What do you do with filled legs??

[Romansmum]

My 4 year old tb's legs fill badly in the night. They go down quite quickly as soon as she is exercised or put into the field. This means that i have problems putting boots on and have to ride, get off put boots on etc, or let her go out in the field cover herself in mud and come back, then i ahve to try to get clean legs and mud off.

There is no heat or lameness - she is an ex racer so i think her legs have done a lot etc

So any iideas, what do you all do to stop swelling?

 

[RachelB]

Bandage??

 

[Romansmum]

unfortunatley she walkes like an atomic space monkey when bandaged. and she has to spread her legs (bend one and put the other in front of her) to eat her dinner and all the hay she throws on the floor. and the bandahes tend to come loose during this exercise!!

before you say: 'higher food bowl' she needs to be able to graze and is working on stretching her neck muscles as being a racer it is a new skill for her!!

 

[RachelB]

Unless you can turn her out more then or try those Veredus stable boots, I have no idea!
ETA: I wonder actually if those silver FAL boots would do anything for swelling? I don't know, will have to look that one up!

 

[_daisy_]

id bandage them if I were you. The more she has them on the more she will get used to them and stop walking like a " atomic space monkey "

Also the more practice you get will get you to the point where they wont fall down what ever she does.

 

[clairencappelli]

I have a tb who gets filled legs at night when in longer nights in the winter. She used to pull at bandages making them dodgy to use... the answer...

Colin cook leg wraps! They are about 35 for a set of 4 and have 5 strechy tapes to give a snug fit. They are just fab and can go on wet/muddy legs too.

Maximise turnout and when they come in pop them on, they make a big diffence they are one of the thing i wouldnt be without.

http://www.frogpool.com/product-2899.htm

 

[seaview]

My boy is the same I am going to try the stable wraps
Premier equine do good ones too!
Nat
x

 

[AmyMay]

Bandage - and also look at the reasons why they are filling - which could possibly be feed related. We have found with the big lad on my yard that now he is getting much more oil in his diet we don't need to bandage his legs overnight, as was previous.

Perhaps something to consider.

 

[vicm2509]

Bandage, if done properly they shouldnt come loose during exercise. If she pulls them off put some insulation tape on to keep them in place. Im sure after a few nights she will lern to cope with them fine.

Or if you really dont want to can you not walk her inhand for 10 mins? They should go down in this time.

When Baron is kept in for long periods his back ones fill a little bit, im lucky to have a horse walker at our yard and they will go down after 5 mins in there.

 

[sally2008]

Hobby-horse time for me - sorry! Have a look at the underside of her feet and put something straight and level (like a ruler) across the shoe over the frog (assuming she's shod!) - if her frog doesn't come into contact with it, this could be your problem. If she's being shod with insufficient frog pressure then the frog doesn't function correctly and this tends to cause fluids to accumulate in the legs as they are not been pushed around the system. Ask you farrier to address this next time she's shod and you could well see an improvement.

 

[Romansmum]

hmm wraps sound brill and not too soul destroying collevting the bits from round the stable.

Yes she's shod and i will check with my farrier she is due soon. thank you for all your ideas they are very helpful.