Legend for stocking up?

[the_sandiest_shoes]

I noticed my 5 year old dressage mare seems to stock up slightly on all of her fetlocks. She is completely sound (flexion tested fine on a PPE four months ago when I got her, and then again with my vet recently)/ had extensive xrays at PPE and is fine in that regard (also did an intense clinic last week with Laura Graves - horse moved really well).

It’s subtle and goes away with exercise/ I really noticed it recently when I wrapped one of her legs for a cut she has, and that fetlock is noticeably less puffy than the others from wrapping it (which is how i used to treat my old schoolmaster who stocked up in his stall overnight).

Anyway, I talked about it with the vet today and he suggested doing Legend IV shots monthly. I’m ok with it in the sense that i don’t think Legend is harmful (?), but wondered about how exactly that would help stocking up, which I heard was a circulation issue. I read up more about stocking up, and I heard that big horses with small hooves are more susceptible, which is DEFINITELY my mare - she is 16 h but has hooves that are so dainty and petite you’d think she were a Quarter Horse or Welsh pony instead of a Hanoverian. Has anyone heard of this? I can monitor for a few months and see if it gets better. If not, I’m inclined not to waste the money? Also, my trainer suggested compression socks - I didn’t know they had those for horses but can look that up. I’m not inclined to wrap her on all four legs every day, since I can’t get out there daily and I’m wary of having someone wrap her incorrectly.

Thank you, COTH hive mind!

[CanteringCarrot]

Has her turnout situation changed? When my gelding is stall bound or limited to his small paddock as opposed to the large field due to weather, he sometimes stocks up for a few days. It always goes away with exercise. After he seems to “get used to” the smaller space and less movement, he doesn’t stock up.

Also, excess/high protein in the diet can cause stocking up on all 4 IIRC.

[ElementFarm]

I have a (chestnut) mare who tends to be more prone to very mild stocking up compared to my other horses. A few years ago, I started her on a basic, inexpensive MSM supplement and that improved things tremendously. I would think that’s a way better place to start, than Legend, if it can’t be managed with turnout or feeding changes alone.

[beowulf]

A much cheaper alternative is to just… turn her out more. Every horse in the world stocks up when they’re forced to stand still, such as when stalled or confined for any length of time.

While mostly a superficial issue, the health benefits of increased turnout are immense and go far beyond reducing stocking up and windpuffs.

[JB]

What is her diet and turnout like? And especially, is she turned out or stalled right after being worked?

I don’t understand the Legend suggestion - that’s a sledge hammer when you might just need a tap with a ball peen hammer.

MSM would be a much simpler starting point.

How much work is she in? Is this just stocking up, or is this windpuffs trying to get started?

[wannabedvm]

One word: TURN-OUT. If nothing is physically wrong, the more she can be out of a stall and walking around, the better.

[Marla_100]

If you were locked in a closet after running a half marathon, You’d Be Stocked Up Also!!! Her body is screaming to you she needs more turnout and less stall. Common sense here folks.

[anon55755751]

Third the suggestion to try MSM.

Turn out matters - obviously that is the first best answer, but there are horses who are more prone to stocking up than others, and things other than turn out can have an impact. I have one such horse - thought I just had to live with his tendency to stock up, then switched boarding barns with a better feed program and added a joint supplement (which eventually was reduced to just MSM), and eventually added Vit. E (for unrelated reasons), and now he only stocks up if there’s something actually wrong, like an abscess, that makes him rest a leg more than normal. His turn out decreased at the new barn. He has big feet, good frogs, but long legs, even for his height (16.2). I can’t say for sure the MSM is making the difference for my horse (so many things have changed with him in the last couple years), but it’s an inexpensive place low effort place to start. If you have other reasons to be concerned about things like vit/min imbalance, talk to your vet about blood testing.

Jumping to Legend seems ridiculous. Be aware that occasionally vets sometimes get in the habit of recommending things that some sufficient number of their clients request/want/expect. If Legend has become a de facto “won’t hurt, might help” protocol in your area, that may be what’s going on here.

If she has contracted heels in addition to small feet, that could also affect circulation and is something to check with your farrier about. Compression socks are indeed a thing and could also help.

[the_sandiest_shoes]

She’s on an hour of turn-out per day, but she lives in a big stall connected to a 12 x 24 run-out paddock, so she can waltz around more more than just stall-bound. Typically she gets turn-out a little while after riding, and I give her long walks before and after our work-outs as well. She’s ridden 6x a week, including a trail ride, nothing super hard (we do short bursts of “quality” work to build her collection muscles, with lots of walk breaks). On day 7 I play with her in the round pen.

I can try to pay for someone to provide her more turn-out or hand walking at night, though that would sadly literally be more expensive than Legend shots. The stable and trainer are fantastic, except for the turn-out. And there’s not a lot of facilities I could go to that would have any better turn-out situations. It’s a regional thing. I’m paying $1440/ month for board (full training is on top of that $$$) - really wouldn’t have an easy time finding a better place within driving distance.

Definitely will look into MSM. Thanks for confirming my suspicions that the Legend shots were a bit out of left field, given what’s happening. Not sure if this is start of windpuffs? I thought those stayed after exercise, vs. stocking up went away? I can ask the vet when he’s out again to confirm. He didn’t really give it a name, just seemed to agree with me that it appeared to be stocking up.

For diet, she eats a mix of timothy, grass hay mostly, and a half flake alfalfa, plus 1/2 pound LMF Super Supplement ration balancer and 2 pounds Cavalor performix, and Omega Horseshine, Biotin and Uguard supplements.

Thanks, all.

[beowulf]

An hour of turnout a day?

No wonder she’s stocked up… Is that really a thing, a lack of turnout being completely regional…?

[JB]

Yeah, it’s really a thing.

Given that she’s feeding LMF, which is a West Coast feed, this means she’s in an area that includes places like Southern California, and desert regions of Arizona, where there is no grass, with exceptions. So Cal is a place where it’s not uncommon to have 100 horses on 10 acres, living in 12x12 or 12x12 “mare motels”.

I had a friend who had a horse in the Denver area. 5 acres, over 40 horses. Zero turnout, all stalls, some with attached pens.

[JB]

But it’s also not completely regional. When I boarded, there were 30-ish horses most of the time I was there. It was also a lesson barn. Most of the horses were lesson horses. Horses got turned out in the morning, before lessons. No “turnout rings”, just the riding rings, and the rest of the property all fenced in. 1 mare group, several gelding groups, each got to go out for an hour, mayyyyybe 2.

Every area has some setups where there is limited turnout, and over the Winter, no turnout other than what an owner can manage to get in an indoor, if that.

[the_sandiest_shoes]

I live in San Francisco - no picnic for horse space (no it’s not practical for me to move right now and yes I know the turn-out is far from ideal). I miss the grass of back home in Canada (not the ice), but this is where I have to live right now for work.

I mean, at least the place I’m at now is safer than many other possibilities for potential fire evacuations, which is super on my mind at the moment.

[Lunabear1988]

@beowulf I’m in the West and yes unfortunately it’s pretty common. Especially at the nicer barns. Years ago I had to take my horse to a western barn because where I was, turnout was typically 20 minutes! That’s what the clientele wanted though.

So I moved somewhere and setting on a stall with a run, turn out 5 days a week for 2 or 3 hours. It was the best I could find.