Swollen Fetlock on mare (Update!)

[Chickerdoodle13]

Of course something always ends up happening that prevents me from riding! Anyways, I went out to get the mare that I've been riding and could tell right away that she was limping on her front right leg. She was putting weight on the leg, just limping pretty noticeably. I took her out on the pavement just to make sure she was definitely limping and sure enough, she was. So instead of doing anything with her, I put her in her stall to rest. I couldn't find anything out of the ordinary with the leg, but my dad found that her fetlock is a little swollen and squishy on one side.

I had worked her the day before, but not very hard at all and my dad has worked her much harder than that and she has never limped. She also wasn't limping at all when I was riding her. My dad said she wasn't limping when he fed her breakfast and the way she was limping, I'm pretty sure you could have told right away.

Our pastures are basically a mess with all the mud and I'm thinking she may have slipped or twisted it. Does what I'm describing sound like a sprain or a twist? I'm so afraid that it is something very serious and I'm hoping its just something that will heal. We haven't had the vet over yet, but if she looks like this for more than a week, we will definitely consider it. Is there anything we can do in the mean time? For now we have her either in a stall or a very small paddock to restrict her movement and to keep her out of the mud. My dad has bute, but we have not yet given her any.

Thanks for any help! I really hope its nothing serious or something that will keep her out of commission for a long time!

 

[Farmer Kitty]

I'm not real familiar with horse injuries but, I am familiar with bute. I would give her some to help with the pain and swelling. As well as keeping her in small dry quarters.

 

[Bronco Hollow]

Also try hosing the leg several time a day with cold water.

 

[Countrymom]

cold hose and a small dose of bute. You don't want her to not feel any pain and forget. But the bute will help swelling. Also MSM if you can't get a hold of a vet soon enough. It just takes a lot longer to work. In the daylight you maybe able to see more swelling and possible injury. Check for heat in the hoof and inspect the hoof completely as well.

I swear they are children in fur. If they can hurt themselves and be stupid they will. My 5 year old tore up the entire water trough and took out the hard plumbing on his way out of the paddock. We had water everywhere and broken pipes. Idiot. This is what you get after being in a stall and cutting training.

 

[2468herdsrgr8]

I swear they are children in fur. If they can hurt themselves and be stupid they will.

So very true....My heart races everytime they run around acting silly stupid in the slick wet pasture....

Hope your horses feels better in the next couple of days....

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Thanks guys. I cold hosed her leg yesterday before I left and stuck her back in her stall. We had a tube of bute but she wouldn't take it in the mouth so I mixed two little squirts with her food and I think she at least ate some of it. (At least some that she didn't spit out)

She's still putting weight on her foot, but it seems sometimes she tries to step on the toe. She looks ok when she is walking on soft ground, but on harder ground you can tell she is definitely limping. Also when she turns around you can tell. It could be an abscess or maybe a sprain. I'm thinking she could have even twisted the foot stepping on a rock. I just hope it isn't something more serious like a tear. I couldn't see too much swelling, but my dad says he can see that her fetlock is puffy compared to the other one.

My dad doesn't seem too concerned about it just yet and he says we will wait until the weekend to call the vet. If she doesn't get any better by then we'll have him check her out. Hopefully she shows some improvement by then. Of course I worry over everything when it comes to leg injuries, but so far its just looking like a temporary injury.

I will keep you updated! I may be able to take a video of her tomorrow, but I will check her out again when I get home and hose her leg. It actually seemed like she liked it the first time I hosed it. My dad said she looked ok this morning though.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I just figured I'd update a bit.

Yesterday my horse was still limping quite a bit. This morning my dad fed the animals and put her int he small square and told me she was only limping a little bit, but not quite as badly as yesterday. Tonight when I got home from my grandmother's house, I went down to the barn to hose her leg again and when I walked her around, she was hardly limping at all. I can tell she's still a bit ouchy, but I had to look really hard to see that she was. She hasn't had bute since yesterday in the early afternoon, so I'm fairly certain the limping isn't being masked.

I took a good look at her hoof again and I'm thinking maybe she just bruised the frog. My dad said he saw swelling, but I really couldn't see any difference in the two fetlocks. She isn't shoed though and the ground has been extremely muddy. We try to keep the horses out of the mud as much as we can, but sometimes its unavoidable. Her frogs are sort of soft from all the wet, so it would have been real easy for her to have hit it on a rock and bruised the heal. I couldn't see that she had any pain in the joint when I flexed it and I didn't notice a strong pulse at all. It felt the same in both front feet. Also, a bruised heal would explain why she was trying to step on her toe yesterday. When I pressed hard on the heel she did sort of look at me and show a small reaction, but I couldn't visibly see or smell anything out of the ordinary. She was trimmed about a week ago and the farrier would have said something if he saw anything wrong. He actually said she had nice feet LOL.

So now the plan is to keep her stalled and in the small paddock for a week longer. If she gets worse, we will call the vet, but if we don't notice any limping after a week, I will take her to the round pen to do some very very light work. (Some walking and very light trotting. I'll stop if she shows up lame, but if not, I'll watch her the day after to see if she comes up lame) I'll know then if she's still ouchy and whether or not something is still bothering her. I know we're not quite out of the rough yet, but I was sooo happy to see such a big improvement in one day!

During the next couple days, I'm going to go into the round pen and pick some little stones I noticed the horses had kicked up. Its very possible she could have hit one of those the day I worked her. I know she had bone splints as a yearling too, but I don't really think that is what caused her the pain.

Thanks for all the advice though! I will continue to hose the foot for the next couple of days. Even if it doesn't do anything, she seems to love it. She fell asleep today the whole time I was hosing the leg and when I stopped, she looked very upset! LOL

 

[Countrymom]

With all the mud you have been having I am going to take a good guess here...
Here is a link...check out the third item down....
http://www.southtexastack.com/shopping.cfm
I have a horse that has thrush problems. I don't necessarily smell anything on his either, but his frog gets kind of eaten out from the inside of the heal area out. Even keeping up with it doesn't mean we see it coming he is that bad. I notice a head bob limp at a trot or lope and just know it is back. When he was first really bad (after we purchased him) he would limp pretty bad. Thrush Buster is the best I have found on the market and from home remedies.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I was thinking about thrush as this mud has been horrible, but I've never dealt with it before, so I have no idea of the symptoms. Most websites and books tell you there is a bad smell and dark fluid leaking from the heals, but I'm guessing with a milder case you may not have either symptom?

What should I look for in her frog and heal? Is this somethign that could affect just one foot? The only one I see her having an issue with is that front right one. She doesn't really let us pick up her backs yet (She's getting better though!) so I can't check them, but like I said you could barely notice a limp at all today. Its definitely a possibility and one that I have to be concerned about with all our horses. Honestly, I'm surprised we've never had it before in any of our guys!

Thanks! I'm going to take a look at that link and do some more researching on the internet. I hate dealing with foot problems as I always assume the worst!

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I think you were referring to the pine tar on that website. We may actually have some of that in the barn. I can't remember what we used it for though. If I can find it, I'll apply some tomorrow providing the rain holds out. We had close to three inches last night!