Stocking Up in Horses
By: Dr. Lydia Gray | Updated March 23, 2025 by SmartPak Equine
What is Stocking Up?
Stocking up is harmless swelling in the lower legs due to decreased circulation. Reduced activity is what usually leads to this pooling of blood and other fluids in the extremities.
The swelling can be found from the coronary band to the ankle or all the way up the cannon bone to the knee or hock and can occur in all four legs or just one pair.
Often seen when an active horse is kept in a stall for several days, stocking up is more common in older horses as well as horses with large bodies and small feet. Unfortunately, a horse that is prone to stocking up usually continues to have this problem throughout its life.
How to Treat Stocked Up Legs in Horses
Simple stocking up will usually resolve after 30 minutes or so of light exercise, such as hand walking, lunging or easy riding.
Cold-hosing or applying a poultice are other techniques which increase circulation and get fluids moving.
Standing bandages can be used to prevent fluid from pooling in the lower limbs but the horse should be allowed some time with no support wraps. Twelve hours on and twelve hours off is a common schedule.
The best prevention, though, is more turnout and less stall time.
When to Call the Equine Vet
There are some serious medical conditions that can cause the legs to swell. However, these diseases are usually accompanied by heat, pain and lameness or changes in appetite or attitude such as lethargy or depression. If any of these signs occur, the swelling is only in one leg, or it does not improve with simple treatments, contact a veterinarian.
Video on Stocking Up
DAN: "My mare's back legs stock up when I can't be at the ranch for two or more days. What can I do to keep her legs from swelling up?"
DR LYDIA GRAY: This is tricky because the best thing-- well, I probably should say what stocking up is. It's just a harmless swelling of the lower leg-- it's usually the two back legs-- due to inactivity. Blood and other fluids pool in the extremities. OK. And then as soon as the horse walks around, then it goes back into circulation. And you see it a lot when horses stand in their stalls. So I'm guessing when she can't be at the ranch, it means that her horse stands in the stall. So my first advice is, is there any way, where you board your horse, that the horse cannot be in a stall or maybe has a run-in?
DAN: Have some option for turn out.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Or has a paddock or is out 24/7, whatever. Because the stalling is what's doing it because they're not moving. And I've been told that stalling a horse is the equivalent of bed rest in people.
DAN: Oh.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah. So you can imagine how fluid pools in the extremities when people bed rest. Same thing happens for horses.
DAN: So if there's options to get some movement going on for the days that she's not there, that would be the best case scenario.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
DAN: Does it have to be for a long extended period of time?
DR LYDIA GRAY: Well--
DAN: Or just a little bit every day?
DR LYDIA GRAY: Hopefully she gets turned out every day, right?
DAN: Well, yes, but--
DR LYDIA GRAY: The ideal situation would be is if she's not kept in a stall overnight.
DAN: OK.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah. So it's a place with the run-ins attached to the stalls or there's a stall attached to a paddock or something like that. That would be ideal.
DAN: OK.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
DAN: And outside of management, are there other things that she can do to help--
DR LYDIA GRAY: Well, and again, my advice depends on her situation. Because if she's in a situation where there's somebody there, then maybe she could wrap as long as there's someone there to look in on her horse and make sure that didn't get loose or something. Because bad things can happen when horse's wraps loosen or too tight or something. If she could ride her horse in the evening and wrap overnight, and the next morning the staff could unwrap--
DAN: And by wrapping, you mean standing bandages.
DR LYDIA GRAY: A standing bandage, like the quilts. Those are polos, but a standing bandage is the thin kind. That would be one option. We had mentioned earlier, EquiFit makes the socks for horses.
DAN: Yes.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Or theirs is called something different.
DAN: I think the EquiFit is called sock, yeah.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Horse socks. And then there's the Summer Whinnys. Those are actually really good. They're sort of a compression bandage, so they would keep fluid from pooling. And those you can leave on for more than a day at a time. But it worries me if nobody is at the facility to look in on the horse. When horses wear clothes, that worries me that nobody looks at them. Because things can happen very quickly.
DAN: They get very mischievous whenever you put something on and no one's around, for some reason.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So when she gets there-- and there's all the cold hosing and the icing and that, poulticing, and you can even do a liniment rub down. But once she gets there and she pulls her horse out, in just a few minutes of walking or exercise, the fluid's all going to go away. Now, unless there's heat or pain or lameness, if the horse isn't eating, if there's a fever, if there's some other sign, if it's in one leg, then a veterinarian would need to be called out. It's not actually stocking up, so we should have a medical disclaimer on here. But--
DAN: So if there's swelling and it's going down within 20 minutes of walking, probably not a major concern.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
DAN: And then therefore, if we could just add in something simple, if it's--
DR LYDIA GRAY: Turn out would be ideal.
DAN: If that's not an option, we do have some wrapping options if someone's there.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Correct.
DAN: If we're seeing lameness, then we definitely need to have the vet out to address that.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Excellent summary.
DAN: Yes!
[LAUGHTER]
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah. So it's not a big problem. A lot of horses have it, especially older horses. Dan's summary is ideal.
DAN: Nailed it.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Excellent. Nailed it.