Tendon lump

[seoirse]

Hi guys, I'm new here, wonder if you can give me some advice.

My pony Lolly came in absolutely hopping lame this afternoon. First thought was lammy as we've been battling this for some time but no, not lammy at all, farrier was there so he had good prod, nothing wrong in foot. Tendon seemed quite swollen and lots of heat in it so I ice packed it. It brought the majority of swelling down and left an odd sort of 'vein' like swelling. Its the whole way round the tendon, like a fat vein under the skin and its mobile, I can wiggle it under the skin. Its obviously sore but he lets me fiddle with it. He can hardly put weight on it though. He had a packet of bute which seemed to help after a couple of hours but still a very very sore pony.

I took a picture with my phone but not sure how to post it on here! If no improvment in morning going to get vet as he's so lame. Any ideas? So worried and so gutted. Just as we conquer lammy (sounds for 12 weeks now) he finds something else.
He was fine at 5am this morning so he did it inbetween and last night he was very frisky indeed and trotted ahead of me when I brought him in.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Lolly and Seoirse

 

[cyearsley]

The only advice I have is to ice pack it for 20 mins at a go every 2 hrs (obviously you have to sleep!) and if in any doubt call the vet. Am sure your horse is fine but my horse has a DDFT injury and was taken to the vet within 24hrs of the injury having had it ice packed and then left overnight to see if lameness improved (it didn;t so vet came the next day). With tendon injuries keeping the swelling down is key and the first 14 days following the injury are key so would keep up with the ice, rest him and keep in until your happy or call vet if in any doubt.

 

[seoirse]

I have left him out as he's in a teeny weeny paddock with rubber matting so can't go very far (long story but he's laminitic and terrible box walker so had to overcome the lammy without actual indoor box rest, he essentially has an open air stable!!). Going in morning to ice it again, might be able to rope someone into icing it for me about lunchtime as well and then will do again after work and will assess it tomorrow evening and decide if no improvement to get vet on Thurs.
Whats a DDFT injury?
Thanks for advice.

 

[cyearsley]

My horse has a suspected tear to the deep digital flexor tendon. This is unusual in the sense that normally its the superficial one and normally a front leg is more common. Please, please don't get me wrong, am not saying your boy has anything like it but would say that with anything like tendon issues etc, always best to get it checked out if you're unsure and ice etc helps any inflammation so will always help. Good luck and let us know how he gets on.