Friday we had a horse (almost done with rehab) present with heat and swelling on the outside of a front fetlock. Vet came out, ultrasound appeared clean but they wanted swelling down and to repeat. Repeat was clean yesterday but the fetlock is hot and slightly puffy this AM (again)
Horse is back on stall rest, but anything else it could be? Or do I just advise owner to send for the MRI?
Horse is slightly off on a circle to the right, but nothing glaring.
What injury is being rehabbed? What was the horse doing in between when you last saw the leg clean and when you saw it swollen? There was no information from the ultrasound of what structure was swollen? I would be asking the vet what was ruled out by their ultrasound and what the remaining possibilities are.
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I’ve seen a brewing abscess cause some fetlock swelling.
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Rehabbing from KS surgery. Thursday night the leg was fine. Swollen Friday AM. DDFT, SDFT, suspensory, annular, Sesmodian ligaments all looked great on ultrasound. Vet is back out later this week and will reassess if it’s still warm and swollen.
Collaterals of the fetlock?
Outside only? Maybe splint bone hairline fracture? They can be associated with thickened suspensory.
Have you radiographed? A chip can certainly cause filling.
If it’s outside only, maybe banged it on something and bruised?
You can’t see everything with ultrasound in that location, but I would probably treat with ice, rest, and walking (any of the swelling go down with movement?) for a bit longer before going to MRI.
