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  Discussion on Horse Kicked in Right Hock
Author Message
Member:
Imogen

Posted on Thursday, Jan 1, 2004 - 3:06 am:

Hi Dr O

I have an injury to my halfbred hunter mare almost identical in location to this one described by Melissa. The mare got kicked 6 days ago by a little b**** of a pony on a hunt which also kicked several other horses and also managed to kick a girl in the stomach so badly we had call for the local doctor who hunts with us - this was while the girl was riding a 16 h horse... ! Needless to say, pony rider had failed to put a red ribbon on its tail to warn anyone.

My mare was not lame after the kick but we all heard the thudding kick-contact - she completed the hunt fine. 2-3 days later the outside of the leg above the hock and surrounding leg started to swell and there is bruising maybe 3 inches by 2 inches but the swelling is not giant and she was only slightly lame commensurate with the degree of swelling. There is slight heat also commensurate with the degree of bruising/swelling.

I am broke at the moment thus not anxious to incur 100 euros call out fee for the vet if it can be avoided. I am wondering how to distinguish between infection and bruising. It came on slowly and does not seem to be causing much pain but there is definitely swelling of the leg now which is more than the local area of the bruise.

My feeling is to leave her out at pasture to keep her moving the leg and just monitor - if it gets worse at this stage it is likely infection therefore I need to get the vet, if stable or improving probably a bruise and time will heal it. Is this sensible?

Thanks

Imogen
Member:
Christos

Posted on Thursday, Jan 1, 2004 - 12:23 pm:

Imogen,

I think that whenever there is no specific vet instruction for exercise, an injured horse is better off in the stall.
An injury may worsen dramatically with even a little stumble, if tissues are on the limit of breaking apart. This doesn't sound like your mare, since you describe her completing the hunt, but why risk more stress? A little walk a day should show you enough of how things are progressing.
Did you really have to complete that hunt? I think stopping for the day and applying ice preventively is a better choice after a kick that makes good contact.

All the best,

Christos

Member:
Mwebster

Posted on Thursday, Jan 1, 2004 - 5:35 pm:

Hi Imogen,

In the case of my gelding (post above), my guess is it must have just happened before I went to get him out of the pasture to ride him. He walked out of the pasture fine, I saw a DrOp of blood on his pastern while grooming but didn't find the cause (the slice on his hock hardly bled, and he had a thick winter coat). It was only after several minutes under saddle that I started to feel something, got off, had a look, felt around and found the cut (!) that I realized he'd been kicked. As we walked home I watched in horror as he grew progressively more lame, until he became 3 legged lame by the time we'd walked the 1/4 mile home. So, perhaps in this case he had only just been kicked when I went to ride him, inflammation hadn't set in yet, and the exercise accelerated the inflammation. I felt awful, but was caught so totally by surprise. This doesn't sound like your mare. He obviously would never have finished a hunt. Turned out to be bruising - no fracture, no infection.

My mare on the other hand got kicked (same offending gelding) on the inside of the hock, sliced also, no lameness, fine the next day (turned out, bandaged to keep the cut clean, given the day off just to be on the safe side). Within 36 hours of the kick, her hock blew up like a baseball and was very hot. The vet I called immediately suspected infection, came out right away to look at her and gave her SMZ/TMP. She felt that infection so close to the joint was cause for urgency. It resolved quickly after that. She was never really lame on the leg, though it was obviously uncomfortable for her to bend her hock for the farrier while it was so swollen. Does this delayed reaction sound more like your mare's situation? (Did the kick slice her skin, i.e. could you have had a full-thickness skin tear, as my mare did, allowing infection in?)

Of course I'm not a vet and haven't seen your horse.... But if you think it could be infection (assuming there was a cut), you may want to treat aggressively, and get her antibiotics.

As DrO pointed out (separate post on my mare's hock), icing isn't prescribed for infections, although initially I started to ice her (it didn't help).

Melissa
Member:
Mwebster

Posted on Thursday, Jan 1, 2004 - 5:40 pm:

PS,
If it's bruising, then rest, NSAIDs, and icing would all help avoid adhesions or other lasting consequences. I would still want to rule out infection though!
Member:
Imogen

Posted on Friday, Jan 2, 2004 - 2:09 am:

Thanks for that, Melissa. The second case you describe sounds very similar to my mare!

