My yearling coloured cob has got really swollen legs. All his legs are white with pink skin. One of them is a bit scabby like mudfever but my fields are dry except for yesterdays rain. All his legs are clean. Do yearlings get mudfever? Or could it be something to do with him growing fast. Maybe thats putting pressure on his legs. He lives out with another youngster and they are constantly playing.

I would suggest getting your vet to have a look, could be UV condition, and reacting to sunlight.

Our big horse had a bad reaction to "something" recently and suffered a bad dose of Lymphangitis - very swollen legs. It is incredibly painful and can cause them to run a very high temperature/heartrate. Keep an eye on your pony as it came on incredibly fast, and the sooner that it is dealt with the better. Is he lame with it?
Ours required immediate attention from the vet, anti inflammatories, painkillers and drugs to make him pee a lot to get rid of the fluid.
Have you tried cold hosing his legs to try and get the swelling to go down. Our boys legs swelled up by 5cms each at the front and 7cms each at the back!!!!!!
Within 3 days he was fine again, thank goodness.
Pop a tape round his legs and keep a record if you are worried, then you can see if they are going up or down!

He's fine in himself. Not Lame at all. He did suffer from a very crispy burnt nose earlier in the week even though it has been cloudy. Is he going to be extra sensitive to stuff because of his pink skin?

He could be having a reaction to bites of small insects in the grass, or to pollen. Try him with piriton, but, as Aud says, watch him like a hawk anyhow!

You could also give his legs a really good going-over with Deosect, which should help repel insects (and won't do him any harm if it's not an insecty thing).

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Worth giving your vet a call. If he does have a problem with uv then they can prescribe a medicated cream.

My horse recently had swollen legs, it turned out to be a very nasty bacterial strep infection. The legs came up first then the coughing and lethargy, he was a very poorly boy.

If in doubt don't leave it to chance, get your vet out to have a look.

Debbie

My horse had 4 swollen legs one bank holiday, turned out to be a very nasty strep infection. If in doubt get your vet out.

My boy had no other signs except his legs for about 2 days, he then went very lethargic and started coughing.

In the end he had to go on antibiotics and steroids.

Thankfully he's now well again.

Do you have any buttercups in your field? My mare gets mud-fever like symptoms on all 4 legs (even the non-white) and it seems to be a reaction to the buttercups, we have treated it like mud-fever (hibi-scrub the area, and make sure its dry and try a barrier cream). This has worked well with her. Also I suggest moving the horse away from the buttercups (if this is possible - its not in my case but topping the paddocks and keeping the buttercups short and the legs clean helps!!)

His legs are nearly back to normal now. He has got mud fever on one of his hinds. I'm sure it is something in the pasture that's caused the swelling though. There are the usual docks and nettles, a few buttercups and plantain stuff which has long stalks with pollen on top. I've never had a problem with anything before but this is his 1st summer in my fields.