[3WishesDun]

My 23 year old horse Doc was 3 legged lame this morning. Evidently he was "playing" with my pony through the round pen and likely struck out forward with his leg and perhaps got caught up. (He broke the board.) He doesn't have any wounds, but he does have swelling on either side of his cannon bone, one side a little higher up than the other. The swelling is a little bigger than a marble on the right side of the cannon and about 1/2 the size of a marble on the left side. It is also not on the back of the cannon bone but set in about an inch or so on both sides.

I gave him 1 gram of bute, cold hosed him, and put him in the stall. By dinnertime he was MUCH improved, went to about a 2 out of 5 on that leg and he was getting around much better. I iced the area, gave him another gram a bute, and then applied some DMSO. I really don't feel comfortable enough to wrap the leg, it's been a LONG time since I have wrapped for a tendon/ligament issue...and I don't want to do more harm than good.

Is this a tendon injury? Or a ligament injury? Does it matter?
Anything else I should do for him? If he does not continue to improve I will call the vet. Here are some pics. Thank you in advance for any advice.

Where he likely did it.


Right foreleg

[Jenje!]

Oh geez, April... CRINGE!

Not going to hazard a guess... kudos for not risking the wrap... a lot of people would anyway, not realizing the "extra" damage it can do. I'll be thinking about you and your boy, sending feel-good thoughts!

[tbtrainer]

April, I would probably have used a poultice to cool off the leg first, the DMSO would come after you have iced or cold hosed for a few days to cool things off. It's hard to tell from the picture, and only an ultrasound will really tell you exactly what is going on in there.

I know you are going to run out to the barn, wash off the DMSO and apply a poultice, right???

It really stinks when our horses do this to themselves!! What was your horse thinking???

I'm hoping it's just some bruising and nothing serious!

[prettyqtrs]

Sounds like you are handling things well. I'd just continue what you are doing...if there is no improvement, I'd call out the vet.

I hope Doc is okay. Good thoughts heading your way!

[3WishesDun]

Thanks Jen. I really appreciate it. I think, well, I hope, this isn't going to be too bad. He responded so quickly to just what I did today. He's pretty much retired, except for easy walk/trotting.... I don't want to see him in pain though! Good thing is that he doesn't mind being in the stall. He actually likes it. Whenever he has the run of the barnyard, he will often just stand in his stall and eat his hay with the door wide open.
Like this pic I took today....Notice the stall door is open...

[3WishesDun]

Thanks tbtrainer and PQ.

I don't have any poultice. Or I might just run out there.
I will pick some up tomorrow.

[Nevada_Silk]

My horse did something that looked very similar to that. I gave a gram of bute and put an ice boot on it. I made my own ice boot with a pro choice boot. I hosed it....and then put it in the freezer. Stuck it on the leg and let it kind of thaw out. Nevada was fine in a week. I kept him in a small paddock so as not to make him stiff.

[tbtrainer]

Is that your daughters artwork on the door??? Very, very cute horse!!!

[tbtrainer]

April, an animalintex pad will do the trick too, but you would have to keep it on with a standing bandage!

Thought I'd add, that if you use poultice and dont want to wrap with a bandage, just use paper towels!

[wyldterv]

April, hopefully it's just bad bruising! One more thing you can do... EPSOM SALT SOAK Yes it IS my 'cure all' for many MANY things... I would Cold soak in Epsom salts for 30 mins for the next 2 days (figuring you won't see this until Wed since it's almost midnight your time right now ) 3 times a day. You can also buy Epsom salt Poultice which works fabulously. Kaolin Clay is another fantastic poultice for swelling.