking at. Does anyone here have any other possible guesses, since I'm fairly certain to be torturing myself until she's seen? I've read all about the path back from these tendon and ligament injuries, so I'm aware of all that and will cross that bridge Monday. Luckily we have a great vet...

The face that she is off/on lame or barely showing at times sounds like it could point to a suspensory branch. This splits from the main suspensory ligament and attaches to the sesamoid bone (see image). Lateral means outside and medial is inside. In my experience injury to this is easier to treat than the actual ligament itself even though its a branch off the same thing. Its usually accompanied by swelling, heat and lameness (that can be inconsistent) and on a circle if the affected leg is on the outside it will make the horse look lame on the inside leg because the horse pushes off with the injured leg and will hop. Where there is injury to either the branch or the ligament it is referred to a Suspensory Desmitis. The injury occurs with excessive load to the fetlock and is very common in SJ's and eventers where the foot is more prone to hyper extending.

Usual immediate treatment for any injury like this is cold therapy. I can't over emphasise how important cold therapy is in such a situation. Basically the fibres in the ligament are torn, and instead of lying in nice straight lines they are all lying haphazardly. So cold therapy helps the fibres realign. Not sure how. It also decreases swelling by constricting blood vessels. And pain is reduced. Also its something to do with stopping cells dying but the rest is over my head (I'm not a vet lol).

Ice cups (polystyrene filled with water and frozen and then the open end moved in a circular motion over the site of the injury for 20 mins) are in my opinion the best treatment as the ice is a consistent temperature, but it must be kept moving. Or you can use ice boots (put kitchen towel between boots and leg to prevent ice burn) or cold hosing. If you have Ice Vibe boots or can get hold of a pair to borrow put it on No. 3 setting with the ice boots. You should also look at your horses foot balance, often this injury will occur because of a medial/lateral foot balance.

You will need to put your horse on an anti inflammatory to reduce inflammation it the area and reduce or limit turnout but obviously the vet will advise on this - good luck for Monday. In the meantime I'd suggest leaving your horse in unless its very quiet.

If it is a suspensory branch and you hold the leg in the air at the height you would if you were picking it out, lift the toe to point towards the belly with one hand and at the same time press either side of the ligament and squeeze if the suspensory ligament or branch is sprained you will get quite a reaction - more so than just the normal reaction you would get by doing this.

 

[brightlights]

sending healing vibes to yours too. Mine is doing pretty well so far, had our 6 week scan today and looking good at the moment so just have to keep on keeping on.

Aw, thank you. That's great about the positive scan

 

[brightlights]

It could be a suspensory branch which splits from the main suspensory ligament and attaches to the sesamoid bone (see image). In my experience injury to this is easier to treat than the actual ligament itself even though its a branch off the same thing. Its usually accompanied by swelling, heat and lameness (that can be inconsistent) and on a circle if the affected leg is on the outside it will make the horse look lame on the inside leg because the horse pushes off with the injured leg and will hop. Where there is injury to either the branch or the ligament it is referred to a Suspensory Desmitis. The injury occurs with excessive load to the fetlock and is very common in SJ's and eventers where the foot hyper extends.

Thank you for sharing, Hopscotch. That's what I was instinctively leaning toward/guessing. And if that is the case, it gives me hope to know it can be easier to treat.

The foot balance insight is an interesting one because my other horse had foot balance-related issues for the first time in her life after we moved here and switched farriers last year. I'll ask my vet on Monday whether he thinks it's played a role in our case. Wow, that would annoy me Not that I'm looking to place any blame. It's just a stinker all around.

I've never heard of ice cups, I will look into them.

 

[ycbm]

This looks to me either like the a strike on the knob on the end of the splint bone, or a suspensory branch injury. There has to be a good chance, given this is both inside and on a hind leg, that this is a knock injury and not a ligament strain. I'm hoping that's the diagnosis you get because recovery from that will likely be much more rapid than a strain, though potentially problematic if the end has broken off the splint bone. You won't know until your vet scans and/or xrays. Fingers crossed for you.

 

[hopscotch bandit]

Thank you for sharing, Hopscotch. That's what I was instinctively leaning toward/guessing. And if that is the case, it gives me hope to know it can be easier to treat.

The foot balance insight is an interesting one because my other horse had foot balance-related issues for the first time in her life after we moved here and switched farriers last year. I'll ask my vet on Monday whether he thinks it's played a role in our case. Wow, that would annoy me Not that I'm looking to place any blame. It's just a stinker all around.

I've never heard of ice cups, I will look into them.

My horse has done her suspensory branch and my friends horse ended up doing four different legs, one was medial the other three lateral branches (he was a SJ but none of the injuries were related to competition although I'm sure they contributed - three were field injuries and one was a lunging injury when he spooked, pulled half a shoe and pranced around on the twisted metal under his foot). I know your not looking for anyone to blame but her farriers foot balance upon x-ray of the horses foot for some unrelated reason showed text book foot balance. So sometimes its not the farrier, it can just be one of those things, or a conformational weakness that eventually comes to light.

