Horse very lame - help please!

crazystevie

crazystevie

Well hello :D
May 9, 2004
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Last nite when I got to the yard to bring my horse in, he was very lame. He was reluctant to walk, and when I schecked him over at the top of his near fore was a small cut, and a massive swelling. He's probably had a good kick, or fell on a twig or something.

The cut was very sm,all, and not deep, with nothing in it, so that wasn't too worrying. I cleaned the cut out, and thats fine.

However, the swelling on his leg is quite hard and bumpy, with a lot of heat coming from it, although it was only warm this morning - last nite it was red hot. I cold hosed it lots to take the heat off it, and bandaged his other leg to support him. he is on box rest, with a very thick bed, and I have increased his fibre intake, and took him off the cool mix, and added devils claw to his feed.

I'm having the vet out friday, if there is little improvement.

Does anyone have any ideas what it could be? I'm really worried becuase he's not a dramatic horse, and it's quite difficult to tell if theres anything wrong with him as he tends to get on with things, and yet he seems in a lot of pain.
 
no idea but I would probably speak to the vet now even if they don't visit just in case it is more serious than you thnk - but then I am a bit of a panic merchant
 
I would call the vet for advice.
Salsa was very lame this weekend, and had a lot of heat in his pastern and around the coronet band. He also has a huge lump just below the joint and had lost a shoe. I cold hosed and applied an gel pack which took out a lot of the heat and had the farrier straight out, incase he had knocked it whilst pulling the shoe off. He also seemed very footsore. A new shoe improved things dramatically, and by Monday morning the heat was gone. He's now sound although the lump is still there.

Is there a puncture wound anywhere on the leg? A horse I knew had very hot, hard swelling which was caused by a small piece of twig which had punctured the leg. Because there was so much swelling, it was impossible to see so the vet gave the horse some kind of anti-inflamatory. Once the swelling had started to go down, the YO could grab the end of the splinter with some tweezers and remove it.
 
are you sure its not a puncture wound. They often go alot deeper than you think. The heat is possibly infection. If it was a twig that he managed to hurt himself with then there is a good chance it would cause infection. If it was a kick then there maybe some underlying damage aside from the cut. If it is not as hot as it was yesterday then I would guess that you did the right thing for him in keeping him in and cold hosing it. I would continue with that as well as keeping the cut very clean by bathing it with salt water. Keep a close eye on it and ring the vet for advise as to whether he should visit before Friday.
 
I don;t think that its a puncture wound, it's more like a little graze. I'm going to ring the vet for advice though. I don;t like to call the vet straight away, as the vet often seem to dramatize things a little. If it's not healing with what i;m doing at the moment, then I will - i'm only giving it a day or 2.

I first thought it was a torm muscle or somehting. He isn't limping, but putting his foot down very slowly, and finds it impossible to walk in a straight line. Basically, he isn;t bearing much weight on that foot - he let me touch it though, with out too much of a problem.
 
Have you tried to poltice the area? Use hot water with a drop of tea tree and a couple of lavender, leave to cool a little and then bandage around softly without wringing out. that should bring out any nasties! Change it daily. If it's not going down in a day or two call the vet/get more advice.
 
Bo had a cut like this a few years ago, a small nick at the top of one of his front legs, really didn't look like much so just cleaned it up and cold hosed etc when the swelling went down a few days later (I am also not one to call the vet right away :rolleyes: ) I found there was a little lump, on futher investigation we found he had a huge splinter over an inch long embedded very deeply into that muscle at the top of the leg, I guess it was from the fence as it was that type of wood and at about the right height, he must have just run along the fence too close :( .

I had to really open the wound and really flush with saline before carefully plucking out this huge splinter, we then continued to keep it open and flush twice daily for another week to ensure all the bits were out. It was then allowed to heal and there is now no sign of it. I'm really glad I noticed that little lump otherwise he would still have had a chunk of wood embedded in his leg.

Just really to say definatly keep a close eye on it and it might be worth having a really close look at it to make sure its not an almost invisible puncture wound like a splinter.

J x
 
I've looked at the cut - i'm pretty sure it's just a graze - vet is coming tomorrow morning. The swelling and heat has gone down slightly, but he's still very stiff. He's walking, but he can;t bend his front leg.

I ahve a pretty good feeling its his muscle though, as he can;t bend the leg at all, and when you pick his foot up, you pretty much have to hold it up, as he can;t support it himself. When he walks he swings ot aqround and sort of drags it. It isn;t sore to the touch or anything though.
 
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