A difficult one..
 

Hi all, Bit of a difficult one and wondered if anyone had any ideas.. Horse came in from field with capped hock about 8 weeks ago, hosed it religiously for 2 weeks twice a day. Within those 2 weeks there was some swelling down the cannon bone which seemed to travel slowly down the leg. Sound on it so assumed swelling was from impact of trauma from however he capped the hock. Capped hock reduced a lot and only left with small squishy swelling which was barely noticeable. Stopped hosing after 2 weeks and brought back into work, no lameness issues at all. Leg still filling during the day whilst in the stable but going down a lot after exercise and turnout. This continued for another several weeks, spoke to vet on the phone and he said to monitor it for a few weeks and expect it to resolve completely. Leg seemed to follow the same pattern of filling/dispersing but didn't seem to resolve. I was concerned about this, so booked the vet for a week last Friday (6th July). The Tuesday before the vet came I really put him through his paces in the school so I really knew if he was sound or not. Everything felt fine, leg went down and was then turned out for the night. Came in Wednesday morning and leg looked completely normal with no swelling at all. (I though sods law after all this time and now I've actually booked the vet to come out it looks so much better) Had Wednesday and Thursday off with some filling returning after being in/ not worked.Vet came out on the Friday and poked, prodded, palpitated, trotted him up, did flexion tests and said that it seemed to be a general edema in the leg and that it didn't seem to be a specific structure that was inflamed but the leg was 'filling' when stood in. He suggested he had likely damaged/compromised his lymphatic structure with the trauma of whacking his hock when he capped it. He advised to carry on working him as his seemed to help and let him know if it gets any worse. His lymphatic system has never seemed great as he always gets slight swelling of his legs when in. Off I went on holiday for a few days and returned on the Thursday. At this point he'd had just over a week off, with the few days before the vet coming and the few days whilst I went away. When I went down the yard on Thursday the leg was quite swollen, as I expected with lack of work. I rode him in the school and he went great. I then hacked the Friday all was well. Leg didn't seem to be going down very much after work or turnout but thought this maybe because of the build up of fluid from the time off. When I went in school on Saturday he didn't feel quite right (not sure if this was because the school is so dry and loose and deep at the moment ) Sunday I brought him in and the leg is still swollen (more so than ever probably) and now sore to palpitate! Still sound on the hard and doesn't seem to be bothering him in general, bucked and farted on turnout and looked great when trotting away. Since I've been back the capped hock seems to have increased in size again too...Phoned the vet first thing yesterday and taking him in tomorrow for scans/xrays. Looking at it now I would suggest it is looking like a tendon injury but it just doesn't make sense that it now worse after time off and also that a few days before the vet came it had returned to 100% normal for the first time in weeks to swell again after time off work ? Could it still be possible its the 'filling' that's causing the tenderness? Could it maybe a bone chip from the original capped hock that's maybe moved ?! would he be really lame with this ? Leg has maybe been a touch warmer than the other at times but not 'hot'. I have even considered cellulitis but this wouldn't have got so much better to improve again I don't think. Has he maybe bashed the capped hock again?! Maybe this injury this week is totally unrelated to the original swelling but I really cant see that that is feasible..These are all ideas and questions going round my head and nothing seems to make sense! Sorry this is so long I just wanted to make sure I gave you the whole story as its just mind boggling! I feel better to right it all down now and I was wondering whether anyone had any ideas to throw into the ring that's worth considering/discussing really... thanks so much to anyone that can help! xx

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