# Has anyone seen this before? Enlarged blood vessel over tendons?



## kerilli (19 July 2011)

My Ellie has a slightly enlarged blood vessel where it crossed her tendons in 1 foreleg about an inch below her knee. Absolutely no heat, no swelling, but a definite slight 'ridge' that you can see and feel which is exactly where the blood vessel is. I am, of course, panicking, and have booked my vet to come and scan it asap, while hoping that it's nothing... any advice much appreciated. it's very odd, never seen anything like it before. 
gosh, i just want to be able to crack on with this horse and there's always something! argh.


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## Gamebird (19 July 2011)

Regularly, and have come to the opinion that if everything else (tendons etc.) feels OK then I tend to ignore it. I am happier if it is bilateral, but it isn't always. Occasionally the vein increases in size when there is eg. a foot abscess (in the same way as you can feel a digital pulse in the arteries) but more often it's just one of those things - more obvious some days than others.


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## cruzing (19 July 2011)

The mare i ride has this on both front legs, about where the check ligament is.
Her check ligament was scanned 6 weeks ago as she had a swelling inside and outside of her leg  just like when they strain the ligament. 
Thankfully it showed nothing, so was told that it prob just tweaked it.
Vet didnt seem to think the enlarged blood vessells were related to her injury as she has had them for years.

Will be interested to hear your vets opinion tho.


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## charlie76 (19 July 2011)

have this a lot, its usually juts about where the top of a brushing boot might be, I usually think its to do with the pressure of the boot and don't worry about it.


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## Wilbur_Force (19 July 2011)

Hi K, William has had this too.  Vet came out because I was super paranoid about it - felt about and prodded/poked.  He had flexion tests too and everything was fine.  His was also in one foreleg only.  His was helped by putting more salt into his diet (bad mummy hadnt replaced his salt lick ) 

Its gone now, he used to come in from the field and it would fill a bit whilst in the stable, I'd work him and it would disperse and then an hour later, back it was!  I had to have the vet for my own peace of mind!!


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## kerilli (19 July 2011)

thanks so much everyone, that's reassuring. scan booked for Thurs a.m. just in case... utter paranoia i know.


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## Saratoga (19 July 2011)

I've had it before, and called the vet panicking. She usually looks at me with one of those looks before telling me he's fine :-D


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## Wilbur_Force (19 July 2011)

I couldnt settle until the vet had given it the once over.  I kept thinking that the work was making it worse.  Silly, I know, but it was worth the call out!


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## BeckyD (19 July 2011)

Yes, it was one of Ronnie's many ailments.  It was sort of over the check ligament, running diagonally downwards from below the knee (by about an inch) backwards and down.  Used to come up on warm/humid days.  I had it scanned by ultrasound and it turned out to be a varicose vein.  I was advised to bandage him for support for hard work (much like support stockings for old ladies) but to be honest, after about a month it went down and never came back (in the 12 months longer that he survived).

His was very swollen on his right fore, although the same area on the left fore was very slightly enlarged.

If you're worried get the vet, but it sounds like it's a similar thing to what Ronnie had.

Embarrassingly when I took him for his next PSD checkup at Cambridge Vet School about a fortnight later, I told them that he'd had a swelling there, and immediately one of the vets said (words to the effect of) "we had a silly woman bring her horse in with a swelling there, she thought he'd done a check ligament but it was just a varicose vein" (cue much mirth amongst all the students).  I smiled brightly and kept my mouth shut


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## dominobrown (19 July 2011)

Was it there after work? A 3 year old I am backing had it after a bit of work. It was hot etc, just a vein which once rested went away. It had it on both front legs.


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## kerilli (19 July 2011)

it's there all the time, but a tiny bit more pronounced now than it was a few weeks ago.. as in infinitessimally more. it's no different after work, after standing in, etc. if it's a varicose vein i can rest a bit easier! it's not diagonal though, it's straight across, pretty much perfectly horizontal. hmmm.


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## Festive_Felicitations (19 July 2011)

Yes, no, sort of ... on my legs not a horses 

They become more pronounced or less depending on how fit I am, the weather and what exercise I'm doing. Saw a Dr once becasue they looked really awful for a while and he just said that they are fine and just 'me'.

Fingers crossed it is just one of her 'things' and that you can crack on with her work.


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## Princecharming (19 July 2011)

Yea like you say totally get the vet to check it out but we have had this too. And like pp says it's always bilateral and it's never been anything to worry about at all! It doesn't worry me anymore but I know exactly what's normal for them, if it was in any way different I would be getting the vet out asap too but by the sounds of yours it sounds the same as what happens to us. I'm glad you've written this post though because even though it doesn't worry me I'm always aware of it iykwim.


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## Princecharming (19 July 2011)

kerilli said:



			it's there all the time, but a tiny bit more pronounced now than it was a few weeks ago.. as in infinitessimally more. it's no different after work, after standing in, etc. if it's a varicose vein i can rest a bit easier! it's not diagonal though, it's straight across, pretty much perfectly horizontal. hmmm.
		
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Same. It sounds fine. Let us know what vet says though cos I'd be interested in what it is too


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## star (19 July 2011)

it's pretty common esp in blood horses after work.  nothing to worry about normally.


