Hi, might sound like a stupid question. But how long should i wait before getting a vet involved for an ultrasound After an injury? My horse knocked his hind leg against a wall 5 days ago. Leg IS still swollen and hé had a cut. I cold hosed thé leg, hé was tender AT touch thé first couple of days but not lame. I Know it s pretty difficult to sée something when thé leg IS swollen so my question is how many days you wait before calling a vet? How long does normally takes for oedema to go away After a knock with cut on a leg? Thank you
Call you vet now. The horse may have cellulitis and need antibiotics or may also need an anti inflammatory and a sweat.
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If I can see an injury/cut/abrasion and the horse is not lame, I don’t usually worry too much about it. Stressing the “in the absence of lameness” part, I’ve seen cuts take anywhere from a couple of days to a week or so to come down. If the horse isn’t lame, I’m typically still riding them, so I would expect, in most cases, for that to impact the swelling too by bringing it down a bit (if it’s just edema).
That definitely changes if lameness comes on suddenly in conjunction with swelling (then I would worry about cellulitis) or if lameness increases even without swelling.
But for a sound horse with a visible wound, I will usually take the wait and see approach.
BUT if you are not comfortable making that call, then I would definitely suggest putting a call in to your vet to at least talk it through.
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Yes hé s sound and swelling Comes down when i walk him for 30 minutes, what i Do not know IS how much does it take for thé swelling to go down, i mean in average.
I just recently went through this with my mare. Small lower leg cut, swelling up to the hock, no lameness. Vet prescribed antibiotics for a week, and when the swelling did not improve and the cut did not heal, we x-rayed. She had a broken splint. Given this recent experience, I would opt for imaging sooner rather than later on a lower leg cut if the swelling doesn’t go down quickly.
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And what did you do for your mare s broken splint? Was she tender when touching?
I will send you a PM!
It could be cellulitis and need antibiotics. I’d also be sweat wrapping it for 12 hours per day.
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IS cellulitis painfull to touch?
It can be, yes. It can be extremely painful to the touch and horses can be very lame, or it can be very inert (i.e., no pain, no lameness). Either way, you don’t want it to get out of control or become chronic as it can be a REAL pain to deal with then.
edit: I should clarify that by “inert” I mean initially not painful (to touch or weight-bearing). I’ve caught multiple bouts of cellulitis early, where the horse was neither lame nor painful. But I suspect that, with time, it would have blown up. Thank you PNWJumper for pointing out how that language might be confusing 
Typical presentation of cellulitis is acute lameness, major swelling, and a fever. And yes, it is usually very painful to the touch. The swelling you shared the picture of does not look like cellulitis. I’ve dealt with it in many horses over the years and never seen one where it was not immediately obvious (nor one where it was “inert”). There is nothing in your picture or description that suggests cellulitis to me. Though sure, if the horse suddenly became majorly lame or developed a fever it might be a worth considering.
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A vet came today for another horse AT thé barn so i asked him about thé swelling and since hé s not lame or tender to touch hé was not concerned, just Said that it was oedema that would go down with Time…i ll wait some days and thén call another vet if it does not go down. Horse IS not bothered AT all but a swelling on a leg IS Always a concerne for me. Th oedema IS hard, not fluctuating.
You could put some compression or a sweat on it for a few days to help the edema move along. If you have broken skin, be careful where you apply the sweat.
Sorry what IS sweat? Poultice?
The sweat she was referring to is usually a wrap with a sweating agent under it. It pulls out swelling in situations like this. There are many “recipes” for a sweat solution, then you put a layer of plastic wrap, cotton wrapping or a standing wrap, and a polo.
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So, i am going tomorrow to thé vet as thé leg IS still swollen and on friday it will bé three weeks. Now thé leg IS not too swollen but there IS a hard lump on thé side that IS not going down. Could it bé maybe a splint? Horse IS not lame and not tender when i squeezer thé lump
That lump looks too low for a splint or splint fracture, IMO. But I don’t have any good ideas for what would cause a hard localized lump there, so good call on the vet. I’m interested to know the answer!
