Young Horse stocking up suddenly

[Lunabear1988]

So the other day I went to see my young horse after a day off, took his fly boots off and both hid back legs were stocked up. He was sound on the lunge line and it went down.

Trainer also said the next day, stocked up but sound. She recommends I start wrapping his legs.

I texted my vet, she said if not lame, she’s not worried. She comes Wednesday anyways for vaccines and a wellness exam.

Now normally this wouldn’t worry me either…but I find it a little unusual in a 4 year old horse. He lives in an outdoor pen with a run. He has plenty of room to move around. And gets turned out on top of that.

I’m thinking of asking my vet to run a blood panel or something. Just to make sure it’s not systematic or something. Any ideas? I’m sure and hope he’s fine but I just want to cover out bases.

[bingbingbing]

Cellulitis?

[JB]

Any increase in humidity? Anything that would have him standing around instead of moving? Both of those can cause a sudden stocking up

The fact that it went down with light exercise is good - I wouldn’t worry either. Sometimes these things just happen.

Is he growing again? Butt-high maybe?

[Lunabear1988]

To me it doesn’t seem quite as extreme cellulitis… To cellulitis go away with work? It’s only time I’ve been around with a horse with cellulitis ended up having cancer and it was just one symptom of so many things… (He was very old too.)

[Lunabear1988]

I think it was a bit humid the other day… But of course it’s pretty dry here most the time.

As far as I know the turnout schedule is the same…

He has stocked up before on one leg that he has a scar on the fetlock. Vets weren’t concerned about that. But never both legs. And it was a bit higher up.

He has white socks all around if it makes a difference. I don’t see any scratches or anything though.

The vet was going to do a lameness exam just to recheck the stifle progress. I do think I’m going to ask her to pull blood panel. Anything in particular we should look at?

[Lunabear1988]

He’s definitely in an awkward stage. Nothing too dramatic but definitely growing a bit. Although I don’t think he’s too butt high.

[GoodTimes]

Keep an eye out for scratches.

Any new hay? Any recent vaccinations?

My 4yo mare stocked up significantly last week, all four legs, hinds were worse. It went away/decreased with movement. I initially thought she was going to break out in scratches after the recent rain, but no scabs ever appeared. And they didn’t seem painful.
About three days prior she got a booster due to some local horses being euthanized for EEE. Could have also been something in the hay? Or a weed? I’ll never know for sure.
She’s back to normal now.

[Lunabear1988]

Maybe new hay? I have noticed his stools were a bit looser. Not awful but looser. And I noticed a few nearby horses like that too, which made me think hay.

I’m going to do a blood panel. His hair quality is not great either. Maybe he needs something in his diet. Or has hindgut ulcers. Something. I thought I was being paranoid but sounds like something low key is going on. Glad vet comes tomorrow!!

[JB]

Just know that blood work is not very good for nutritional status. A few things can be seen, but it’s not going to tell you if he’s getting enough zinc or calcium or protein, or even his iron status unless you do the $$ ferritin test from Kansas State.

If other horses are also stocking up, I would look to the hay, especially looking for Hoary Alyssum

[Lunabear1988]

Yeah but we’ve never done blood work on him so I still think it’s a good idea regardless.

And I’m sorry I do not know if other horses are stocking up but what I meant was other horses seem to have loose stools too…

[Lunabear1988]

I’ll have my vet glance at the hay too. I haven’t seen anything weedy looking or suspicious in the hay but will look closer

[IPEsq]

There is some mystery GI thing going around my friend’s barn in the area. Bloodwork isn’t a bad idea.

Is he growing winter hair yet? Mine is and since it is still getting hot during the day, he tends to stock up a bit more because he’s just hotter on his legs with more hair. He does have chronic bilateral windpuffs and is older than yours though.

I would be hesitant to start wrapping if there is no injury, cellulitis, etc. because they will become dependent on the wraps, meaning when you quit wrapping after some time, he’s likely to puff up worse for a while.

[Lunabear1988]

Yeah I wonder about something like a little virus going around.

He is growing some winter hair. And he likes to stand on the sun so maybe that’s part of it. And I’ve still had him in fly boots. I wonder if that’s contributing a little. They are the shoofly ones so they shouldn’t be too warm but you never know.

I had the same thought about wrapping… I’m definitely going to wait until my vet sees him before we do anything too different.

[Scribbler]

Some horses stock up right away for any passing virus or skin irritation. My mare stocks up behind when her hoof angles are wrong and she needs a trim.

[Lunabear1988]

He does strike me as a more sensitive type. His a quarter horse but has quite a lot of thoroughbred blood on his papers. And skin and footwise he’s thoroughbred

[cayuse]

Do you live in an area where tick borne illnesses are common? Stocking up was the first symptom my horse had when he got anaplasmosis.

[lenapesadie]

I had a set of shoo fly leggings give one of my horses some really tiny rubs, one of which snowballed into a yucky summer sore.

My other horse will stock up if his mud fever escalates or gets irritated.

Fortunately your vet is already scheduled to come quickly. Should vet not have any immediate treatment plans, I’d try pulling the shoo fly boots and coating the stocked up legs in some sort of anti scratches / mud fever cream/gel/paste/witchbrew.

[mfglickman]

Tick panel? I had one with stovepipe legs and had ehrlichiosis.

[Lunabear1988]

No. Not impossible but very unlikely to be tick related. Not the first thing any vet would typically look for where I’m at anyway. I will of course keep it in mind if the more likely suspects don’t end up being the reason.

[Lunabear1988]

Maybe but he’s been wearing them for months with no issues so it sure would be odd to suddenly have an issue and only in the hind legs… But I will probably just pull them for a day or two just to see? Easy enough to figure out.

I’m hearing from a few people that there seems to be a little virus going around at various barns so I’m kind of suspect about that to be honest.