Cellulitis In Your Dressage Partner

Identify symptoms and learn how you can prevent this potentially life-threatening disease.

- Kenneth L. Marcella

Thickened, swollen limbs are unfortunately quite common in horses. A horse’s very nature and his environment contribute to scrapes, bruises, cuts, punctures and all sorts of miscellaneous trauma to legs. Usually, this type of trauma is minimal and the swelling resolves easily. However, horses are also susceptible to cases of a more problematic type of limb swelling called cellulitis.

Cellulitis is a diffuse or widespread swelling of the skin and subcutaneous tissues (that area directly below the surface layer of the skin) caused by inflammation usually associated with bacterial infection. Some of these horses will exhibit mild signs with cool to warm swelling, minimal pain and no lameness. Other more extreme cases of cellulitis will show impressive leg swelling (two to three times the normal size), warm to hot skin that is often painful to the touch, an elevated temperature (102 to 103 degrees Fahrenheit) and notable severe lameness.

Survival rates of 55 to 89 percent have been reported for cases of equine cellulitis, with horses who have high temperatures and horses who develop laminitis in the opposite, unaffected leg having the most serious outcomes. Even if these more affected horses recover, cellulitis can recur and the prognosis for full return to function is often guarded.

This points out the variability of this condition and the wide range of severity of clinical signs. Because equine cellulitis can affect individual horses quite differently and because this disease can have potentially grave consequences, limb swelling in the horse should always be viewed seriously and treated appropriately.