background source:
dressage.pl, phot. Łukasz Kowalski
Winter is a period when it is very easy to get injured. The minus temperatures outside and an improperly warmed-up horse often mean muscle, tendon, or ligament injuries. Surfaces are often frozen and horses might easily slip on ice, which can also strain their myofascial system.
You come back to the stable after a training session or get there for another ride and you see that your horse has a swollen limb. Many of us find ourselves baffled then. It is cold outside and warm in the stable. Should we cool the limb down or warm it up? We hope to answer most of your questions in this article ;)
When to warm up and when to cool down
Basics
Using warm and cool temperatures is one of the most effective ways of speeding up the treatment and shortening the period of injury. Of course, this method will work only when used at the right moment. You can use it to treat your horse’s soft tissue, muscles, tendons, and ligaments.
However, remember that using cold and hot temperatures doesn’t work on tearing and serious damage to the above and should not be treated without consulting with a veterinarian.
The hot-cold method works for bruising, strains, and weakness, or as a preventive method before and after training, supporting the regeneration of the limbs.
Interestingly, you can also use this method on yourself in case of bruising, strain, or weakness.
Note!
With injuries lasting no longer than 36 hours, your horse will always develop swelling, people will also develop bruises and contusions.
source:
dressage.pl, phot. Natalia Łabuzek
First phase - cooling
In this phase, your horse will develop swelling and pain. It lasts up to 36 hours from the moment when the injury occurred. Below, you will find a few examples of such situations.
1. You come back from a training session and you can see that your horse’s leg is dangerously growing. Your horse slightly “marks” or limps.
2. You take your horse off a pasture and you see that his neck has a big mark after a kick. The spot is painful and swollen.
3. You get to the stable to take your horse for a training session. While cleaning him, you see that his back limb is twice as big as the remaining ones.
Before you start any action, you should try to establish the cause of the injury. If your shoed horse was on the pasture that was iced, maybe he slipped, hit something, or fell, straining a muscle or a tendon, trying to save himself from losing balance. Alternatively, maybe he got into a fight with another horse.
If the injury occurred after a ride or a field trip, you should consider what might have happened. Limping itself doesn’t mean that the tissue is damaged. There might be many causes, which is why it is not a good idea to immediately act “ahead,” instead you should take a look at the sick limb, and feel it with your hand, including the shoe. Each difference in temperature should be spotted by you as the limb or the strained spot is always much warmer than the other places. For example, the leg, which hurts him should feel hot compared to other legs.
If you are sure that there is an injury – a strain or overexerting of a muscle, tendon, ligament, or damage to soft tissue, then you should cool down the fresh swelling (up to 36 hours after the issue occurred).
The basic method of cooling is to pour the spot with water for a long time, start at room temperature and gradually make it colder and colder. It is not an issue in the summer, but not everyone has a heated stable and washer in the winter. Then, you might opt for cooling clays and gels, which may also be used after cooling with water. These products are excellent not only for treating injuries but also for after training as they relax and regenerate the limbs.
Cold therapy (cryotherapy) helps prevent inflammations, which untreated can lead to more serious damage. Using cold temperatures tightens the blood vessels, which prevents bruising and contusing, which may be invisible under the horse’s coat. If cooling is used early enough on the sore spot, it may significantly shorten the treatment period, minimizing damage to the tissue.
Second phase - alternate warming up and cooling
After 36 hours from the injury occurrence, the swelling stops growing and you can clearly see its area. The injured spot also becomes harder.
In this phase, you alternately use cold and hot, so you should use a warming clay or gel, which improves blood circulation, which leads to prompting proper biochemical processes that regenerate and rebuild tissue. After about 3-4 hours you can use a cooling clay or gel again, which will prevent new swelling.
Depending on the size of the injury, this phase may last longer or shorter, from just a few hours to a full day. However, you should be able to see significant improvement.
Note!
If you use a strongly warming gel without making sure that your horse is injured, you are damaging healthy tissue. Please, use it with caution.
If there is no injury and all you want to do is to regenerate tissue after training, you should opt for a product with a much milder effect (you will see examples in the picture below).
Third phase - warming up
Your horse should start feeling much better and the swelling should either become smaller or disappear altogether. The injured spot may still be hard and stiff, causing the horse discomfort. When it comes to the temperature of the damaged place, it should go back to normal.
