Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Please Reply to: Cindy Marbut tetstrnr@xxxxxxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Carole,

With bilateral (both sides evenly) swelling of the hind legs you are usually 
looking at stress from exercise followed by a period of inadequate movement 
(being stalled).  While toxic reactions to plants, shavings, bug bites, etc. 
are an outside possibility, it is far more likely that something about your 
exercise routine is stressing her legs enough to cause the stocking up.  This 
is not necessarily a bad thing, stress causes the legs to improve their 
fitness, so long as the swelling does dissipate fairly easily and is not 
accompanied by a lot of heat.

Think about the nature of that particular trail compared with the others you 
ride.  Is it longer, steeper, or harder surfaced than the others?  Also, look 
at your shoeing.  May be you have just reached a point in your training where 
you are asking enough of your horse that your shoeing needs to be "better."  By 
better, I mean more balanced and providing better support to the hind leg.  As 
your horse becomes fitter and stronger, she pushes off harder with the hind 
legs, placing more stress on the bones, ligaments, and tendons.

Also, a good 15 to 20 minutes of cold hosing after a ride can do a lot to help 
this type of reaction.  Best of all is to never put a horse in a stall, 
especially those that tend to stand very still when stalled, but that is often 
not practical.

Good luck.
~Cindy


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