Swollen Leg/Lame.. do you call the vet or sort it yourself?

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IWTO

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My boy has cut his leg not sure how (its not a kick) he is lame on it and sore, its a tad swollen but nothing major.

-there is noone on my yard and i was sat here thinking how normally i would ask someone here for advice but instead i rang and asked my vet instead.

It suddenly occured to me how many people would have the vet out?

How many would sort it themselves?

How many would ring for advice?

Theres a lady at my yard who calls the vet out for anything at all, then theres the YO who nearly always sorts it herself.

Others?
 
Weelllll......

One of my horses is a poof.....even the most innocuous cut /graze can end up with a grossly swollen leg - he gets lymphangitis .....sometimes its mildy swollen and only I would notice, other times its grossly swollen.

TBH....most of the time I manage myself with cold hosing/massage and turnout....if the leg is deffo infected/hot/lame/joint involvement then I get the vet. He's well known to them, is my lad........
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Cuts and scrapes and the odd limp I deal with myself. When MoM fell she was holding her leg in the air and wouldn't walk or bear weight on it, also had a deep puncture wound on her elbow which I thought needed poking for foreign bodies and an antibiotic shot, so I called the vet.
 
If in doubt I call the vet.

Swelling and lameness is usually indicative of infections - so AB's and AF's would be required anyway.
 
You haven't really described the cut in question which would decide for me. If it was a clean, recent surface cut I would look after it myself and keep a very careful eye. I'd call the vet if it wasn't healing smoothly. If it was deap, old, dirty or just abit of a mess then I would be getting the vet out. Cuts can often look alot worse then they are but sometimes they can be alot worse then you think. The big thing I think with cuts is where the hell they are!! Anything around joints and tendons will have the vet on the phone. If the horse was cut and lame I'd be getting the vet too unless it was very mild just sore lame.
 
I would probs not get the vet out unless there is something blatently wrong but never had lameness as a reason to call out vet in 7 years
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Depends on the horse and how bad the injury is. Current boy is a sweller, so I would cold hose and give it 24hrs if there was an obvious minor cut, or was just swollen and not (very) lame.

If it was a larger\deeper injury, lots of bleeding, or he was very lame I would call the Vet.
 
I tend to phone my vet, have a chat and then take it from there if its something I am not sure about. But like Booboos would prefer a wasted vet visit than complications.
 
i think alot of people tend too worry alot of a swollen leg or a bit of lameness ,but they would cause there horses are there life, if its just a small cut and the horse has tet uptodate iwouldnt worry and deal it with my self ,if my horse has lameness i hose it down 3 times aday and give a bute and keep an eye on it for a a couple of days if it still the same after all efforts and 2 days i would consolt vet touch would i have never had a horse go lame for more then two days
 
Depends on the horse and how lame/cause of cut etc.

My old girlie is tough as old boots so if she went lame I would be very worried, if she was just sore and swollen I would probably try a few days of sorting it out myself.

The big lad however being a TB gets an elephant leg from a scratch and even if he isn't lame I have had a vet out for fairly minor stuff as I have learned to my cost that he gets infections very quickly and is a complete baby over everything.

I think if you know your horse as an individual then you know what is best for him.
 
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