In this phase, you should still use a warming clay or gel. It will help regenerate damaged tissue and remove contamination from the sick area by improving blood circulation. Warming up improves the healing process. It may be especially useful with recurring old limping.
source:
dressage.pl, phot. Julia Świętochowska
A few questions and answers
1. What to do when the injured spot is warm?
It is good to follow all the phases we named in this article. From cooling, to alternate warming up and cooling down, up until the final warming.
2. What to do when the injured spot is cold?
If it is possible that you have not noticed the injury in time (e.g. after training, your horse did not leave the stable, and you were gone for a couple of days, so nobody could have noticed that something’s wrong), then it is good to skip the first phase of cooling and right away go to the second phase – alternate cooling and warming, the to the third phase of warming up.
If there is a possibility that this is an old injury, e.g. a recurring limp, then it is good to only warm the area.
What if this isn’t an injury that we haven’t seen in time or a recurring limp? Then, you should call the vet as this may be something more serious and your temperature treatments can do no good.
3. Is it good to put a bandage or boots on the injured spot covered with a cooling/warming gel?
The answer is – definitely not. If you are cooling the horse’s limb, then logically, putting something on the area will warm it up. Thus, you will be contradicting the idea of cooling.
If you put a warming gel on the spot and then cover it with a wrap or any boots, even travel ones, you may cause the area to get burnt. If you want to warm the limb up for prolonged periods, you should opt for warming clay.
4. How to take care of the horse’s limbs before and after training?
In the summer, after training it is good to cool down your horse’s limbs with water, preventing tissue damage. Pouring your horse’s muscles with water from a garden horse relaxes them after effort. However, it is important to cool your horse down “from the bottom,” namely starting from the hoof wall, slowly directing the water towards the fetlocks, and so on. Remember to never use ice-cold water on your horse, even in the summer. Room temperature water would be the safest option.
On the market, you will find many gels that soothe, relax and regenerate the horse’s limbs both before and after training. There are also products that improve blood circulation and better warm up the horse’s body (which is especially useful in the winter) when you massage them into the horse’s legs before training or competition.
5. When to use gels and when clays?
Gels should be used in short intervals. Whereas, clays are good for an overnight treatment when your horse can wear them for longer, without you having to quickly wash them off.
6. How long should each phase last: 1st – cooling, 2nd – warming/cooling, and 3rd – warming?
It all depends on how serious the injury is. The most important thing is to observe the sore spot and check its temperature. You may cool down the warm leg for the first 36 hours, although it also depends on how much time it takes from when the injury occurrs to the moment you notice it. If you notice it quite late, the cooling period may be shorter. You can put the gel on every 3-4 hours (max. 4 times a day) to initially cool down the leg quite intensely and then put a cooling clay for the night.
The cooling/warming phase should lead to the state in which the limb is no longer swollen, and the injured place is no longer much warmer than the remaining limbs. Depending on how extensive the injury is, this phase may last 24-48 hours. The interval between warming and cooling gel should be at least 4-5h (max. 3-4 times per day: first time – warming, second time – cooling, third – warming, etc.). Additionally, overnight you may use a warming clay but in the morning you should cool the leg down again with a gel.
The last phase – warming should take place when the injured spot has a standard temperature. It is good to keep warming the limb for a few more days after the swelling disappears and the leg has normal temperature until the leg is no longer painful and the horse doesn’t limp. The warming gel may be used max. 2-3 times a day every 4-5 hours.
7. How much gel should I use?
Remember not to use too much. It is good to massage the gel into the injured spot so that the amount of the product moisturizes the horse’s limb, absorbing after some time. It is unacceptable to use a thick layer that will drip off the horse’s leg. The case is different with clay – you should use a lot of this product so that it looks a bit like a cast on the horse’s leg after it dries.
Remember to apply all kinds of gels and clays using rubber gloves! If you apply them without protection, your skin will absorb the active ingredients and you will feel their effect.
How to avoid swelling and straining?
Straining and overexerting muscles, tendons, and ligaments most often happen to a horse’s limbs. They are most prone to mechanic damage as well. This is why you should use horse boots for your friend’s legs during jumping, lunging, and field trips. They will protect your horse’s tendons. For dressage work, you will necessarily need wraps or dressage boots. While traveling, you should equip your horse with transport boots.
source:
dressage.pl, phot. Julia Świętochowska
Remember that it’s always better to prevent than to treat ;)
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From the left: after training: 
