Leg soreness

I have a older horse, 17 years old appy, 16.2 HH. My husband came home today and mentioned she was acting very weird when it was time to go back outside after dinner. (she would not leave her stall at first and then kept stopping and showing her teeth and bucking, this is not her normal behavior- there was no other horse around). She is not in heat, I did check tonight. My horses are all out 24/7 except twice a day for feeding and when I work with them. So I went back out tonight to check on her.

I know lately she has been acting very stiff and sore in the back end but tonight she seemed to be really bothered. Her one leg is straight like a normal horse leg but the other leg is curved inward meeting the other leg. She had some heat coming out of her hind legs and the one appeared slightly swollen.

I do know the vet said two months ago she had fluid in her back hocks. Her feet were just trimmed last Friday.

I am thinking about calling in a equine massage therapist for her and maybe the vet back out. I do have her on joint supplements. I had requested starting tonight to keep her indoors (going down into the 30's tonight) and out during the day only. I am wondering if the cold is bothering her at all??

She loves attention and loves grooming but even tonight she did not want it, she just seemed completly off. I know horses have their days but we are both worried about her.

Anyone with older horses have any suggestions? She is my oldest horse. After her I have a 9 year old, 2 6 yr olds and a 2 yr old.

My oldest daughter even noticed she was walking off tonight...

Your luck needs to get better I would call the vet and ask if she needs to be seen. If he evaluated her two months ago, he should have some idea of whether it's a serious problem or not.

Older horses tend to need more maintenance, so I keep a journal for them. If they have an off day, or aren't eating as aggressively as usual, or have a little swelling somewhere, I write it down, along with the date and time. The next time I look at them, I compare what I see with what I've written. This way, if something major crops up, I can tell the vet or farrier exactly what has been happening with the horse and I can give them a timeline. When one of them is on medication, I also write it down every time I give a dose. When older horses have issues with their feet, it is a good idea to have your vet and farrier working together, too.

If the vet says she's okay, I would call the massage therapist. If she has arthritis or previous joint injuries, the cold could bother her a little.

Let us know what happens. I hope everything is okay.

I do keep a journal of all my horses...if their poop is off, if they are straining, if they have any sores or bites. I am very picky and record everything. That is why we do self care board so we constinatly know what they are doing in their stalls. Having someone else do it we would never know.
We even record if their behavior is at all off.

I just know when my husband said something was up today with her it triggered me to go back out to check on her. I was considering calling a equine massage therapist to see if they can do this next week sometime as well as keeping her in at night while it is chilly to see if we see a differance in her.

I am thinking with her being older maybe it is a bit of arthritis, she is stiff and sore it appears when it is wet and chilly out. Been watching her closely. In fact the other day I just did not feel comfortable with her and made everyone stop riding her, I just did not like how she was acting with her legs. They were so unhappy with me.

I have had her since good Friday last year...kind of got pushed into her unexpectedly. The people needed her stall that day which we had no idea of and they actually brought her to us for nothing. They needed her gone. She is our favorite horse, takes care of the rider but we are both worried about her. I was not told of any previous injuries and the previous owners do not respond to any of my emails.

My horses seem very accident prone...my filly had a bad head gash, then colic a week later to my pony with a eye gash. Then my throughbred with the trainer incident and now my appy. Seems never ending. I am so scared when my cell rings it is the barn again. I feel bad, it is not the owners fault but I wish it would end! But through all this we are getting closer to each of the horses, being there will my filly threw her colic, we got real close to her, she just is very personable with us now.

When it rains, it pours. Here's hoping you have a long drought.

I did have full physicals on all my horses 2 months ago, was so not cheap. But we changed vets and I wanted everything noted in case a emergency arises. That is how I learned she had fluid built up.

I called a equine massage therapist. Plan to see if that helps with her in at night out of the cold air. I'm hoping. If not I will be asking the vet back.

I do hope I have a long drought, I have owned horses over a year and never had anything go wrong until like two months ago...been a very emotional two months for us.