Pin firing/buck shins scar tissue?

[SouthernSon]

Greetings COTH hivemind of collective horse experience and wisdom. I need your help!

I recently got a 4yo OTTB straight from the track. He has been in my care for about 2 months now, mostly hanging out with my other gelding and learning to be a horse. He is slightly accident prone and not totally sure how to use all of his body parts yet, and I am relatively certain he is going through a growth spurt (should have sticked him when he first arrived), as well.

He came to me with pin firing scars on his cannon bones, which I know is less common nowadays but still relatively widely practiced, so this didn’t bother me too much when deciding to purchase. He stepped on himself a few days ago, and swells like a balloon at the slightest scratch (in typical TB fashion), so I wrapped all 4 with standing wraps overnight. Wraps off at breakfast time, they were turned out all day. No lameness, nothing noteworthy when I took wraps off or turned out.

Fast forward to last night when I went to re-wrap him at night check by headlamp light. Cue panic and also second and third guessing what I am seeing. The front of his cannons on both fronts look… bowed outwards? It is slight, uniform, directly in the same area as the pin firing, negligible heat, no lameness, no pain on palpation, and honestly feels like scar tissue. The only thing is… I have never really noticed it before.

So, I have been Googling my heart out and trying to figure out if I am dealing with Scenario 1 (I broke him by somehow wrapping “wrong,” though every image of a bandage bow I have seen is flexor tendons and not extensor tendons), or Scenario 2 (he has scar tissue from buck shins and subsequent pin firing and I just never really noticed it before). I have also been looking back at every photo I have of his legs and trying to figure out if it was there all along and I only noticed it bc of the unusual spotlighting of the headlamp.

OTTB gurus and experienced horse people, please help me out. I know buck shins is a building up/thickening of the cannon bones, but does that thickening go away? Or will they always have a slightly “bowed out” look to their shins/cannons? Is this flaring back up bc of a growth spurt (even though he is essentially a pasture ornament right now and far from doing stressful work or even exerting himself too much in turnout)? Or is this scar tissue from the pin firing? Or some other scenario I haven’t entertained in my overthinking mind yet?

TIA for any help, insight and advice you might have for me!

[JB]

It sounds like a bandage bow of the extensor tendons. If you’re unsure, call your vet and talk to him/her, sending pictures if that’s an option.

[mmeqcenter]

I agree with JB.

[SouthernSon]

Vet is already scheduled.

Are there any resources/images/anything you can recommend? I can’t find anything that looks remotely similar (especially uniform on both legs and on extensor tendons) online or otherwise.

Thanks!

[kaya842]

I would think its a bandage bow. My TB is sensitive to wraps on her front legs (regardless of who wraps her or with what wraps), so she now has a pair of Back on Track quick wraps which works for us.

[BoyleHeightsKid]

Don’t worry… I don’t think you broke him

This would also happen to my old man after removing wraps years ago. He also has old pin fire scars both front shins. It seemed that after some cold hosing, massage and more time turned out without the wraps the “bow” would go away. FWIW it seemed the more time that had passed since his bucked shins/pin fired it happened less and less, then eventually quit happening. The same with the old bow on his right front. It would puff up a bit if he was kept in for an extended period of time but then would always go back down. He no longer has that problem.

I think maybe he’s just sensitive to the pressure of the wraps

[findeight]

Or…and this isn’t meant to contradict anybody, the wraps might have pushed any minor swelling or fluid out of the leg that normally sort of fill in the old shin bucks much as our human ankles tend to puff a bit after being on our feet all day.

Often notice the legs on my horses after bandages are removed “tight and dry”. Just a thought here, your vet needs to take a look and x rays would be a really good idea at this point.

[NancyM]

Did you use any liniment under the bandages? Some horses can blister from even the most innocuous liniment. You won’t know if he is one of these until you use a liniment under a bandage and see what happens. Yes, if the shin buck was substantial, the bone laid down as it heals will remain as a slight bowing out the front of the cannon bone, whether or not the area was pin fired. You may not have noticed this until the hair was compressed by the bandaging?

Re: a possible bandage bow on an extensor tendon… are you experienced with bandaging legs? If so, unlikely. If not, possible.

If you are dealing with a blister or a bandage bow, both will heal on their own, with time. Cold hosing may be helpful. Dry the legs with a towel after hosing them.

[kaya842]

I forgot to add that my horse is also pin fired up front, interestingly enough.

[Sansena]

Look something like this?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Mb8-Qujybjk/TcHCM81U-WI/AAAAAAAAANw/VKOD3DiKCCw/s1600/P5030003.JPG