There is a skin abrasion from the kick but no slice/full thickness cut. I took her for a short road hack yesterday out of interest to see if it would make it worse or better - it took the swelling right down so that the area of the bruise was much more distinct and she didn't get more lame as a result of the hack.

If you manipulate the bruise the horse doesn't show much pain reaction (this mare would kick you through the stable wall if it did...) and it's fairly firm but not as hard as most bruised tissue. There doesn't appear to be an abscess.

If you leave her in the stable overnight the swelling gets a lot worse. It's sort of medium when she's exercising herself in the pasture, and as described goes down on ridden exercise. So I'm going to keep watching for the moment and if no improvement after the weekend I think I'll have to prize open my wallet and get the vet...

Christos, Stephen's Day hunt is the biggest event of the year on the horseriding calendar around here... so no, I didn't want to stop and ice the leg. These things happen - usually if the horse is not showing up lame within 10 minutes or so you're OK. Obviously from self-preservation (you need your horse to be able to jump well...) you don't want to ride something lame let alone the effects on the horse both short and long-term but injuries happen out hunting and you'd never do anything if you gave up every time the horse got a scratch or a kick...

All the best

Imogen
Member:
Mwebster

Posted on Friday, Jan 2, 2004 - 8:44 am:

Hi Imogen,

Hm... Given no full-thickness skin tear infection seems less likely... Is the area hot? Have you tried rest/icing/NSAIDs? Maybe she's overdoing it in the pasture? It's been more than a week now.

btw, I'm thinking our dialogue here is a great illustration of the reason DrO counsels us all against being too keen to match our case up with other cases on the site. They may seem similar, but then again... the problem could be something else entirely. I'm sure DrO will weigh in shortly with advice for you.

Happy New Year, and I hope your mare is right as rain soon.

M
Member:
Christos

Posted on Friday, Jan 2, 2004 - 8:46 am:

Well, Imogen,
I always retire the horse for the day if it falls or gets kicked at, as this only happens some four-five times a year.
I believe this saves recovery days, if not further damage, which finally sums to more days riding.
May be I feel this way because I have yet to see one kick or one fall that did not require a recovery period of a few days at least, though the injury was, in most cases, not apparent within the first hour or so.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Jan 2, 2004 - 9:34 am:

Just from a historical reference if it is getting worse it probably is infection. Infection tends to have a sharper pain reaction and fever should be present if the infection is remarkable and not draining.
DrO
Member:
Imogen

Posted on Saturday, Jan 3, 2004 - 2:19 am:

Thanks all. It's not getting any worse... and there's only minimal heat. The strange thing is that the leg is swollen up every morning when I go to feed them and as soon as she moves about it goes down. I don't have a thermometer for horses but I'll try to borrow one. She's not lame other then slight stiffness in the morning, and showing no other signs of sickness.
Member:
Imogen

Posted on Saturday, Jan 3, 2004 - 8:04 am:

Temperature perfectly normal... but no improvement or disimprovement. I'm going to hold off on the vet and try a poultice tonight in case there is anything like a bit of thorn bush or whatever in the wound (doesn't look or feel like it but they can be small) and I will also put her in the sea tomorrow for a while.
Member:
Christos

Posted on Saturday, Jan 3, 2004 - 1:00 pm:

It sounds good, Imogen,
But remember, normal temperature does not mean there is no infection, it only means there is no bad one. You have to keep monitoring for fever.
If the swelling goes down with exercise, i.e. increased blood circulation, I think it is a safe bet that it will also go down with hot treatment.
You have to think why it swelled 2-3 days after the kick. Hematomas swell almost immediately as far as I know, so you are not dealing with blood here.
Member:
Imogen

Posted on Sunday, Jan 11, 2004 - 4:49 am:

After 2 weeks I gave up and called the vet... bursitis and periosmitis (probably spelled those wrong... swollen/inflamed joint capsule and bruising to the covering of the bone) - he gave a course of antibiotics just in case of infection though he agreed it didn't look like infection and a bute injection. No improvement yet, so just a case of time, I think...
Member:
Christos

Posted on Sunday, Jan 11, 2004 - 4:20 pm:

Sad to hear that, Imogen, I wish your girl the best and fastest recovery ever.
Member:
Imogen

Posted on Sunday, Feb 8, 2004 - 9:46 am:

Well, it took a good 5 weeks to go down for anyone that gets anything similar. There's still a bit of a lump but I have her back into work for about 10 days now and she seems to be OK so far. Fingers crossed...

Imogen
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