I recently took in a 20yr old Saddlebred rescue horse. I saw him online and agreed to take him in without seeing him in person, everything I knew about this horse before making a 4hour trip to get him was based on what I was told. I made the trip and upon arrival I noticed he was extremely skinny and malnurished. The owner of the barn seemed to be making up excuses as to why he was the way he was. He spent several months at this barn and had not improved. I noticed he had swollen legs, but I assumed it was from his stall lacking bedding and being poorly taken care of. I knew I would not get an educated answer as to why his legs were swollen so I decided to just bring him home and evaluate him myself. My barrel horse has been racking up vet bills so getting a vet out to take a look at the rescue is a little difficult at the moment. Anyways, I have had this rescue horse for a couple of weeks now. All four of his legs are swollen and seem to be filled with fluid. After turning him out, the swelling reduces a little but puffs back up again. I recently washed his legs with warm water and soap and during the wash the swelling had gone down tremendously. After his legs were washed, I applied DMSO gel, (I read DMSO helps with swelling). When I was finished applying the DMSO, I noticed he had some fluid behind his shoulder. I know this is a long thread, but I wanted to give a little history, as much as I have anyways. Not sure if ths is something that will eventually go away with treatment or if it is something internal that I should worry about. Thanks for reading my novel.
