Been kicked on both hocks

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Mabel98

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My mare was kicked on both hocks a week ago. I was on holiday (typical) but my friend washed them and hosed them twice a day. The wounds look fine (one on point of hock, other on inside) but there is still a lot of swelling. I have put her on a course of antibiotic powders which i had left from another recent injury (!) but haven't called the vet as she is just a bit stiff on turns and when she comes out the stable.

Do you think i should be doing anything different? Should i bandage at night? She has just started coming in at night and both back legs are huge in the morning, much better when she comes in.

I haven't ridden her, shall i just give it time?

Thank you!
 
If the swelling is worse when she has been standing in all night then maybe light walking exercise would help keep the swelling down. Bandaging over night might help too but be careful with pressure.
 
I would call the vet for advise. You need bute to help bring down the swelling and ease the pain. Not sure I'd have been so quick to give antibiotics unless I knew that there was an infection. Light walking would help bring down the swelling but if she's out all day that will do the same. My boy swells when he comes in of a night - it's gravity!
 
I would most certainly get the vet to have a look.

You have no real idea of how bad the damage may be - and medicating yourself is a dangerous road to go down.
 
Definitely get the vet out. My YO's best mare got a teeeeeny cut to her hock that he didn't attend to for 2-3 days and she's now literally on 3 legs
frown.gif
 
A horse on our yard was kicked on the point of the hock and suffered from a damaged tendon bursa, I would definitely get the vet to have a look.
 
Gigglepig, i was on holiday and my friend who is very experienced didn't call the vet as she wasn't lame and the wounds weren't deep. She is just a bit stiff which i think comes from the bruising but has been galloping around the field today and come in sound.
However, thank you all for your advice, will call my vet tomorrow
 
I think that the one thing that many of hate seeing on here are posts with references to knowledgeable friends not calling a vet - when one is often clearly needed.

Often the friends aren't as knowledgeable as they or the poster think - by which time the horse has gone without veterinary treatment for some time (in your case a week).

Hope the horse is ok.
 
The danger is that even an apparently minor hock injury could have penetrated the joint in which case your horse would already be in big trouble. And giving left over antibiotics is insanity because a) you shouldn't have had any left over as they are all supposed to be used up and b) they may be out of date or totally the wrong type of antibx in which case they can create a false sense of reassurance.

Sorry to be brutal hun but my friend's TB was kicked on the hock and thank god he was brought in for the farrier early so it was spotted within (we think) 2 hours of the injury occurring. Horse was rushed immediately to the vets and underwent an emergancy GA to flush out the hock joint. Another couple of hours and the subsequent infection could have killed him.
 
Like others, I'd err on side of caution and speak to/get it checked out by vet as I've had friends with horses with kicks to hocks and both got very serious infection in the hock, leading to operations to remove infected bone and sadly in one case the horse after a month being PTS. I'm not being alarmist, but as non professionals don't think anyone can make a call on such injuries as you can't see what's going on inside the leg.

And like with humans, there are lots of different types of antibiotic used to treat different bacteria, so not advisable sometimes to self-medicate prescribed drugs which were given to you for something else without knowing what, if any, particular bacteria might be involved. Some antibiotics can wipe out the good bacteria as well as the bad.

Hope your horse turns out to be OK.
 
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