Recurring swelling in 1 hind leg

[LadyJ526]

I have a 13yo OTTB mare who has been retired for 1 year. In the past year I’ve noticed her LH will swell up every 2 months or so. The first time it happened she was still living in a stall, so I wrapped both hinds, it went away, the vet came out anyway and found nothing specific as to why it would happen. Since then she was moved to 24/7 outdoor living, I have not wrapped when this has occurred, and it will go away on it’s own after a few days. The swelling is from above the fetlock to about 1/2-3/4 of the way up the leg, there’s no heat, and she does not favor or limp on it.

The swelling has returned today. Any thoughts?

[bt1]

Any sign of abcess in that hoof? I have seen hind abcesses present like that with no lameness and nothing but swelling til ya smell that smell when it bursts

[JB]

What’s the weather doing when it swells? Hotter, more humid, anything that might cause her to move less? Did she ever injure that leg?

Injuries can sometimes result in damage to the lymphatic system there, which can sometimes make it more difficult to move fluid out of the leg, and certain condition (less movement, increase temp, increased humidity) can be the trigger.

[LadyJ526]

@bt

Any sign of abcess in that hoof? I have seen hind abcesses present like that with no lameness and nothing but swelling til ya smell that smell when it bursts

No sign of abscess.

[LadyJ526]

@JB

What’s the weather doing when it swells? Hotter, more humid, anything that might cause her to move less? Did she ever injure that leg?

Injuries can sometimes result in damage to the lymphatic system there, which can sometimes make it more difficult to move fluid out of the leg, and certain condition (less movement, increase temp, increased humidity) can be the trigger.

This last time around it was a hot spell. I’ll be notating that going forward to see if that is consistent. She had surgery on her LH annular ligament 6 years ago, but never swelled up on that leg until this last year. I will be interested to see if it’s at all consistent with the heat. When I went out yesterday the swelling had gone down significantly.

[lovemyboy]

Edemia. Comes and goes. Very common and reactive mostly to weather change. There can be many (endless) cases of adema but sounds like weather realted - maybe exasperated by arthritis.

[CFFarm]

"Stocking (edema) up in the stall is common (horses are built to move). In the pasture is more puzzling unless she just stood somewhere all the time with little movement. As said above, weather can affect some horses especially if they were bandaged a lot in the past.