Stocking up
Bonnie Snodgrass (snodgrab@ncr.disa.mil)
Tue, 22 Oct 96 15:00:25 EST
There are lots of reasons horses stock up. If your horse is used to
living outside and you start stalling them they may stock up. An
illness or infection can cause stocking up. And last but all too
common is stress to the leg structures from exercise.
You didn't give any background on your horse and training program. If
you ask too much too soon of your horse then you may see puffiness in
the hind ankles. If you change riding surfaces, start doing hard roads
or maybe sandy river bottoms, this is a new stress to the legs. From
my experience with race horses and event types and from what a very
good vet told me, I'd say that if the stocking up is exercise induced
then the exercise being done is inappropriate for the level of
condition of the horses legs. Yes, after a hard race (which obviously
has more stress to it than daily conditioning) you may likely see
filling, muscle soreness, etc. But your daily conditioning should not
routinely cause stocking up. I have done this to horses myself. I've
learned the hard (dumb?) way. I was left with horse with permanently
thickened ankles and/or major windpuffs. I know now that I pushed
these young horses to hard. I believe the big culprit is impact
related, unconditioned bones and joints besides tendons and ligaments.
One other possibility by the way is a change in shoeing. If a farrier
has trimmed and shod your horse out of balance or changed the
angles/degrees of the feet it will stress the leg structures.
Bonnie Snodgrass