Check Ligament

[Olympian06@aol.com]

Hi all....in September of 98 my horse strained his check ligament.  I was told
by my vet to give him 2 months off and let the leg heal naturally.  So, I
turned him out and let him be a "horse".  Well, when he came back from his
"horse" experience, he must have had fun because he had developed a nice
splint on the opposite leg?!  I guessed it was from playing with the other
horse.  Well, at the end of November, I started hand walking him for an hour a
day and the leg looked great, no swelling, no heat, no nothing.  So in
December I took him out and started riding him.  We just walked for a while
and then would trot alitle, not much, just some.  We started adding in some
light dressage work and had no problem UNLESS I didn't polo wrap his legs,
then the following day he would have a slight puffiness on the upper inside of
his leg.  So then in Jan we have been going on some nice little hour trail
rides, mainly flat and have been doing alittle trotting, 2 or so minutes at a
time, (must I remind you that he is an Arab and really wants to GO!!!)  Well,
yesterday I rode him for a little and today I checked his leg and it was puffy
and warm again today and there seems to be a splint or something starting to
develop.  He isn't lame and it doesn't seem sensitive to the touch.  So I hand
walked him and ran nice cold water on it for 15 minutes and put some standing
wraps on him.  

Well,.......my question is..........what do I do?  Have any of you had similar
problem?  Was I moving to fast, not doing something right? Maybe it isn't a
check ligament at all?  I would really appreciate some feed back, I am about
ready to go crazy.  I sure wish they could talk....it would make everything so
much easier!!!  Thanks again for you time and any advice you can offer!!! 

Johnna Robb
N. Arizona