About a month ago the place I board at called to say my horse had a cut on her leg. It wasn’t much, scabbing already, I treated it with Vetracin. I also noticed swelling in the hock, there is no heat and she is not favoring it. I hosed it daily and treated her wound daily for 2 weeks with no change. The farrier was out and said let it be as long as shes not lame and shes not a sport horse, doesn’t seem urgent. So ive done just that, I go out 3 times a week to treat her white line disease and watch it, no changes. Today the vet was at the farm for the other horses and took a quick peek at my mare. He said the swelling is not fluid, seems to be calcification and she needs xrays. I reached out to him and asked if this is urgent, what it could be and if she is in pain? I rarely ride her and might breed her someday so I want to know if spending a ton of money on treatment is essential? Any suggestions?
Do you have a picture of the location of the swelling?
Ugh I’m new here… cant find where to attach
There’s definitely something going on in there, if it were my horse I would X Ray.
After you have a diagnosis, ask your vet about a Back On Track hock wrap for it.
May help, depending on what is there.
Any more, many trainers use those to warm hocks up before training and showing and think it really helps horses stay more flexible and comfortable.
Definitively could help when injured, depending on the injury and ongoing healing process.
I would xray
I would definitely have the vet out. Is she running a temp? and where are you located. With the wound you described I might also suspect cellulitis.
No its not cellulitis (Cellulitis typically starts with sudden swelling that is warm and painful to the touch) That’s not what’s going on. We are located in lower MI, she moved from UP MI a year ago and since the move shes had rain rot, white line disease and now this…
The wound is healed.
I am contemplating the xray because if its something surgical, im not going to go that route. She will just be a pasture horse and broodmare someday, I cant afford surgery at this time…
Im just wondering if anyone has heard of calcification in hock before? I haven’t and cant find anything online about it.
Sure, any joint can calcify due to trauma, stress and strain or arthritic changes. Curbs, spavins and bog spavins are fairly common in working horses as well. But they don’t look like that, there’s kind of a big area involved and it looks like it’s on both sides of the joint compared to the other hock. Maybe quite a bit of inflammation in reaction to whatever is going on.
I do not like the look of that after a full month. Would get some pictures. If you can’t afford surgery, it’s not a reason to skip the x rays. You need to know what’s going on so you can treat it correctly, heat? Ice? Compression? Drain and antibiotics? If she’s got a bone chip from a kick causing inflammation? Joint capsule rupture? Fracture? Need to know to make informed decision.
Better to spend now then spend three times more if this gets worse and compromises her overall health. Tons of threads on here regretting letting a condition deteriorate to a serious problem trying to save early on and skimping on proper diagnostics.
Not everything mentioned needs surgery in a clinic or at all. But they need correct treatment and managment to heal properly.
