- Jun 15, 2008
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In my experience once a wind puff occurs they actually get worse with rest. The lack of movement lets the fluid settle down around the joint. Regular exercise and pressure wraps can keep the swelling down but if the horse is not being shown or worked hard it's not really an issue. If you can easily keep a boot (they sell them just for windpuffs) or wrap on it without it getting too irritated or dirty from turnout or going too long between being checked then that would be a good idea. Otherwise I'd just leave it alone but keep an eye on it. A vet can drain the fluid but the wind puff will return so that's only a temporary measure if it starts to get too big or before an event. We had it on a show mare so we'd have it drained at the beginning of show season, keep it wrapped, make sure she got daily exercise, and then let her go over winter. She never came up lame from it unless too much fluid built up and then she would have trouble flexing the joint. Shortly after we started working her again and kept things circulating she'd appear perfectly sound.