Swollen hind leg - any ideas?

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PalominoMare

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Hi

I noticed on Tuesday night that Tiffany was holding her hind leg up when she was eating her feed (she lives out ) so immediately thought abcess due to all this weather. I felt her hoof and noticed she didnt like me touching her leg and there was not heat in the hoof or leg. Highly possible though that since we've had fouldweather and they have badly poached the area under their shelter tree that the mud / water is keeping it cool.

Last night I had another good look and the inside of her hind leg running the legnth of her cannon none is hard and swollen. She doesnt seem lame but its hard to tell in the mud and tbh if it wasnt for her holding her leg I may not have noticed in the dark.

I still think the mud / water is keeping the heat from it and as far as I can tell there is no wound but I would need to hose her leg off to tell and I can't do this properly until the weekend when I can get her out of the field and to a hose / see her in daylight.

It's times like this I wish they didn't live out

Does anyone have any clues? If this screams tendon damage please let me know and I will skip work tomorrow and get the vet. If this had happened when she was stabled I would of been more confident at assessing it myself but I am conscious that as I don't have the facilities anymore that I may be missing something.
 
Its probably an infection of some type, possibly a cut you cannot see under the mud a puncture wound or mudfever would be the likely cause of a swelling of this nature.

You really do need to get the leg clean so you can have a proper look to see what is going on, if left too long infections can cause further damage that will be more difficult to treat.
 
be positive said:
Its probably an infection of some type, possibly a cut you cannot see under the mud a puncture wound or mudfever would be the likely cause of a swelling of this nature.

You really do need to get the leg clean so you can have a proper look to see what is going on, if left too long infections can cause further damage that will be more difficult to treat.
Click to expand...

Thanks, i'll try my best tonight with a bucket and water and see if I can find anything. If infected, would the whole leg not swell like a tree trunk rather than be localised to one area?
 
If infected the swelling will start in the area where infection gets in then spread, so you may find the whole leg swollen, although it can take several days to get to that stage.
It may not be an infection but if it is it is easily dealt with and better than a tendon injury.
 
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