[Cimmy]

Hello!

My horse cimmy is out all summer and is fine like this. The problem I have is in winter when he has to stay in over night. His rear legs swell up like two balloons over night, especially his hind left due to an old injury. When I bring him out of his stable in the morning he is quite stiff and I have to walk him around the yard to walk off the swelling before I can ride him.

Should I be bandaging his legs or putting stable boots on? I have been recommended magnetic boots made by 'Bioflow', have any of you had any experience of these? They do look good as they also help arthritis which he seems to be developing now he is 26. I am considering buying him a pair from ebay but there are two types, ones that look like brushing boot and ones that are tendon wraps and I don't know which I need.

Any advice greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Emilyx

[Dawn]

Why is he staying in overnight? Is there a specific reason, stable policy, etc? If he stocks up that badly, then he would most likely do better staying out. Especially since you also mentioned that he's developing arthritis. If staying out is not an option, you can rub his legs down with liniment before putting him up at night. Wrapping is an option, but it also has its dangers. If he swells anyway, especially to the extent you're saying, the bandages are going to be too tight by morning and impede his circulation, which in turn will make the swelling worse.

[probarrelracer]

He's just stocking up. I would not worry about it. It should get better as his body adjusts to being in a stall. It might be easier to walk off the stiffness while riding him.

[QTRgirl]

Why do you have to put him up at night? Is it a stable rule or something?

[Fantasy_Horse]

Yes, I was also wondering, why he has to be stalled at night in the winter? Doesnt he have a shelter in the pasture/paddock that he is in?

My mare does that if I stall her, so easy way to stop that...I dont stall her. We keep all of our horses outside 24/7, except for the weanlings/yearlings....they tend to get into much more trouble than the older horses...and so they are stalled at night until they are turning *about* two years old.

If there is no specific reasont hat he must be stalled, then dont stall him. Its way healthier for them to be outside, than stuck in a stall. And your horse, being older...could probably use all the moving around he can get. He doesnt need to be stiff and swollen every morning, if he doesnt have to be. If you can, leave him outside year round...you can always buy him a blanket if he doesnt winter up well. And as far as shelter, and man-made shelter is great, or trees work good too.(Many of our pastures have lots of trees for the horses to go under during the different seasons.) Feeeding good amounts of hay, will help keep them warm. (I think it is when they are digesting it or something...that warms them. Sorry cant remember exactly)

[Cimmy]

Unfortunately he has to be stabled at night, I would love to leave him out all year but it is not possible on his yard. He is not actually my horse (I have him full time though) and his owner refuses to move him and there aren't many yard with full year turnout near me anyway. The farmer won't let us because the grazing couldn't take all year 24/7 turnout. Also because he is a grumpy farmer and he doesn't leave his pony out so he doesn't see why we should want to! For some reason he believes that horses can't live out! What he thinks the wild ponies do I have no idea!!

I think I will order cims those magnetic boots and see if they do him any good. He is already on a feed suplement which is helping him with his slight arthitis - it's not bad just a slight stiffness sometimes when I pick up his hind legs for picking them out.

[Fantasy_Horse]

Hmm, well Im not sure then. If you MUST stall him...make sure its a large enough stall(the biggest that you can find for him anyways) Keep up on his arthritis meds, and keep walking him in the morning when you let him out. Like I said an easy way to help prevent this is, leave him out 24/7. How would the horses graze if its winter?(do you not have snow, frost, ect?) Because over here where I live, we grass up over the summer...the horses graze it down...and over the winter the grass "dies off" because of the coldness.

Well anyways, maybe someone else has a better solution for you. Sorry I couldnt be much of an assistance to you.
Good luck!

[Cimmy]

Thanks any way! He is already in on of the larger stables - despite the fact he is only 14.2hh!! They are out during the day in winter, there is enough grass for this but if they were to stay out over night it wouldn't be enough. The field is a good 15/20min walk away from the yard so that makes it a bit difficult to take hay/hayledge to them which is the only way they could be left out all year. We do still have grass in winter though, we don't really get alot of snow, just frost and a light pathetic covovering of snow if any thing!

There is a slight chance that some time in the future I could move him to some really nice fields where he could have all year turnout. However this would have its problems, I would have to take him on as my own (not really a problem as I love him to bits and I could never leave him any way!), the grass is very rich and as cimmy is a good doer this would put him at risk of laminitus, so he would have to wear a grazing mask to control his grass intake.

Problems problems!! Oh well! I'll have to see what is happening with these fields! And for the time being get him some boots and carry on walking the swelling off, etc.

[galadriel]

As a horse walks, pressure on the frog helps pump the blood through the legs. When a horse is confined and can't walk as much as he needs, there is less power to the circulation leaving the leg. Blood "pools" toward the bottom of the leg because the circulation isn't strong enough to force the blood back up the leg to the body.

That's what stocking up is. It's blood getting stuck in the legs because it can't get back to the body. Therefore, wrapping the leg is probably only going to cause harm; the circulation is already weak, and putting pressure on the leg will just make it that much more difficult to pump the blood through the legs.

If a horse stocks up when stalled, he is not getting enough movement. It may help to put him in a larger stall, where he can move around a little more. If a larger stall is not an option, and there is no urgent reason to keep the horse stalled, well--I would consider it a priority to find that horse 24/7 turnout *somewhere*. Horses are delicate enough. I would hate to knowingly put a horse in a situation which is disturbing his proper circulation, on a daily basis.

[probarrelracer]

I agree, wrapping is a bad idea.