I have a 14-year-old Arabian mare who has an ankle/fetlock that has some chronic swelling which started as a windpuffs back last September but has morphed in to something distinctly more dramatic. I have pictures posted on my Facebook page (search for Liz Carey in Silicon Valley/San Jose to find me) of what the ankle looks like as of two days ago.
Basia does ride-and-tie races, so she is ridden pretty hard and fast. She is barefoot -- has great feet -- and we use both EasyBoot epics and/or Renegade boots when she races. She first got mild windpuffs on her hind legs after a race about two years ago, which responded to ice and wrapping and rest. This current problem started after the Cool ride-and-tie last September, when she developed a walnut-sized soft bubble on the outer
surface of her upper LH ankle. She wasn't at all lame or sore on it, so I was not unduly concerned. But it never really resolved because I (unfortunately) didn't treat it aggressively; I just turned her out in the pasture to be a horse for the winter. I had other people riding her, too, in the spring, and she got ridden hard about every two weeks. The swelling was gradually getting more pronounced. Basia competed in the Quicksilver ride-and-tie near San Jose on May 2nd and raced really well but finally showed some lameness (a 1.5-2 according to her vet card).
I finally had the vet (Dr. Sinead Devine of Peninsula Equine in Portola Valley) evaluate Basia in late May. Basia was a 2-3 lame on a flex test. Dr. Devine did a thorough diagnostic ultrasound of the lower legs of both hind legs and found no tendon or ligament problems much to my
relief, but of course 3 dramatic pockets of fluid (2 bubbles on the distal side and 1 on the medial side) along the base of the tendons. These could indeed be compressing the tendons and leading to the discomfort on the flext test. Dr. Devine drained as much fluid from these pockets as she could -- it all appeared to be synovial fluid from the tendon sheaths -- no signs of infection, just inflammation. Basia was wrapped and kept on stall rest/hand-walking for a week to optimize the reduction in swelling.
Now is is two weeks post-treatment, and Basia is back out in pasture, much happier but still just as swollen as before. She walks and trots sound in a straight line but will favor that ankle (short-striding) on uneven ground and winces when she turns on it. I am only walking and trotting her in hand and am fairly sure she isn't going to be racing anymore, which is fine with
me. But I'd like to find some more resolution to the situation so that I don't make it worse.
My question to the RideCamp Chorus is: anybody out there had any experience like this? Any other hypotheses as to what could be going on besides a "windpuff gone bad"? Part of what baffles me is that the left hind is so bad, and the other legs are fine (especially the front legs -- no problem with them at all -- the right hind shows some filling too). We have yet to do x-rays to see if there might be a bone chip floating around in that ankle; but she isn't really lame enough to indicate a fracture. The vet is coming out tomorrow (Friday 6/26) to discuss what, if anything, to do next.
Thanks for any information/collective wisdom all you Arabian endurance horse women and men can give to me and my Princess Basia!
