# Swelling of the knee, with no lameness or tenderness?



## Peggysue (Mar 29, 2008)

how old is she ? What is her diet? How BIG is she??


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## dimmers_double (Jul 13, 2008)

i havent heard of wind puffs on the knees. my older gelding has them on his pasterns. im wondering if she doesnt have something wrong with her knee. i think you should get another vets opinion. its strange that it flares up with turnout. normally swelling happens when a horse is on stall rest. that is why i think you should get a second opinion. it could be a bone fragment floating around and causing it to swell. i know im no hore but i had that in my knee and i never felt it. no pain or anything.


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## valleychick2121 (May 1, 2008)

PeggySue, She is 15 months old now, and is pretty big. She is about 14 - 14.2hh (definitely over 14, but haven't measured her yet) and has pretty good muscle mass. Here is a pic of her that was taken last month.










What are you thinking?

D_D, I don't know. I put her in the pasture alone about 5 weeks ago for two days so she could stretch and enjoy some scant grazing, when i pulled her out, her knee was like that. I think you are right about the other opinion. I'm going to call a different vet on Monday and make an appointment. This is my baby girl here, so I've GOT to get her better!


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## valleychick2121 (May 1, 2008)

oh, I just noticed, but her knee is swollen in this pic. it is her left for knee. You can kinda see, but its not a great pic for that.


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## valleychick2121 (May 1, 2008)

Oops, PeggySue, i forgot to say what her diet is. Starting in April she was getting 2 flakes twice a day of Alfalfa, and 2 coffee cans of 14% pelleted feed. Then in the first part of June, i had to take a price cut and started her on Coastal instead of Alfalfa, but still had the feed. Now, she is just getting 1 coffee can of 14% pellets once a day with 3 flakes coastal 2x's daily. Was that an ok diet?


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## dimmers_double (Jul 13, 2008)

she is such a pretty horse, i hope everything goes alright. make sure you keep an eye the ajoining hoof. if not treated all leg injuries go to their feet. especially knee swellings. i would definatly make sure you get another opinion. she looks like too goo of a horse for this to happen. i hope everyting goes alright. have you tried hosing it off with nice cold water or using an ice pack? that might bring the swelling down. until you can figure out whats going on, i would keep her quiet and not let her run around. 
Hope you can figure out what is going on. 
Keep us posted!


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## valleychick2121 (May 1, 2008)

Thank you D_D!!! I love her to death and it kills me to see her with a puffy knee, even if she acts like there is nothing to it. I'll definitely keep ya'll posted and also get some pics of what the knee is looking like now. Country vets really aren't great when it comes to things like this, he just felt it and said a horse prolly kicked it, and didn't change his opinion when i told him she was alone, so were going to someone who knows what he's talking about. I'll have an outcome for ya'll soon!

Edit: I didn't know anything would happen to her feet as well! What would something like that do to her feet, and would it be permanent? That's pretty scary since I'm planning on doing reining/cutting with her.


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## dimmers_double (Jul 13, 2008)

the fluid and swelling could travel down her leg (you may not physically see it) and cause and absess or even founder or laminitis. just watch to make sure her feet arent changing and tht their is no abcess. and if she strted limping. that could mean either her knee is bugging her or her hoof is bugging her.


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## Ryle (Jul 13, 2007)

You need to have your vet (or a good lameness vet) re-evaluate your horse. Often vets go with the "easy fix" first because if that will work there is no need to spend more of the owner's money or time on diagnostics and treatments. But if the "easy fix" doesn't work then they go on and take a closer look. 

The fact that it goes down with stall rest may indicated tendon or ligament involvement.


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## valleychick2121 (May 1, 2008)

Well, Its wednesday today, and i haven't gotten a hold of the vet yet! Every time i call, he is busy, so Im going to call my country vet to get a couple xrays and go from there and see what it looks like. i got some pics of her leg up close, but haven't downloaded them yet, so will get that done so ya'll can see it up close.

I didn't know what sort of problems it could lead to, but we're hopefully going to get it fixed, or at least find out whats wrong with her. 

Thank you for all the input you guys! You're all very helpful!


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## love-a-hero (Apr 3, 2008)

Ryle said:


> You need to have your vet (or a good lameness vet) re-evaluate your horse. Often vets go with the "easy fix" first because if that will work there is no need to spend more of the owner's money or time on diagnostics and treatments. But if the "easy fix" doesn't work then they go on and take a closer look.
> 
> The fact that it goes down with stall rest may indicated tendon or ligament involvement.


Once again... great advice


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## valleychick2121 (May 1, 2008)

Well you guys, I've lost my camera, and never downloaded those pics, so its been driving me crazy, lol. i always go out and get pics of my babies. 

I did take her to the Heart of Texas Equine Center on Saturday, and got really great news! She had a blood clot over her knee which was probably caused by falling down. 

it was there a while, so it didn't have any color to it, it just looked like water. He put a solution in it that will cause the skin on the knee to tighten, so she doesn't have a blemish and wrapped it to help it tighten even more. 

She was such a sweety, and was way better than when i have to get her butt stiched. Then, she had to be sedated twice, and twiched. She was still jerking her head over every thing. That just lets me know how far shes come to accepting humans around her! 

Im so excited, she will be able to perform as best she can, with no problems with that knee. I just have to hand walk her again and keep the bandage on as long as it stays in the right place and keeps pressure on the knee, until it heals. 

If she bangs it again, he can drain it and put an iodine solution in it to make it kinda scar up, so won't bother her, but will look better than a bump on her knee, but it went totally down until it was flat, so hopefully, we won't have any more problems. Its sad, but Im going to keep her penned up and just let her have free time in the round pen with some lunging. Something always seems to happen when they are put out in the pasture, and its nothing good! 

Thank you guys for being with me and trying to work things out! I've definitely learned a lot about this experience!


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