Broodmare with lymphangitis

[Ozalynda]

My broodmare is out on loan for a 2011 foal (produced a lovely filly) and is now back in foal and due to come home in a month. Yesterday I got an email that she was kicked in the hock and has now developed lymphangitis which is proving difficult and expensive to treat, plus they tell me some of the treatments available are not possible since she is in foal.

I am worried sick. I have never had any experience with this problem and the information I get with Googe is alarming (including higher risk of abortion). I would love to hear some level discussions of the risks for an infoal mare (and her fetus) with lymphangitis.

[Phoenix_Australia]

I have had a long, drawn out, 3 year experience with a friends’ horse agisted on my property, with lymphangitis, until we put him down at 28yo. He was a big, athletic TB, who kept fantastic condition, but the main reason we put him down was nothing to do with the lymphangitis, it was the stringhalt that kept on plaguing him & making his life miserable.

The lymphangitis never even slowed him down - it just looked revolting. After months of fruitless treatment, it just grew to the size that it wanted to grow to, and nothing was going to stop it. After a couple of years we got the vet to drop him and slice the whole thing off, and start again. It was just like really thick slices of hard fat, with no blood vessels running through it. However, all this achieved was to make the horse really sore and really miserable, until it all settled down, started to grow back, and eventually grew back to the size it had been before the vet removed it.

Any treatment we gave it was topical, nothing internal. My farrier and I tried just about every old-fashioned remedy ever heard of. Everything worked wonders for a short while, then reverted to the same old, same old.

I do believe that if we had have been able to keep him in work, it might have improved it dramatically, but at that time we were not in a position to do that.

I imagine that if your mare is to remain purely a brood mare, and the aesthetics are not that important, then once everything settles down, she should be able to cope quite well.

There is loads more I could tell you, and show progressive photos of treatment and results if you want, but I think that would be best dealt with via private email, if you’re interested.

This is the first time I’ve ever had anything to do with posting on this forum, or any forum for that matter, so I haven’t got a clue how they work, or even if this message will reach you. If it does, I presume you will be able to access my email address. If not, then I will keep an eye out for a reply on this forum.

I am in Central Victoria, Australia.

Cheers

Heather

[RunningwaterWBs]

I had an older mare (18) who came to me with untreated lymphangitis. Every vet who looked at her said it was too late for antibiotics and that wrapping “might help.”

IMHO, vets aren’t a whole lot of help once the condition becomes chronic. In other words, when it moves from a problem that can be solved through medicine to one that can be solved or helped by nursing. For broodmares, this stage tends to come more quickly, since pregnancy can limit your options.

I started by sweating my mare’s leg for a week (hosing and thoroughly drying between sweats) to get it back to normal size. I was able to use a DMSO/ furacin sweat because she was not pregnant at the time – but DO NOT use DMSO on a pregnant mare. You could maybe try an epsom salt paste poultice.

After that, I wrapped her daily in a no-bow and standing wrap, even with 24/7 turnout. Daily, as in every day of her life. Don’t expect the condition to go away and don’t listen to those who tell you “she’s just going to have a big leg.” (I heard this from several vets.) A big, swollen leg – IMHO – is painful and serves to further damage the lymph system.

Turnout is your friend; horses with this condition benefit from movement, which seems to help the lymph system do its job better. My mare lived for five years and had major flare-ups a couple of times during those last years. Otherwise, wrapping and turnout helped keep her sound and pain-free.

[Ozalynda]

Thanks for the responses. From what I can understand, this has been ongoing for about a month now. The mare is up in Norway on loan and I am in Denmark. The first I heard of the problem was two days ago when they wrote to ask if the mare was insured so they could get some refund on the vet bills. Needless to say I am dismayed that I was not kept in the loop from the start.

I know that the vet has drained the leg a couple of times and that she is on antibiotics. I am due to pick her up in a month once her 2011 foal is weaned. I sincerely hope it is a sound and healthy (and in foal) mare that I retrieve!

Once she is home she will be on 24/7 turnout with a couple of other horses on a 14 acre hilly pasture so she should have motivation to move around. Hay is fed in one area and water is in the other end of the pasture. I do have possibility to put her up in a box, but I would only do that as a last resort.

I can wrap her daily if that is the necessary solution to keeping the swelling under control. The swelling goes up to her hock though and hocks are impossible to wrap effectively (been there done that).

-Lisa

[RunningwaterWBs]

When I started with my mare the swelling went up past the hock and there was no definition from fetlock to pastern to hoof. It’s very hard to wrap the hock, but I bet you have good results with a normal wrap on the lower leg. Putting a fairly long pressure wrap from just below the hock to down over the fetlock will help get the fluid out of the whole leg.

Massaging the leg can help too, especially just inside and above the hock. If she has all that room to roam, that will be a great help. Once you get the leg down to normal size it’s very tempting to remove the bandage and say she’s cured, but if it’s a true lymphangitis it will slowly come back and the leg will eventually look like a small tree again. I was able to remove my mare’s bandage every once in a while, to let it dry if it had rained or snowed or just so she could have an afternoon without it, but I always rewrapped within 12 hours.

I wish you the best of luck. This should not hamper your mare’s reproductive ability, especially if you’re very diligent and keep her happy and comfortable.

[Nes]

Dealt with this twice.

(1) was an acute with my horse, much easier to treat. Antibotics & hosing it went down and went away (hopefully!)

(2) chronic was an older gelding at the barn I was working at, his was made worse by scratches* and we would apply baby-bum cream to his leg before he was turned out everyday to repel the moisture, then towel dry & baby powder to soak up any moisture when he came in.

*from my understanding there is a bacteria in the soil in this area that makes horses more prone to scratches then in other areas, but that my be an old wives tail :).

Keeping them out & moving so the fluid drains seems to the best long-term care.

[SquishTheBunny]

My friends 18 year old jumper has chronic lymphangitis. He wears a wrap AND HOCK WRAP 24/7 on outdoor turnout. Hes had the condition for 12 years, and is still going around the 3’ jumpers. Without the wrap, his leg getslarge and sore, with it…he is very happy and sound.

[Sunnydays]

I had a mare with Lymphangitis 2 years ago. Treated with antibiotics, hosing and wrapping. The leg was almost to normal size after a month or so - and 2 years later, I have a hard time deciding which back leg was infected.
We caught this within hours of initial swelling.