I have called the vet, and US has been done. Not tendon fiber damage.
I have a very sensitive mare who is my everything equine right now. She popped a splint late last week, so I gave her off and called the vet. Started using surpass and wrapped both front legs night before vet came. Next morning I took wraps off, and non splint leg looked great for about an hour, and then the perfect bow appeared. My heart sank, and I figured we injured in XC schooling several days prior, but vet was already coming, so an US was in the works. Vet and I discussed it, and she felt maybe my mare struck herself as I am a very experienced wrapper and I was using 2 no bow quilts covered with flannel wraps. I called vet back several days later asking if I could have caused that damage by wrapping. She said yes, but it was unlikely as she had seen my wraps, and I am pretty confident in my wrapping ability. But, mare contined to get these âlumpsâ on both front legs after wrapping. I have tried everything. I even bought those expensive equifit quilts with the T foam in them, but no difference. I have tried about every bandage material on the market, but like flannels the best. I currently have my mare turned out, as her legs were huge from all the soft tissue damage and scurfing of hair that had occurred.
Her legs look almost normal except for 1 small lump on right front and 3 small lumps on left front. Most of the edema is now gone.
Can some horses just not tolerate ANY pressure on their legs? I have been wrapping a boarders horse for 6 weeks now for a bow, with no issues at all. And prior to this, I really never wrapped my mare for anything. I would put some back on track quick wraps on if she had a hard workout.
Looking for anybody else with a similar horse. She is very sensitive, and blows up with even the smallest nick, or tiniest irritation. And I gave up long ago putting anything in her hind legs, as even the quick wraps would rub her Pasterns raw.
I have looked into the equisox, and wondering if they might work for her. I really feel awful as it is definitely the wraps causing all this damage, but not sure if even the best wrapper out there could make a standing wrap work her.
Despite all this, she is worth it. 
Thanks for reading!!!
probably not bandage bows but fluid collection.
I took my OTTB to his first HT last month and thought Iâd be an awesome horseman and wrap him over Sat night with no bows.
I take his wraps off to tack him up for XC on Sunday AM and both fronts looked like bandage bows. uuuugh.
I jogged him for my friend and he looked fine.
Slapped his XC boots on and finished the competition.
When I took his XC boots off his fronts were back to normal.
No more standing wraps for him!! lol
This happened with my last horse as well. He has a fat leg and I wrapped it to see if I could tidy it up for a YEH competition. I took the wrap up and it swelled soooo big I had to scratch. It was so bad and painful for him that I had the vet come out!!
He eventually grew out of the wrapping issue because later in his life I was able to use standing wraps at shows.
Some horses canât tolerate them, some can. My dressage horse looks hideous after a night in a stall at a show if he is not in standing wraps behind overnight. Never mind that he spends every frigging night in at home. Wrapless. And he spends hours and hours out of his stall during the day at a show.
Still using Surpass? there is some discussion on adverse reaction to this product âŠ
No-bows can also be the problem, if they have seams through them. If you are going to wrap again, try a different âcottonâ. I also donât like the foam thatâs the padding of no-bows - it can be neoprene-like (i.e. synthetic and doesnât breathe). I have seen horses get âbandage bowsâ from neoprene brush boots and no-bow bandages.
I know youâre very confident in your skills, but have you tried with someone else wrapping?
one of my mares cannot tolerate standing wraps for more than a few hours - her vet (yes, her personal vet!!) who is the official track vet- said âtheyâre her legs, do what She wants.â so when we were competing she got the full ice then poultice treatment but the bandages came off before bedtime. The back on track quickwraps she could wear overnight and seemed to get the edema down.
and I have piles of old school wilkerâs broad cloth flannel lined quilties + web standing bandages - I tried pillow wraps too. I would have moved up to Equi flex sleeve type thing for that mare eventually. I noticed that the wide 6" rather than 4" bandages were more acceptable to madam.
Absolutely cannot use No Bows on Toby. He bandage bows in a hot second in them. I use nice, plush quilts, and he is usually fine. I absolutely donât let anyone else wrap him, though. It is just so easy with him.
He has very sensitive skin, and some seriously trivial things can cause issues in any part of him (most ridiculous? Welts from the trim of a saddle pad).
[QUOTE=alto;7599694]
Still using Surpass? there is some discussion on adverse reaction to this product âŠ[/QUOTE]
Iâve had an adverse reaction w Surpass after a night of bandaging. Still love the product, wonât use it on my horse anymore. He flared up on the leg Surpass was on, and it looked like cellulitis but thankfully wasnât. It really irritated him.
FWIW, a horse at my barn that I take care of also does not do well with wraps - heâs a PC mount that has been âin the serviceâ (and consequentially, frequently wrapped at rallies/shows) and all the sudden in his 23rd year, had cellulitis and the day after wraps it looks like his legs are tree trunks. Gets worse every time, but owners still wrap him.
