If it is not hot you could try what I did, alternate between furacin sweats and cold hosing, with Voltaren after every ride. If you do use BOT boots, make sure the area is clean of anything you may have used or she will scurf. You CAN use sore no more with BOT though. I personally like the gel.
[QUOTE=BABYGREENTB;8059838]
Hello COTHers…I have an injury-related question for you. About 6 weeks ago, my dear mare came in from the field with a big fat hock. It was swollen and super painful, and we had the vet out for the requisite ultrasounds and x-rays. Several visits and tests later, we determined that she had strained a ligament (thankfully no tear), and she has been on stall rest ever since.
We recently started walking her under tack, and her hock is still pretty puffy (though no longer painful or hot). The vet says that it may stay that way permanently…not ideal for obvious reasons. She’s getting regular shockwave treatments, cold hosing, and still isn’t turned out. I ordered an ice boot this week to start icing her each day, but was wondering if anyone had any other brilliant ideas?
She’s not currently on any anti-inflammatories, but was wondering if they might help with the swelling?
Has anyone dealt with this kind of injury before?[/QUOTE]
There are a lot of ligaments…and the thing with hocks is that there isn’t much room for swelling to take place, so even minimal swelling can look rather bad. Wrapping the cannon might only have the effect of not letting edema drain downward, so might make the swelling appear even worse.
Movement is what usually resolves swelling, though the appearance of swelling can be minimized with proper wrapping.
Skimmed through the responses and didn’t see anyone mention that swelling normally will subside as well as it ever will, once a horse returns to turnout.
Be very careful with medications, most mentioned here should only be dispensed by a veterinarian, some should not be used with other medications.
[QUOTE=staceymc;8065665]
I had a horse with an injury to the DDFT sheath. No tear visible on ultrasound, etc and the tendon itself appeared to be fine. But the sheath was very inflamed and the space between the sheath and the tendon kept building up with fluid. The entire inside area above the hock was incredibly swollen.
The vet injected the tendon sheath with steroids and I got about a 30% improvement. After 5 weeks of stall rest, we injected it again, but with a different concoction that had 2.5 bottles of Depo in it (yes, you read that right).
Within a week you couldn’t tell anything had ever happened. He had another 4 weeks of stall rest and then we started bringing him back. Vet fully expected the hock area to blow back up once u/s, but it’s been about 9 months and it looks perfect still (knocking on wood). He’s back jumping 3’6" and everything.[/QUOTE]
Depo Medrol or Depo Provera?
I am surprised your vet did not have the horse on Bute, this is a prime indication for its use, to reduce some of the primary inflammation.
dedicated use of an hack ho ck wrap after every work, long term. If you have a freezer at the barn, storing a nice gel ice hock wrap is pretty handy.
[QUOTE=vxf111;8067517]
Depo Medrol or Depo Provera?[/QUOTE]
Depo Provera. The brand name stuff, not compounded. It was one hell of an expensive injection but worth every penny.
Depo provera? I.e. progesterone? Into the tendon sheath???
Also, it’s not necessary to compond Depo Provera. It’s off patents and several companies manufacture it. It’s molecularly identical. There’s no reason to get the Upjohn product, they’re all the same.
You sure not Depo medrol? That would make sense into the tendon sheath for a DDFT injury?!
Your horse had a DDFT injury? In the foot? And he was swollen up to and including the hock? Really? Holy cow. Mine had a DDFT strain and he had no swelling ANYWHERE, let alone way up to the hock. It took an MRI to diagnose it.
[QUOTE=vxf111;8067651]
Depo provera? I.e. progesterone? Into the tendon sheath???
Also, it’s not necessary to compond Depo Provera. It’s off patents and several companies manufacture it. It’s molecularly identical. There’s no reason to get the Upjohn product, they’re all the same.
You sure not Depo medrol? That would make sense into the tendon sheath for a DDFT injury?!
Your horse had a DDFT injury? In the foot? And he was swollen up to and including the hock? Really? Holy cow. Mine had a DDFT strain and he had no swelling ANYWHERE, let alone way up to the hock. It took an MRI to diagnose it.[/QUOTE]
Definitely Depo Provera. And yes, into the tendon sheath directly. My vet and I joked the gelding wouldn’t need a Depo hormone injection for years after that. Obviously it was off label. My vet confered with a well respected vet in the north east. The quote I got was this cocktail was some sort of witches brew and they weren’t quite sure WHY it worked but they’d had some great success with it.
And sorry, it was the Deep Flexor Tendon. I had too many Ds in there (not enough coffee)
That sounds really odd. Especially the whole bit about needing to use the Upjohn product-- it’s been off patent for years abd years. I also can’t imagine why that would work?! Why progesterone would bring down swelling?! So odd?! I’m going to ask my vet out of curiosity next time I see her. Good that it did work for you!
