Hello, my horse did something in the turn out and now his tendon sheath is swollen on his hock. I have iced it and gave him some butte. Any idea of how to treat it more than that? Anyone know how long of a lay up I should expect? So far he is not sore on it.
Unfortunately, that’s a vet question.
Swelling is something that can resolve in a few days or it can be a strong indication of a very serious soft tissue injury.
Whenever there is swelling around a tendon, especially following an acute incident, I want a vet to ultrasound. With a baseline they can give you a lot more guidance. Even with pictures or videos, us armchair vets can only speculate.
I’m sorry he did something. Bute and ice are good first steps. Lack of soreness is also a good sign. personally, I’d have the vet out before returning to turnout or work. It is never cheap but catching a soft tissue injury early is always cheaper and easier than finding out days or weeks down the road that something was missed.
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Is the ultrasound clean? If so, I’d expect a few weeks of walking and ice.
Yep, have the vet out and ultrasound. Better to know what’s going on. I like DMSO to take swelling down more quickly, the idea being that the swelling actually causes more damage to the injured site. I’m not sure if that’s still the current thinking, so I’d ask your vet, but the dmso will move any extra fluid along so you don’t have residual swelling.
