Any ideas?

[dieseldog]

One of our horses this morning had a cut on the front of each pastern, he had done it overnight as there was blood on it. Now he is stabled at night and we cannot find anything in the stable that he could knock himself on, and he would have to do it on both front legs. Any ideas as to what he is getting up to? We've put stable bandages on him tonight. About 2 weeks ago he had done the same thing

 

[Irishcobs]

Could he of reared up at the door? Not sure why he would. Does the door have metal at the top? Only thing I can think of. We have a horse at work that does that when one of the dogs jumps up at him, but he hasn't cut himself yet.

Or its self inflicted. Either biting himself or scratching with the other leg.

 

[dieseldog]

Good idea he might have reared up, whatever he is doing it is equal on both legs. Will check the door for bits of bandage.

 

[Jemayni]

How deep is your bed, could he be rubbing himself on the floor when lying down? Or could he be getting cast - my horse used to get cast a lot, would never find him cast because he used to scramble cutting himself to bits whilst getting up. No other ideas atm sorry!

 

[Super_Kat]

My ginger horse has this, it's from trying to get up on concrete because my bed is so shite.

 

[dieseldog]

He's got rubber mats, and a deep shavings bed which hasn't been distrubed very much

 

[Jemayni]

Ahh, well thats my idea out the window then. Unless he is dooing it on the walls somehow, I have no idea

 

[dieseldog]

It's very strange - I told my sister it's the rats.....

 

[Irishcobs]

How was he last night?

 

[dieseldog]

The bandages were still on so no fresh cuts. He is a very strange horse. Thanks for asking though.

 

[jayvee]

If you think he could be rearing over the door, a way to find out would be to tape a strip of brown paper off a feed bag or something similar across the door. If he is doing that then you would see marks or the paper torn.
Shoot me if thats sounds a stupid idea!!

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

We had a horse some years ago & some mornings we'd see him & there would be a small cut on him somewhere which he'd picked up in the stable. I went over the stable meticulously to try & find a nail, screw, sharp edge anything but never found anything. Then he'd manage to do it again & again I'd do another check because I must have missed something. I never did find out how he occasionally injured himself....but it wasn't for the want of trying.

Hopefully yours will stop doing it & you'll probably be the none the wiser as to how it happened.

 

[Sparklet]

My old horse had narcolepsy which took some time to diagnose and the first ever sign was two identical cuts to the front of her pasterns. A friend whose horse suffered from the same condition spotted them and said hers did the same.

 

[annie02]

Does your horse have shoes on? Could be clipping himself if he paws or strikes at the door. Was there bad weather those nights or something else to unsettle him? The rearing is another possibility...Are they cuts, rubs or missing patches of skin?