Windpuffs on Kasane’s fetlocks
Kasane has windpuffs on her back fetlock joints. According to The Horse article “Windpuffs in Horses“:
Windpuffs are soft, fluid-filled swellings toward the back of the fetlock joint, resulting from inflamed deep digital flexor tendon sheaths. Most commonly, these puffy enlargements are symptomless blemishes–old and cold, the result of years of hard work. In some instances, however, the horse might be lame from recent injury to the tendon sheath, with marked heat and pain in the area, when you flex the joint or palpate the swelling.
Kasane has had small windpuffs on her hind fetlocks for quite a while. What got my attention was that both of the windpuff seemed to be larger and the back right one was about 20% larger than the back left.
Here are the pictures from two days ago (Oct 25), taken in the barn with bad lighting. You can kinda see that the back right is larger just above the fetlock than the back left.
She doesn’t seem to be lame but she isn’t moving right either. I called the vet and let her know what was going on. She suggested reducing Kasane’s workload to 20-minute rides up and down hills at a walk and supporting her back legs more by either wrapping or using supportive boots.
After reading a bunch of reviews, I ordered a pair of Iconoclast Orthopedic Support boots. However, putting the support boots on her back legs (especially the back right) causes her some discomfort. She picked up her back right leg after I put the boot on.
The windpuff still looks larger on the right side today.
