Leg Swelling

[Lightning]

My mare came with a large scar on her leg. Basically she escaped from a field and cut her leg, wasn't found til the next morning and it was too late to stitch together so had to wait until it healed over naturally. We bought her shortly after last August. She has since cut her leg again which needed stiches, pretty much in the same place (seems to be running her leg down her leg to lacerate it as she has done it to the other side, although slightly smaller).
The cut has all healed but now she is left iwth a rather large scar and her leg doesn't seem to go down, unless she is exercised. I have run it past my vet who seems to think its because of the huge amount of scar tissue now built up around her leg adn that she will always be like it.
Can anyone offer any ideas or suggestions to get the scar tissue down and stop the leg filling.

[stacey_lou]

Does it seem to fill up after turn out or when shes stabled? beause if this was a cause of knocking it when galloping around in the field of laying down and getting back up again in her stable and its lower down enough id personally be inclined to apply stable bandages and turn out boots to see if this makes a differance. if it dosnet then try something else. Supplements perhaps? Its worth a try,

[Lightning]

It seems to go down when she is turnt out. She is now only ever turnt out with boots when she did the other side of her leg and we realised how she is doing it. She comes in during the day at the moment to have some down time with nothing on her legs (and away from the flies!).

[stacey_lou]

So am guessing when shes standing around not doing much it fills back up again if not if its just when shes bought out in the morning maybe shes banging it in the night and like I say maybe try stable manages for a few weeks? If not could it be worth having a Scan done?

[lensmith7]

Would magnetic boots help? I know a few people use these for this type of thing. I'll be getting some for Josie once her leg is healed to prevent swelling too.

[stacey_lou]

It would be worth giving them a go as I am a strong believer in magnetic theropy but they dont come cheep but then again if they dont work you could always sell them on.

[hpowell]

How long ago was she injured? Scar tissue can take time to diminish. If it's a big scar it could be that it is blocking local lymphatic flow, and this is why the leg fills up. When she's moving this supports lymphatic flow and enables the leg to drain even if some of the vessels are now blocked by scar tissue or were damaged at the time. However, when she's in the lack of movement could mean that the lymphatics can't work well enough to drain the leg. If the lymphatic vessels were damaged by the injury, they can regenerate but this could take time if the scar tissue is in the way. Was the cut high or low on the leg? If low and deep it could affect larger lymph vessels.
Try to keep her out as much a possible and encourage her to move, don't use stable bandages, research has shown that these can stop the flow of lymph from the leg and can be a cause of filled legs, they give the illusion that they are preventing swelling because they affect circulation, but while the lymph cannot leave the tissues, the waste products etc in them deteriorate and eventually cause damage to the lymphatic vessels, which is why horses can develop filled legs for the first time after being on box rest and bandaged. Manual lymph drainage treatment will encourage the scar to reduce and heal well, stimulate the lymphatics and reduce swelling.