An argument with a gate post...

Jericho

Well-Known Member
Joined
26 February 2008
Messages
2,568
Visit site
My mare had an unfortunate disagreement with a gate post last night
- not sure how or why as it's a 6ft gap coming in and out of her field but anyhow she ended up with a scrape (fur off and skin scraped but no bleeding) on her rib cage which is swollen and very tender and obviously took a hefty whack as her rug is completely ripped through both lining and outer shell of a rambo rug. I wasn't sure what to do so I left her in last night to minimise her movement over the rib cage and put some antibiotic cream on just to keep the exposed skin protected.

However this morning although she is tender around the scrape and it is still swollen it seems better and she was moving ok until I looked at her front leg and it was swollen from knee to fetlock along the tendon so it looks like she has done mire damage than originally suspected. There is a small cut again just a skin scrape and she is walking fine on it but i was hoping for a little bit of advice as to what to do.

If of course there is no improvement in a day or so I will call vet but as I dont think antibiotics are needed as no external injury I suspect a vet would just say box rest. Anyway I cold hosed it and have bandaged both legs with fleece bandages over pads and she is back in stable. Is this the best course of action to follow at the moment? My concern is that she has pulled a tendon or worse so obviously want to minimise the damage as much as possible. - what else could I be doing just in case?
 
To be honest I would call the vet.

How swollen is the rib cage injury? My horse who had a gate close on him as he was cantering through it and push him into the gate latch on the other side, ended up with a massive heamatoma and a torn muscle. As it was right on the girth he ended up needing 4 months off ridden work to recover and you could feel the dent in the muscle for the rest of his life.

As for the leg swelling, is she sound? Again best to have a vet out to make sure.

Anti-inflammatories would also help both injuries.
 
i would be worried about any damage to the rib cages itself with that force of hit, get the vet out first thing in the morn to get the once over, if the leg stays swollen it may well be cellulitis and antibiotics gets rid of that.
 
Top