I thought my horse was going to be put to sleep this morning

[onesickpuppy]

Long story short, one of our horses was found with a really nasty cut on his leg in the field yesterday and the vet was called. She reckoned the cut went right into the hock and if so, it was pretty much curtains for the horse (Bert). She cleaned and dressed the wound and gave him a decent dose of antibiotics and agreed to reassess in the morning.

Pretty stty night last night, with me and the Mrs both thinking we were going to meet the vet at 10:00 this morning for an assessment and that the probable outcome would involve me feeding the poor chap some carrots whilst she pumped some anaesthetic into his veins until he passes away.

Anyway, fast forward to this morning and he's bright, cheerful, weight-bearing on the leg and he has relatively little swelling and no high temperature. Vet now says his chances have gone from circa 30% to 90% of a full recovery. Result!

Here's the leg this morning whilst the dressing was being changed:



We're keeping our fingers crossed for him. He's a lovely guy, we show jump pretty successfully but he's also great to be around which is good when you have kids.

Edited by onesickpuppy on Tuesday 31st January 14:26

[akita1]

How did that happen? looks bloody painful, best of luck Bert get well soon.

[y2blade]

One of ours is prone to gashing her leg..it is usually the N/S rear one .....no idea what she is doing it on but she is a bit loopy at times.

she's done it about 5 times now...each time the vet comes out, treats it and patches her up...invoices us £xxx for the privileged.



Glad to hear yours is ok

[onesickpuppy]

akita1 said:

How did that happen? looks bloody painful, best of luck Bert get well soon.

We're not sure how it happened, been all round the field and checked all the fences. We'll probably never know, but it looks like he might have kicked his leg through the gate or something like that.

Cheers for the best wishes.

[onesickpuppy]

y2blade said:

One of ours is prone to gashing her leg..it is usually the N/S rear one .....no idea what she is doing it on but she is a bit loopy at times.

she's done it about 5 times now...each time the vet comes out, treats it and patches her up...invoices us £xxx for the privileged.



Glad to hear yours is ok

Well, he's definitely not out of the woods yet, but we're certainly hopeful!

[y2blade]

onesickpuppy said:

Well, he's definitely not out of the woods yet, but we're certainly hopeful!

They can be a bloody nightmare can't they.
My Thoughts are with Bert (and you)

All the best

[onesickpuppy]

y2blade said:

They can be a bloody nightmare can't they.
My Thoughts are with Bert (and you)

All the best

Yes, there's always something with them! Wouldn't be without them though, great animals to be around. Do you ride yourself, or are they your wife's horses?

[y2blade]

onesickpuppy said:

y2blade said:

They can be a bloody nightmare can't they.
My Thoughts are with Bert (and you)

All the best

Yes, there's always something with them! Wouldn't be without them though, great animals to be around. Do you ride yourself, or are they your wife's horses?

I do ride, but for me a gentle hack is about my limit...O/H rides a lot.

We have Five of our own now.

Thread I started about our most recent addition:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[onesickpuppy]

y2blade said:

I do ride, but for me a gentle hack is about my limit...O/H rides a lot.

We have Five of our own now.

Thread I started about our most recent addition:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Ha, she's cute. I was never a big fan of Arabs but one of the best wee event horses I ever had was 1/2 bred. The mum should give her some decent bone too.

Funnily enough, we have five now too, however two are Shetlands so they don't really count!

[y2blade]

onesickpuppy said:

y2blade said:

I do ride, but for me a gentle hack is about my limit...O/H rides a lot.

We have Five of our own now.

Thread I started about our most recent addition:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Ha, she's cute. I was never a big fan of Arabs but one of the best wee event horses I ever had was 1/2 bred. The mum should give her some decent bone too.

Funnily enough, we have five now too, however two are Shetlands so they don't really count!

mum is a very strong horse, very soft natured too.

Ha Ha two of ours are Shetlands too...so they do count
They are little buggers!

[Nightmare]

lol...ponies generally are right evil little sods...give me a stallion any day of the week!

what is it with horses and mysterious leg wounds? dont know anyone whose had a horse that this hasnt happened to at some point.....not the brightest things in the world I guess but still!

really pleased for you mate!!

[onesickpuppy]

Hmmm, not looking so good this morning, a lot of heat, swelling and discharge from the wound. His body temp is still normal so still hopeful that there is no infection in the actual joint. Vet filled him full of ABs, painkillers and anti-inflammatories and back again tomorrow.

[purrfect]

onesickpuppy said:

Hmmm, not looking so good this morning, a lot of heat, swelling and discharge from the wound. His body temp is still normal so still hopeful that there is no infection in the actual joint. Vet filled him full of ABs, painkillers and anti-inflammatories and back again tomorrow.

Oh dear, that's bad news, especially when things seemed ok yesterday considering the wound. I hope he's ok - poor chap. Please give him an apple and some carrots for me and wish him well.
Has vet kept dressing on wound? You could ask vet about cold compress? You can get a cold compress wrap to help reduce heat/inflammation

[onesickpuppy]

purrfect said:

onesickpuppy said:

Hmmm, not looking so good this morning, a lot of heat, swelling and discharge from the wound. His body temp is still normal so still hopeful that there is no infection in the actual joint. Vet filled him full of ABs, painkillers and anti-inflammatories and back again tomorrow.

Oh dear, that's bad news, especially when things seemed ok yesterday considering the wound. I hope he's ok - poor chap. Please give him an apple and some carrots for me and wish him well.
Has vet kept dressing on wound? You could ask vet about cold compress? You can get a cold compress wrap to help reduce heat/inflammation

The wound is dressed and he's on anti-inflammatories to reduce the swelling, along with the antibiotics. Normally with a wound I'd cold hose it, but we have to be very careful not to introduce anything to the wound, especially if the joint capsule has been punctured.

Yes, I'll give him some carrots from you!

[bexVN]

What are they using on the wound. Manuka honey can be fantastic for these type of injuries.

[onesickpuppy]

bexVN said:

What are they using on the wound. Manuka honey can be fantastic for these type of injuries.

They are using some cream to stop it healing from the outside. It needs to heal from the inside out apparently. It has some anti-septic (or maybe antibiotic) properties but that's not the main purpose.

He's on IV antibiotics so far.

The main aim at the moment is not to heal the wound as such, it's to keep it free from infection.

[bexVN]

Honey is naturally antibacterial. It debrides the bad tissue and stimulates healing whilst purging all the crap. As a result it produces a lot of exudate so dressings need frequent changes but it is brilliant for horrible wounds. I know horses are prone to proud flesh and honey seems to reduce this. As long as there is blood supply it'll work and it reducer scar tissue.

However I am only suggesting it if the current tx fails to work.

I hope your horse is ok.

[onesickpuppy]

bexVN said:

Honey is naturally antibacterial. It debrides the bad tissue and stimulates healing whilst purging all the crap. As a result it produces a lot of exudate so dressings need frequent changes but it is brilliant for horrible wounds. I know horses are prone to proud flesh and honey seems to reduce this. As long as there is blood supply it'll work and it reducer scar tissue.

However I am only suggesting it if the current tx fails to work.

I hope your horse is ok.

Thanks Bex. I'll look into it after the initial 'firefighting' period, although if the current treatment fails to keep the joint free from infection until it can start to heal then I'm afraid it'll probably mean game over for Bert .

[Who me ?]

Sounds like more of a pet than a horse - my thoughts are with you - bit hopefuly he'll fight the infection anf recover -best wishes .

[y2blade]

Everything crossed for Bert here David.

Thoughts are with you.