Ice, Ice Baby!

Icing the leg
There are lots of fancy icing systems but a pack of frozen peas (or the fake ones) and a polo wrap does just fine.

Icing Freedom’s leg is part of the protocol for getting down the swelling. Effective icing doesn’t require much fancy equipment. A pack of frozen peas and a polo wrap do just fine.

I’ve gone upscale and use a pack of synthetic peas. The pack stays more flexible, which makes it easier to get it to conform to your horse’s leg.

Better than real peas
I like these cold packs. They conform well to the shape of the leg. When it’s cold out, I just leave them in the snow.

When it’s cold enough out, I just leave my ice packs outside. Of course, when there’s snow you have to remember where you put them!

The regime seems to be helping. After two days of wrapping and icing, the swelling in his leg has gone down considerably — although it would likely come back if he wasn’t wrapped.

Freedom's leg after wrapping
The swelling has gone down quite a bit, at least after the wrap is removed. You can start to see some definition of the tendon.

I suppose the good news is that we had nearly another foot of snow on Friday — that means that he gets some natural icing just standing out in the field.

He still shows no sign of lameness,

Natural Icing
The snow is deep enough that Freedom can ice himself if I put hay out in the snow

which is good. And he’s staying pretty quiet.

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