To get the Vet or not

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painted ponies

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Went out to my horse yesterday morning to find his hind leg fairly swolen, maybe 5 inches down from the hock more so on the indide of the leg, his front leg on the same side again is swolen but nowhere near as bad, legs were not hot but not quite as cold as the good leg, he does not have any injuries and hooves are cold and no temp. Went down in the evening yesterday the bad legs were a little hot so wrapped with clay and gave a 1 gram of bute. This morning legs may have gone down a tad but still a little warm. Horse is out 24/7.

What would you do if you were me? Don't really want to waste the vets time or my money.
 
I would have called the vet but I prefer to err on the side of caution to be honest. It sounds like your horse's legs have been having some kind of problem for 24 hours which is quite long in my book.

Hope it's nothing serious!
 
painted ponies said:
Went out to my horse yesterday morning to find his hind leg fairly swolen, maybe 5 inches down from the hock more so on the indide of the leg, his front leg on the same side again is swolen but nowhere near as bad, legs were not hot but not quite as cold as the good leg, he does not have any injuries and hooves are cold and no temp. Went down in the evening yesterday the bad legs were a little hot so wrapped with clay and gave a 1 gram of bute. This morning legs may have gone down a tad but still a little warm. Horse is out 24/7.

What would you do if you were me? Don't really want to waste the vets time or my money.
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Could be tendon, could be lymphangitis or cellulitis, could be mud fever. Could be 101 things, so maybe call the vet today save you having to pay an arm and a leg over the weekend if you have to call them then :(
 
The only reason I wouldn't call the vet straight away would be to allow swelling to subside so a scan could be done. In the interim, I'd speak to a vet and rest, bandage and cold hose as much as possible (assuming vet says to do this).
 
With this damp warm weather this week, I would put money on him having mudfever, even if it's not obvious yet.The skin gets waterlooged allowing the bacteria to get under the skin and into the lymphatic system, causing the swelling. I would get him into a dry stable first off, and let the skin dry off. You can't combat mudfever with wet legs.
 
AshTay said:
The only reason I wouldn't call the vet straight away would be to allow swelling to subside so a scan could be done. In the interim, I'd speak to a vet and rest, bandage and cold hose as much as possible (assuming vet says to do this).
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I'd go with this advice - ring them, they'll prob agree with this anyway. :)
 
could also be a virus, or something he ate. My horse had a virus that caused this, but at first vet thought it was something he ate in the field
 
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