Re: ice cups. We have a fridge freezer at our yard and we always have at least two frozen ice cups amongst various peoples tendon wraps and ice vibe liners. On a big yard like ours there is every chance they will be needed, horses being horses!

 

[brightlights]

This looks to me either like the a strike on the knob on the end of the splint bone, or a suspensory branch injury. There has to be a good chance, given this is both inside and on a hind leg, that this is a knock injury and not a ligament strain. I'm hoping that's the diagnosis you get because recovery from that will likely be much more rapid than a strain, though potentially problematic if the end has broken off the splint bone. You won't know until your vet scans and/or xrays. Fingers crossed for you.

Thank you, ycbm. That's something I hadn't considered and am now going to whisper it to myself all weekend in hope that's what's going on Poor pony.

 

[brightlights]

My horse has done her suspensory branch and my friends horse ended up doing four different legs, one was medial the other three lateral branches. Her farriers foot balance upon x-ray of the horses foot for some unrelated reason showed text book foot balance. So sometimes it can be congenital as well with a weakness that eventually comes to light.

That is very good to know and a little bit comforting. Just one of those things sometimes. My gosh, I feel for your friend. That must have been shocking.

 

[hopscotch bandit]

That is very good to know and a little bit comforting. Just one of those things sometimes. My gosh, I feel for your friend. That must have been shocking.

She got used to it in the end although she found it incredibly frustrating at times. He'd go a few months and then do another branch, then go a year or two then do another one which is common too - they often do the opposite leg. Most of the time he was just hoolying in the field having fun and would come in with inflammation but when it was caught early it only took a few months to sort. She's still got him now but like me, can only hack which she's more than content with.

Mine messes in the field as well, probably about three times a year she will go out at night with a cold normal feeling leg and come in from the field the following day with the familiar 'slightly warm buldge' and will be very a little bit lame so I throw everything at her - ice cups, ice vibe, anti inflamms, give her a couple of weeks off and she is fine again to resume light hacking. Once an area is damaged is quite often prone to reoccurring, usually not as badly as the first time though and is manageable with lots of patience lol

 

[ycbm]

Multiple tendon/ligament strains in more than one leg over time is a symptom of DSLD, probably more accurately called ESPA.

BL I had a horse strain a front inside branch. She had six months field rest and was the for the rest of the time I knew of her and went showjumping as well.

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[brightlights]

Update: some very mild swelling in her other hind has become more obvious and one front fetlock has also become warm and swollen. These were not apparent before stall rest. I’m at a complete loss 🤯 She still has an appetite and does not seem to have a temperature. Have managed to get her appointment moved up to tomorrow morning...

 

[ycbm]

He old is she and how much work has she done BL? This must be very worrying for you. I'll be checking tomorrow to see what your vet says.

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[brightlights]

I’m awfully worried. She’s six. I bought her at the start of her five year old year and we've taken it pretty slowly. Mostly 80-90cm classes, a couple 1m-1.05 last year. Not too many shows and never any soundness issues. We took a break from showing last winter and have done a lot of flatwork, poles, and caveletti through spring and summer. She has developed so nicely and has felt the best she’s been.

We’ve been getting a weekly jump school for these last four weeks at another yard. Started the first week with polework and worked up to a two jump gymnastic this week. I don't think we cracked a meter, and the bulk of our work was trot poles. She is and has always been a firecracker with jumping, she's just a hot mare. And she does get anxious with ground poles. So it's not hard to imagine she might have tweaked herself in our lesson but at no point did I feel like anything was hurting and I would not have guessed we did too much.

 

[ycbm]

Does she ever choose to stand downhill, appear to lean backwards or sideways on walls, or sit like a dog when standing up? Heal minor injuries slowly, seem to be very tired after a normal amount of work, or appear grumpy at having to work after working the day before?

Sorry for all the questions but I don't want to worry you unnecessarily and I have a suggestion for you to put to your vet tomorrow if the answers to those questions are yes. If you don't want this and are only looking for a bit of moral support, please ignore me and wait and see what your vet says tomorrow.

I'm not a vet, I just have a friend who struggled with multi leg lameness in a young horse for two years and I would spare anyone that sort of experience if I can.

The likelihood is that she is just jarred up and needs some rest.

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[brightlights]

I have never seen her stand downhill, lean against walls, or sit like a dog, but I would say that in the past, I've felt she gets a bit more muscle sore than my other horses. This is not something that's come up much lately (ie I haven't noticed her sore as much), but last year I would usually give her a day off a day or two earlier in the work week than my other horses.

I feel like I've heard about this before and it's on the tip of my brain. What was your friend's experience? I am so thankful for your input.