Thanks everyone for all your thoughts and reassurance that I am not crazy. I did wonder if the surpass was part of the problem, and the vet and I did decide it was better to stop everything that was on her leg. But, the skin on the splint does seem ok, so unsure if the surpass is a problem.
I also did try the equifit memory foam quilts as well as pillow wraps and regular no bows and back on track no bows. I even tried putting the quick wrap liner on first and wrapped a no bow wrap around it.
I wish I could say with 100% certainty that my wrapping is not the problem, but I have never had an issue before, and I have owned horses for 25 years. I am not brave enough to ask someone else to wrap her, as my barn is rather small, and no one else there has significant experience. That would be a good idea, but at this point, I am not sure I want to ever out a wrap on her again 
I am looking into the equisox, that might be a viable alternative. Especially if I need something to cover a wound in the future. I do appreciate everyoneâs comments. They make me feel a lot better. I have truly felt awful about all of this, and it seems the more that I was trying to do, the worse I was making it. Hopefully in the morning she will be back to normal. If not, Iâm hoping soon. We are getting a repeat US on June 9th just to be sure.
You might want to consider a lympadema sleeve instead like this one: http://www.equicrown.com/equicrownr.html.
My horse re-tore his DDFT in January and Iâve been using this sleeve since then instead of bandages to manage the swelling, and itâs been great. I bought a pair, but only use one on the healing leg (that gives me time to wash/air dry one while heâs wearing the other). My BO especially appreciates how easy it is to hook and zip versus dealing with pillows and wraps. 
Good luck with your pony!
Thank you for that link! Thatâs exactly what I am looking for. Hoping they are a better solution for me. I am a nurse as well, and was thinking a TEDS stocking for a horse would be perfect!
Her legs are almost normal, though one is covered with scratches like scabs/scurf all over the leg. Trying not to touch it as I know it will blow up again if I do. Slathering MTG on her legs and hoping in a few days they will be fine. Just 1 small lump in the middle of right front remains. She was her normal obnoxious self this evening, banging on doors and gates and demanding attention. She hasnât done this for a few days as I think her legs hurt. She was always sound, but her legs were so sensitive to touch. Thanks again everyone. It means a lot to have all your support and ideas.
I think it just happens with some horses. I will never forget my horror when I bandaged bowâd one of my OTTBs at one of his first events. I had wrapped him with no-bows and while I am not the worlds greatest wrapper I had passed my USPC A the year before, so I didnât think I was totally useless! The horse was fine, and turned out to be a highly sensitive chestnut TB type. In the future I wrapped him with much thicker cottons when necessary and never had another problem. It is frightening though!
The flannel wraps might be contributing as well, since they donât have the give/stretch that âregularâ standing wraps have. I was always paranoid about bows when I had to wrap in flannels!
Dry Cow (for mastitis) works wonders on scratchesâitâs about $4 at the feed store for a tubeâI can usually do all four pasterns with one tube. Itâs also great to use when they get âickâ down between the heel bulbs (the nozzle fits perfectly down in there).
you guys are freaking me out with the âbandage bowâ term. But I guess it is the accepted term for this issue?
Horses do not recover from bowed tendons. The tendons can heal but are always an old INJURY.
Horses that swell up from bandages like the OPs did is not an injury rather an adverse reaction to the horsemanship and presents as edema only. No tendon damage.
The one time I saw a horse who was bowed from bandages/boots was actually bowed⊠and was not just edema.
I think Iâm totally confusedâŠ
I think that is the problem, âbandage bowâ is a very loose term, and I have heard it utilized to describe both. Though is does sound like actually causing tendon damage from wrapping is rare. The few examples I found of tendon fiber damage being caused by wraps was due to wrap coming undone and creating a tourniquet type situation on the horses leg. Not sure about numbers, but I would be curious how many tendon fibers have been damaged by an ill placed standing wrap.
Putting some calls out tomorrow to try to get Either a pair of equisox from England, or equicrown lymphadema sleeves for miss princess. Big D apparently carries them, but she needs a small in regular length, and it appears they do my carry that size.
I will never question this again, and will utilize a wrap like these in the future. It amazes me how I have 2 barn mates being wrapped at the same time, with the same material, and one has nice tight legs, and the other looked like I took a baseball bat to her legs. Wrapped them both exactly the same way. Horses.
Bandage bows looks like a bow to the naked eye but there is no fiber damage when you ultrasound. They tend to heal very quickly as in a matter of days not months to a year like a real bow. Still something you want to avoid if possible but not a huge problem like a real bow.
Thanks for the equisleeve link. I did see those, and liked the idea, but they need to be pulled in over the foot. The other two actually zip or Velcro on, and from reviews I have read, appear to be less likely to slip down. It appears from reviews I found, quite a few people complained about the equisleeve falling down. Not exactly sure which product to go with, so I do appreciate everyoneâs suggestions!