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## Vickijay (19 July 2011)

My mare has this sometimes. I asked the vet when he was over and he said nowt to worry about. Probs worth a scan for piece of mind though x


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## kerilli (19 July 2011)

well, i'm paranoid about tendons and i have never seen it before, learn a new thing every day with horses! thanks everyone, will let you know what my vet says about it when he's scanned it...


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## amandaco2 (19 July 2011)

my mare has had one since i got her aged 5 and shes now 21. never caused an issue, except i am careful it doesnt get rubbed as it is very prominant.


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## Starbucks (19 July 2011)

When Badger had his scan for his check ligament injury his blood vessel was loads bigger than usual (as in for a usual horse not usual for B), so the vet said, he originally thought that was the damage to his ligament but it was exactly the same on the other side, he didn't seem to think it was an issue in itself.

Suppose if it feels bigger than it normally does it could be because it's pumping more blood somewhere though?


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## kit279 (20 July 2011)

A vet once told me that sometimes the leg veins become more prominent as the horse gets fitter as the vein wall (whilst not really being muscle) becomes relatively more muscle-y and thus stands off the tendon more.  If you've ever seen a fit athlete, they quite often have very prominent arm veins (think Madonna ), I assume that sort of correlates to horses as well.


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## kerilli (21 July 2011)

kit279 said:



			A vet once told me that sometimes the leg veins become more prominent as the horse gets fitter as the vein wall (whilst not really being muscle) becomes relatively more muscle-y and thus stands off the tendon more.  If you've ever seen a fit athlete, they quite often have very prominent arm veins (think Madonna ), I assume that sort of correlates to horses as well.
		
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Yes, that makes sense... but i've never seen/felt it actually across the sdft and ddft, have seen them like that further up the legs though, on horses fit for 3* and 4* LF. 

Update - Ellie scanned today. Leg FINE. wooohoooo, relax, breathe again, stop panicking here.
basically she has a slight anomaly, she has a thin layer of extra tissue between her skin and sdft, particularly noticeable toward the top of the tendons, clearly visible on scan. that's what i could feel. 
and when we checked back on the other foreleg's scans (done in March this year when i had a knicker attack about that leg)... hey presto, the same thing. so, it's just her. and i can stop being a pathetic paranoid prat and GET ON WITH IT. yesssss!
       wooooohooooohooooo.
thanks everyone.


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## cruzing (21 July 2011)

Glad to hear it was all normal will look forward to reading some Ellie reports.


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## Festive_Felicitations (22 July 2011)

YAYAY! Wonderful news.


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## NELSON11 (22 July 2011)

Glad all ok for you


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## festivalgem (22 July 2011)

my horse has that and has had it as long as i can remember.  

Also another horse did years ago and it was more visable when i trimmed her legs one day.   The conformation judge at a BYEH class questioned if she had ever had a tendon injury - we bred her so i knew she hadnt but they scored her 5/15.  She usually got 12 or 13 out of 15 so it must of been the reason !!  Anyway, 8 years later she was still sound !!


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## Princecharming (22 July 2011)

That's fantastic news! I wonder if that's what mine has then too... I always thought it was a vein like you said but maybe it isn't. Definitely sounds identical, and I had a fantastic vetting done on mine and it wasn't even mentioned so maybe it's quite common. Either way though I'm really pleased for you, I know how it feels to worry like that.


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## brighteyes (27 July 2011)

Ours has this exact thing (bi-laterally) too. I have found this thread whilst looking for info on something else leg/ligament/tendon related  but don't tell Baggybreeches I have been 'cos she told me not to


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## Mike007 (28 July 2011)

Yup, quite normal , as has been said ,more prominent in horses in work.(real work , not paddling round a school for 45 minutes0


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## brighteyes (28 July 2011)

Mike007 said:



			Yup, quite normal , as has been said ,more prominent in horses in work.(real work , not paddling round a school for 45 minutes 

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Oh yes, proper work - which is why I had a duck fit when I saw it/them.  I usually think 'bilateral similarities = perfectly normal' (or in obviously terrible circumstances THE END) and my heart rate slows a little.


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## Baggybreeches (28 July 2011)

brighteyes said:



			Ours has this exact thing (bi-laterally) too. I have found this thread whilst looking for info on something else leg/ligament/tendon related  but don't tell Baggybreeches I have been 'cos she told me not to 

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Oi you! Sprung!


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## Gamebird (28 July 2011)

kerilli said:



			Yes, that makes sense... but i've never seen/felt it actually across the sdft and ddft, have seen them like that further up the legs though, on horses fit for 3* and 4* LF. 

Update - Ellie scanned today. Leg FINE. wooohoooo, relax, breathe again, stop panicking here.
basically she has a slight anomaly, she has a thin layer of extra tissue between her skin and sdft, particularly noticeable toward the top of the tendons, clearly visible on scan. that's what i could feel. 
and when we checked back on the other foreleg's scans (done in March this year when i had a knicker attack about that leg)... hey presto, the same thing. so, it's just her. and i can stop being a pathetic paranoid prat and GET ON WITH IT. yesssss!
       wooooohooooohooooo.
thanks everyone.
		
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Told you so! Now chill out or we'll have to start calling you Marvin


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