Awful injury to pastern - Cause??

JellyBeanSkittle

JellyBeanSkittle

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This horse came in from his field with a very deep laceration to the front of his pastern, narrowly missing the tendon! The shoe was also ripped off and we cannot find it despite numerous searches. He lives out with one other quiet gelding and gets on very well with him. His field is fenced with electric tape and there is no sign of a struggle or even a pull on the tape at all. Equally there are two tree and no rabbit holes, etc or sign of a struggle anywhere in his field.

Ideas on cause?? We are completely stumped!

https://imgur.com/a/1jB0e
 
Are you near any roads? Could someone have been in the field, maybe lamping or exercising a dog? Have you had a thunderstorm? Low flying aircraft or helicopter checking power lines? My boy jumped a 5 bar gate once onto the main road to get out of his field and i still have no idea why.... Hope your boy bends quickly. x
 
I have had two horses with injuries to the same area, both I bought with the scars so never saw the wounds but they were both done in the same way by putting their foot under or through a gate which would also be how the shoe came off and it could be outside rather than in the field, it was probably a complete one off whatever happened, that is going to take some time to heal properly as it has started to dry out so I guess it required minor surgery to deal with it, mine both had no problems as I said I bought them with the blemish, knowing what had happened it did not put me off.
 
I would hazard a guess that the shoe has done that somehow in the process of coming off. Sometimes we just have to accept that we can't always find an answer for everything.

Really hope the recovery goes well. Xx
 
Field is within a larger field and not near any roads. Only one small bridle path which is in the distance. As for Gates, the gate to his field is electric tape type with handles. Vet just removed the flap on site and is bandaged up. Horse doing very well so far.
 
JellyBeanSkittle said:
Field is within a larger field and not near any roads. Only one small bridle path which is in the distance. As for Gates, the gate to his field is electric tape type with handles. Vet just removed the flap on site and is bandaged up. Horse doing very well so far.
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There doesn't need to be anything bad in a field for something like this to happen. A bad overreach not quite taking the shoe off, it twists, horse trips, shoe embeds and hey presto, you have yourself a very nasty injury and a shoe flung off into the distance never to be seen again. We lost a little 2yo colt here last summer as he overreached so badly, he couldn't be saved, it's awful when it happens and you can't find anything to blame :(
 
I have seen a near miss between two of mine. One was being hassled by flies and trotted straight into the front of the other, he could quite conceivably have caused an injury like that by standing on the other horse's pastern, esp. if wearing shoes.
 
My horse had big scars in a similar position on both front pasterns and I always assumed they were from a tangling with wire. My guess with yours though is the hind feet of another horse.
 
We had one on in a similar on my daughter's little welshie earlier this year, but not near as bad. I actually saw hers happen and it was due to being stood on by her much larger fieldmate as he chased her away from the hay I was putting out for them. He just stepped sideways into her and scraped his hoof down her pastern. It healed pretty well but must have done a bit of damage to the coronet band as she has a horizontal split in the hoof wall below where it was which is now growing out OK.
 
Beausmate said:
I have seen a near miss between two of mine. One was being hassled by flies and trotted straight into the front of the other, he could quite conceivably have caused an injury like that by standing on the other horse's pastern, esp. if wearing shoes.
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That was my initial thought - Also, he may have dislodged his shoe and stood on it causing it to slice into his pastern. They do like to give us a mystery to solve sometimes these horses, don't they, lol.
 
mightymammoth said:
poor horse that looks a mess, bet it was a heck of a shock!
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Yes it really was! I initially thought that he may have broken it so he has been so lucky for it to have been such a clean laceration that literally just missed that tendon! Healing is going well however and we are going to start with manuka honey to reduce the amount of proud flesh and help the healing process. Will update with more recent photos if you like?
 
My horse fell into a ditch on a fun ride and completely lacerated his hind fetlock joint from one side to the other exposing the joint. He had surgery the following day and had a plaster cast on. He had severed two tendons but I was told they weren't tendons that were necessary (think they were extensor tendon and branch of something or other). Anyway his prognosis had it healed was good.

Sadly he did not make it, he had three general anaethetics in three weeks in hospital and the plaster cast kept making his heel rub which kept making him very lame. In the end he flexed the joint whilst in the stocks under sedation and opened up what little bit of the joint had heeled. He was PTS immediately following this.

In his case we went back to the fun ride later that night and found exposed bricks in the side of the ditch. He tumbled into the ditch not knowing it was a ditch as it was covered with vegetation and long grass and as he scrabbled out ripped open the fetlock joint. Not only was there huge potential for infection (which they managed to control at the clinic) but there was the ragged edges of the injury to contend with. I guess he never really stood a chance but I was glad of their hard work in trying to save my horse.

Could your horse have exposed brickwork in his field half buried in either the side of a ditch or in the ground?
 
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