# puffy vein on inside of the horse's leg...any ideas?



## Marilyn (7 October 2009)

i posted yesterday about my horse with a slightly puffy front leg.  i think, really, what it is is a slightly puffy vein on the inside of his leg at the top- now it's hardly noticeable, any ideas what it is?  i am putting witchhazel and arnica on it...


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## Louby (7 October 2009)

I may be talking about another vein??? but a few years ago, the vein at the top of his inside front leg suddenly one day protuded like a varicose vein and got bigger after exercise.  I mean sticking out over an inch and going bigger than this.  I got the vet to have a look as although he wasnt lame it was really noticeable.  Cant remember what he called it but did say it could be operated on but wasnt advised as they lost a lot of blood, he said to put a tubigrip on it for a few hours a day, which I did and one day it just dissapeared.  Keeping a tubigrip on was a nightmare as it kept falling down.


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## Marilyn (7 October 2009)

it's very slight but i think it's the same vien...and it seems to go down when exercised, so i am now panicing it's a tendon injury although he's not lame, there's no heat, he's wild as ever and it seems to imrpove with work?!!!  am i being hyper?


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## kerilli (7 October 2009)

does it match the other leg? if so, cancel panic imho. if not, reduce panic but consult vet...


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## Louby (7 October 2009)

Do you mean at the top of his leg?  My horses was right near
the top on the inside.  If so that wont be a Tendon injury.
My friends horse has a suspensary ligament injury and sometimes a vein comes up on the inside but below his knee.


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## Marilyn (7 October 2009)

sorry, it is below the knee.  the other leg is very similar but i have now crossed into paranoid and i think the one side is a bit bigger, but i have felt it for a good 15 minutes and it's very close in size.  it's the area around the vein on the near fore.


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## E_Lister (7 October 2009)

It wont make you feel better but that is what happened to my loan mare (before she came to me) and that was her tendon. However the swelling got worse with exercise.

Fingers crossed this is something far less serious and/or expensive!


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## Marilyn (7 October 2009)

it does improve with exercise which must be good...right?


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## mtj (7 October 2009)

My gelding had a puffy vein, in front of the tendons on the inside of his fore leg a couple of weeks ago.

No other swelling, completely sound.  Called vet, swelling had reduced by the time vet arrived.  Clearly thought owner dotty/paranoid 
	
	
		
		
	


	








 and very surprised I had noticed something so subtle.  Resisted the urge to mention that the ground has been like concrete for months - hence checking legs carefully.

Vet didn't think anything much wrong with horse and gave me some gel to put on it if it swelled again.


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## pootleperkin (7 October 2009)

If it is improving with exercise, then yes it is good.

Could just be a bit of oedema (fluid) gathering for some reason - if it goes with exercise and then doesn't recur, then don't worry, but maybe just give quiet exercise for a while.

Youngster had something similar earlier this year, which reduced on exercise (actually had quite puffy legs the first time), but vet advised just to walk out in hand and if it went to keep an eye, but not worry unless it became a regular occurence.


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## Marilyn (7 October 2009)

sound exactly what my horse has-it's very subtle too and he's sound as well.  my ground is still like concrete and he dashes around like a fool.  did you give him any time off?


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## Marilyn (7 October 2009)

i think i will lay off the schooling and lunging and hack out in straight lines in walk over the weekend...will give him until the weekend off in case anything has been tweaked.  does this sound sensible to you lot?


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## mtj (7 October 2009)

That was my approach.

My guy is going into the vets on Monday for some dentistry so I'm going to ask the surgeon to take a quick look as well whilst he is there. 

Before I upset any EDTs reading this, horse referred by EDT as has wiggly bit of fractured tooth that needs to be removed


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## Marilyn (8 October 2009)

Thanks for all your help, feeling much better now (she says, although hasn't checked horse this morning yet!)


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## Marilyn (8 October 2009)

just checked, doesn't seem puffy anymore-that leg might be fractionally 'thicker' at that point than the other leg...but then it might have always been like that mightn't it?  no heat now, not really any swelling to speak of and sound as a pound...obviously i will monitor but would that light thickness worry you lot (when i say slight, it really is very, very slight...my husband can't feel it and it's his horse)


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## MDJO (9 October 2009)

Could it be just an increased blood flow feeding down to the hoof?  I had similar last year, went into panic overdrive, cold hosing, vet out etc ... she said it was just increased blood flow, probably something in the foot (hoof was slightly warmer than other, but missed this in the blind panic) - went down a few days later


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## BeckyD (9 October 2009)

This happened to Ronnie is August - is it the vein that points diagonally downwards about a third of the way down on the inside of a foreleg?  I was afraid it was the check ligament swelling under the vein so had it scanned, and it turned out to be a varicose vein.  It comes and goes but I was told to bandage it if I get worried about it for exercise, to prevent it getting bigger.  It seems it's just one of those things.


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## Marilyn (9 October 2009)

it's inside foreleg in the gap between the tendons and the cannon bone and seems to be puffy about a third of the way down the leg.  not got any bigger, or small, cold hosed it yesterday and appeared smaller after (but then, his hairy leg was wet!) a varicose vein might make sense, how do they get these?


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## BeckyD (9 October 2009)

That is exactly the same spot Ronnie's was.  I have no idea how he got it.  He's been rested for god knows how long, but is on ACP so I don't know if that's anything to do with it?  I read somewhere that ACP can increase blood flow.

The vets were a bit  
	
	
		
		
	


	




 at me, I think they thought I was the very epitome of worrying owner.  Which I am


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