Windgalls (sp!!?)

[Rachelk]

I bought my boy in last night and one of his back legs had quite a swelling which looked very much like a windgall to me. I was quite shocked as this appears to have come out of the blue (we havent been doing any hard work - just the usual, the grounds not hard, has not been galloping about). Can anyone pass on any information about these ??

Thanks

 

[Lissa]

My pony has had them for about 2years now and although they first came up after cantering on hard ground and not being fit there doesn't seem to be any pattern to when they come up now. Some days they'll hardly be there even though we've been xc schooling for example, other days they seem to come up really bad for no reason.

In my experience of them they've never caused any problems like lameness they just don't look very nice.

Haven't been able to find anyway of really reducing them though, was actually just going to post asking for advice on it when I saw your thread. My vet said there isn't really anything you can do about them. There was something he said (can't remember what) but also said that even then they are likely to re-occur.

 

[ImogenBurrows]

Windgalls are a distension of the digital tendon sheath which sits above and below the level of the fetlock, behind the fetlock joint pouch itself. They can be associated with trauma (hard ground etc); but also can occur from primary or secondary to the sheath itself or from structures injured within it, e.g hand in hand with a tendon injury at that level.
Most of the time the cause is unknown and there is no associated lameness.
The fluid swelling is unsightly and can be drained and steroids put into the sheath to slow recurrence of the fluid, but this is really for cosmesis and has limited success - at least in my hands.
Usually, they appear and don't change much, but can vary in size depending on the work load etc. I would only worry if there is an associated lameness.

Hope that is some help.
Imogen

 

[Rachelk]

Thanks Imogen, I did think they were quite common and not to worry to much but it just took me by suprise, I have been working him and he seems fine so hopefully it will be nothing to worry about.

Thanks again.