The case of the mysterious swelling...

[TooManyChickens]

Hey folks,
My gelding came out of the pasture Sunday morning with a swelling on his outside right hind, just below the hock. At the time there was little to no heat, he wasn't lame, so I have been cold hosing 2x/day. He is miserable inside, so due to the fact that he wasn't lame and there was hardly any heat, I let him stay out. Fast forward to today.. the swelling has only gone down somewhat. I thought it may have been a bite, but I can't really find a bite mark. Still cold hosing. Any thoughts? See my fun picture of the swelling area that I drew.. haha (Normal is to the left, his to the right, showing the swelling area). Its a little warm now, but still not hot hot by any means. From the front, its only raised off the leg by maybe 3/4".

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k274/soleal1/swelling.jpg

[kidswith4legs]

AAAHHHHH MIIINEEE TOOOO!!!! lol please somebody reply to this because the EXACT same thing has happend to my little mare! Cold hosing hasn't made the swelling go down much and there's no heat to it really. It's only really swollen on the side right below the hock maybe, 2" long? Someone help!

[tidy rabbit]

same thing here! I think in my mare's case it was a wasp bite. I saw a few lumps on her cannon bone and then the next day it was like a tree trunk from just above the hock all the way down. Bute, cold hose, ice boots, standing wrap all helped get it under control. She is fine now but it took about 3 weeks for it to go away. If she comes inside for a few hours it will swell back up a little bit.

[TooManyChickens]

Hmmmmmmm wasp bite is totally possible... it's too big an area to be a large biting fly bite.. I was worried at first because its in a tendon area, but the anti-lameness was making me wonder.. I'll definitely keep up with the cold hose.. and I'll try to track down bute. Poor guy.. I wonder if using a 'better' fly spray would help??

[li'l bit]

If it is a bug bite, Benedryl could help, but you would have to call your Vet and ask them how much of it to give.

[kidswith4legs]

My vet left just a little bit ago, but I had him here for something else and went ahead and had him look at her leg, and he was totally unconcerned. I was thinking maybe a sting too, but for yall that are like me and worry to death about everything, it's probably not too serious if there is no lameness issue.

[Las Olas]

Is it hard or soft? Could be a splint (which would be hard). Or, as you said, a bite. Or just a periosteal reaction from hitting it on something (also hard). Since there's no lameness, I would worry too much about it.