I'm starting to worry that my trainer's new woodchip surface hasn't bedded in yet and possibly this, with the anxiety of pole work and gymnastics as probably the most mentally (and thus physically, since she gets so "up") challenging exercises for her this year, has led to either some overuse or strain(s). I'm just so surprised how quickly it could happen and how I felt absolutely nothing in the moment

 

[ycbm]

Her horse almost certainly had ESPA, a condition that results in the normal daily microtears in soft tissue of all types repairing with proteoglycans instead of tendon/muscle/etc. Over time the stuff builds up and the symptoms worsen. It used to be called Degenerative Suspensory Ligament Disease, DSLD, because the most obvious symptom is either hardening of the suspensory ligaments or dropping of the pasterns as they stretch. Scanned ligaments sometimes show the accumulation of the wrong tissue in the ligaments but as far as I'm aware the definitive diagnosis is by biopsy of the nuchal ligament from the neck. My friend chose instead to have her horse put to sleep as he was clearly a very unhappy horse at seven after two years of issues . His history was initially of a lack of energy to sustain a normal workload for his age and training, dropping pasterns when ridden, followed by strange, intermittent and unexplained lamenesses in various legs.

This condition still isn't well recognised by UK vets and IF your young mare appears to have strained ligaments or tendons in more than one leg for no obvious reason, then in your shoes I'd be wanting a conversation with the vet about ruling it out now rather than waiting for time and further lameness to make it clear. Particularly since you sound as if you may have had niggling unspecific doubts for a while.

It's far more likely that she is just jarred and your vet will be able to completely reassure you tomorrow. Fingers crossed that's all it is.

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[hopscotch bandit]

Update: some very mild swelling in her other hind has become more obvious and one front fetlock has also become warm and swollen. These were not apparent before stall rest. I’m at a complete loss 🤯 She still has an appetite and does not seem to have a temperature. Have managed to get her appointment moved up to tomorrow morning...

Legs do swell up on box rest especially when its relatively warm outside due to oedema so that might be what she has.

 

[KittenInTheTree]

I'm starting to worry that my trainer's new woodchip surface hasn't bedded in yet and possibly this, with the anxiety of pole work and gymnastics as probably the most mentally (and thus physically, since she gets so "up") challenging exercises for her this year, has led to either some overuse or strain(s). I'm just so surprised how quickly it could happen and how I felt absolutely nothing in the moment

I would also want the vet to check for the possibility of this being an allergic reaction of some kind to the new woodchip.

 

[hopscotch bandit]

Any news yet Brightlights? I see you had the vet this morning, I hope it was good news.

 

[brightlights]

I would also want the vet to check for the possibility of this being an allergic reaction of some kind to the new woodchip.

Thank you so much to everyone for their kind and thoughtful responses. It was immensely reassuring to see your thoughts. Am just back from the vet now and his best guess is that it was a reaction to the woodchip. The test for a systemic infection came back negative so we’re going to go with a course of antibiotics and anti-inflams and monitor her for the next five days.

I can’t believe it, honestly, but am very relieved/cautiously optimistic

 

[hopscotch bandit]

W

Thank you so much to everyone for their kind and thoughtful responses. It was immensely reassuring to see your thoughts. Am just back from the vet now and his best guess is that it was a reaction to the woodchip. The test for a systemic infection came back negative so we’re going to go with a course of antibiotics and anti-inflams and monitor her for the next five days.

I can’t believe it, honestly, but am very relieved/cautiously optimistic

Woodchip can cause nasty reactions in some animals and also in humans. It can cause Aspergillosis (pronounced As burk u low sis) which is caused by a mould. In humans in can cause skins sores as well as a cough and shortness of breath but not sure how it presents in a horse.

My friends beagle ended up with allergic rhinitis and constant reverse sneezing which she believed was caused by the woodchip. They did a nasal swab and grew it in a petri dish but it never proved anything but her symptoms happened the day their chickens arrived and the woodchip was put down in their run which her dog had been sniffing at. The vets treated her with steroids which is what they treat Aspergillosis with although they didn't think it was likely.

 

[ester]

Sounds like it might be easily sorted albeit problematic with regards to schooling/moving yards if that is the case!

Fwiw that's not how most people pronounce aspergillosis HB, it is more usually a·spuh·gi·luh·sis (the g being soft). Skin sores are usually only associated with a disseminated infection that started in the lungs and usually that needs bad lungs to start with.

 

[brightlights]

Craziness! Has certainly made me rethink putting in a woodchip all-weather paddock. I suppose it all depends on the type and treatment of the chip, as well as the horse, but yeesh. Now to figure out how to approach it with my new trainer

 

[hopscotch bandit]

Craziness! Has certainly made me rethink putting in a woodchip all-weather paddock. I suppose it all depends on the type and treatment of the chip, as well as the horse, but yeesh. Now to figure out how to approach it with my new trainer

Its also very slippy in the wet and degrades (not sure if thats the right word for some lol) very quickly.

Ester I am a site secretary not a rocket scientist like yourself