Hind Right swollen from fetlock to hock after banging it up...

[necryptonix]

Hey all, I hate to be that person, but I wanted to see if anyone had any ideas on what to do for my horse’s leg until the vet can come out.

He’s been dealing with an abscess on his front left that had him so lame he could barely walk before my farrier took care of it. But while he was dead lame with the abscess, he somehow banged up his hind right leg pretty bad and tore it all open. It was swollen to 2x the size it should be from fetlock to hock, hot, but the skin abrasions seemed to be just beyond surface level and didn’t bleed much at all.

That’s been about two weeks ago now. I cold hosed the leg for a few days, applied an antibacterial to the skin wounds, and wrapped it. The skin wounds are healed with the scabs peeling off, and the large majority of the swelling went away after a day or two, but there’s still a goose egg on the outside side of his leg and sometimes I’ll come to the barn and the swelling has flared up again all down the cannon bone. He’s not lame (especially not after we got rid of the abscess), he walks on it fine, he lets me touch it and pick up the leg. My barn owner told me not to worry about it and that it will go away on its own, and she has continued turning him out with other horses (which honestly makes me rather uneasy). But with the swelling flaring up again (for the third time!) out of no where, I’m having my vet come and look at it.

Anyone else had experience with something like this? Any advice in the meantime? Vet was already scheduled to come out and do a health certificate for him, so he’s taking a look at it then.

[walktrot]

My gelding, who is boarded out 24/7, came in one day with a horizontal cut about 1" long halfway up the back of his right hind. The cut wasn’t particularly deep, fortunately, when you think about what could have been severed. But his leg stocked up from the hoof to the hock. He got a little time off, but was getting around fine so I went back to riding. It looked awful and took more than a year to come down. It still has a lumpy kind of look, not nicely defined around the soft tissues. But it doesn’t bother him at all.

[necryptonix]

@walktrot

My gelding, who is boarded out 24/7, came in one day with a horizontal cut about 1" long halfway up the back of his right hind. The cut wasn’t particularly deep, fortunately, when you think about what could have been severed. But his leg stocked up from the hoof to the hock. He got a little time off, but was getting around fine so I went back to riding. It looked awful and took more than a year to come down. It still has a lumpy kind of look, not nicely defined around the soft tissues. But it doesn’t bother him at all.

That’s really encouraging for me. I’m having visions of it being a bone bruise or something like that that will take months of layoff time. The cuts were on the front side of the cannon bone. My gelding hasn’t stocked up, but he is a bit stiff around his hock. He still trots and canters out though and runs around like a crazy horse in the pasture, so I know it can’t be hurting him too bad. I’m just worried because the swelling all down the cannon bone flares up again every few days since it happened, cold-hosing or not.

[beau159]

Does his hock have the goose egg or another part of the leg?

Couple years ago, my Red banged his knee. Probably on a fence post because he was found on the other side of it. :no: He did not have any flesh wounds and there was no heat, but his knee to hoof was SO swollen for a couple weeks. I’d hand walk him every day and that would reduce the swelling.

It eventually went away with no issues.

Most likely, he just banged himself up good. Give him some more time.

[RedHorses]

I don’t know where the goose egg is, but it is quite possible he cracked or even broke the outside splint bone. If he bumps it, it would cause fresh irritation and then swelling.

Having the minimal amount of swelling possible will allow the vet to get a better idea of what is wrong, and a better view if an ultrasound is needed. I would continue cold hosing, and try to keep him from bumping it with single turnout, or a wrap (I don’t know what can be managed in your situation with your horse’s ability to manage single turnout or stall rest). If there was any heat I would be cold hosing and clay poultice wrapping.

​​​​​I hope whatever it is isn’t serious!

[necryptonix]

beau: The goose egg is a bit below his hock, on the outside side of the cannon bone. I’m so glad other people had similar experiences with no lasting damage, the longer this swelling stays the more concerned I’m getting.

RedHorses: I can’t put him on stall rest, as he paces horribly and usually ends up straining/hurting himself from quite literally trying to run in circles if he spends too long in his stall (even after huge grain reductions! Sigh). So he only goes inside when the weather is bad. I’ve also noticed that the swelling seems to get worse if he spends time in his stall as opposed to outside. I’ll tell my barn owner I’d like him to get turned out alone at least until I know what’s going on. My boy’s a 3 year old and he likes to try and play with the other horses.

When the wound first happened, he wouldn’t let anyone touch the leg and would even try to dance away when he felt the water on it from cold hosing for the first minute or so. But it doesn’t seem to hurt him now (or maybe he just got used to it?), and he’ll let me wrap it. I’ll start wrapping again and see how it goes.

Thank you everyone for the encouraging stories!

[beau159]

I probably would not do stall rest in his case. Movement is usually good for swelling as you have noticed.