What could it be? - leg related

[TS_]

I was wondering if you could all help me as I'm quite concerned. I got Suni out of the field last night to ride and immediately thought that her leg wasn't right. She, to me, has a swollen pastern area. I troted her up, sound, and showed my YO who thought I was worrying about nothing. So I rode her and she was sound. Checked it again today and decided not to ride as the ground is hard and I'm still not convinced it's right. I took the measuring tape to it and it measures an inch bigger than the other, I now have a 'yard stick' so I can measure it daily to check for changes.
So I was wondering what peoples thoughts are? Vet is coming out next week anyway so if it's not better by then she'll be checked over. Obviously if she gets worse the vet will be called sooner, she is sound though.
I'll show you a picture I took this evening to show the area I mean.

Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Halfstep]

Ringbone probably. Arthritic condition of the coffin joint. What you see in that picture is the bony change on the joint. Normally, once it fuses it is pretty much ok, but can cause pain and lameness while forming. Steroid/HA injections into the coffin joint should help. Speak to your vet.

 

[TS_]

Ringbone, arthritic condition at 5/6 years of age?

 

[Halfstep]

Yes. Unfortunately. That is more than possible.

Of course it could be something else. But that area is exactly where ringbone shows.

 

[TS_]

Prognosis if it is ringbone? She hasn't been at all lame but my friend has a horse with ringbone that is no longer able to be ridden? Please tell me that's not always the case?

 

[Halfstep]

Depends! Vet and xrays will tell! Like all arthritic conditions it depends on the individual. Of course it might be a knock or a kick.

 

[TS_]

It won't be a kick as she's alone. She's very accident prone so there's the possibility it's a knock, not sure how she would knock it and make it swell there but knowing her it's possible. I'm not going to be able to sleep for worrying now

Thanks for your help, fingers crossed it's not though.

 

[Brummyrat]

Hey dont panic, it'll probably go down by itself but, there is life after ringbone, my boy was diagnosed with slight ring/sidebone about six or seven years ago now, he's still being ridden six days a week, still jumps, does dressage and bucks like a loon

 

[Brummyrat]

I should add though, I knew something was wrong when he started putting short steps in while trotting in the school, and yours is sound, Im not an authority on it though unfortunately