ankle swelling

Question
Hi Anne,

About 10 years ago I use to be into barrel racing & pleasure ridding with Quarter horses..Started a new life and sold everyone of them.

Last august/04 I bought a 10 year old standardbred pacer. He is very good and quiet for trail rides...however his feet are very sensitive....I was thinking about having pads put on and then shoes ...but what worries me the most is the swelling he gets every now and then on his back right foot and not necessarly after a trail ride.

One day he is fine and a couple days later his ankle is swelled up again !!  
Only the one foot....all the time.
We try to get the sweeling down with cold water ...cold compress...the next day he's fine and then couples of days later ....we start all over again.
Sometimes he could be fine for a couple of weeks then....we start again !!!

Now this horse has lots of acid shot burns on his legs due to prior incidents at the track..i'm sure you know what i'm talking about.

I have never been around standardbreds before and after so many years not being around horses I have lost some of my knowledge...

Why does the swelling come and go like this ?

Do you have any suggestions ?

Thanking you in advance for the time you are giving me

Confused Sue  

Answer
Hi Sue.
  Not sure what you mean by "acid burn shots." Could you be referring to pin firing or freeze firing?
  The first thing I'd suggest is getting some x-rays when his feet are good. If nothing shows up, have them checked and x-rayed again during a flare-up. (You then have a hard copy of something to compare.) I think my major concerns would be navicular or possibly the beginnings of laminitis. Is it the foot itself that swells, or the fetlock or the ankle? Is there any heat when he does swell up? (You're using cold water on him so I assume there is.)
  My second suggestion is to get him on an anti-inflammatory. Many good products on the market, but I like Anti-flam.
  A couple of things to check next time you have him shod: ask the farrier to measure and make sure his length and angle are the same on both feet (front and back). If one foot is off it could put a lot of strain on your horse. If his feet are healthy (not overly dry or seedy) it's probably not a concern but you might want to stay away from prepunched shoes for a couple shoeings. Not all blacksmiths can do it, but if his foot is that sensitive you might want to try glue instead of mails. A full pad will absorb some of the impact, but it will change the way he travels and won't treat the underlying problem.