Horses have been in stalls for 3 days due to weather. Wednesday horse is fine, is in a lesson. Thursday, massive swelling in the front legs, to the right of the cannon bones more so than the left but puffy from the “knee” to the fetlock in all the soft tissue areas.
Walked the horse under saddle for 30 minutes and the swelling went down a little. Cold hosed and gave 1g of bute. Trainer check horse this morning and legs are still oddly swollen.
I have never seen stocking up like this. Horse is turned out now and will check him after work today as well as take his temperature.
Any ideas or has anyone experienced stocking up like this?
Don’t think that’s " stocking up" if its in front and on the right side of both cannons. That sounds like the horse laid on it’s right side and got into something, Get any new shavings or bedding lately? Did it get in the mud, either laying or standing? There can be weeds in the hay that might cause a reaction if they lay on or stand in too. If he’s on pasture, anything out there recently applied or drifted or even drained over from elsewhere? Dead grasses with stickers?
Sounds like skin irritation or allergic reaction.
The farm got a recent delivery of shavings from our standard supplier. I washed his legs last night in case it was something on them. I will take a look out in the pasture tonight and check his stall for anything odd. he was swollen all around his legs, but the right sides were swollen more than the left on both legs.
Don’t believe in coincidences when there was a recent delivery of new shavings. Were those bulk shavings or bagged?
I’d wash his legs again this evening with soap, you can use Dawn, Scub good, rinse well and I’d strip and rebed the stall. BO might want to notify supplier of what really sounds like an adverse reaction to something in that new shipment.
This does happen every so often, the supplier gets the shavings from a saw mill where trees are converted to lumber or furniture mills where the lumber is converted to furniture. Whether bagged or bulk, there’s ample opportunity for contamination. That’s why one should be suspicious of shavings priced well below market. But even suppliers with trusted sources can end up with something in some if the shavings. There have been cases where woods that can be toxic get used in furniture and the shavings end up as bedding material-Black Walnut comes to mind.
Diesnt sound like anything like that but you could have some chemical residue from the mill or a bit of some lubricant off a machine that’s not harmful but your horse is allergic to it getting on his skin. BO should probably take a look at the other horses the rest of the shavings, feel and smell, and, in a nice way, notify the supplier who can get back to the mill or wherever they got them from. Need to be a little more careful.
Also a possibility your stall was recently treated with lime or disinfectant and some came in contact with his legs as he rolled or laid down. Ask the BO, but don’t accuse, just ask if the stall was stripped lately. Or if they’ve been staining or painting anywhere near the stall. Sometimes barn staff get in too big a hurry and don’t let the stripped stall dry out, put down too much lime or get careless with overspray from something.
