Bone chip? How do you know?

_jetset_

_jetset_

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 May 2005
Messages
11,389
Location
Lancashire
Visit site
Grace came in from the field tonight with a kick from my other mare on her hind leg. It is in the thigh area (sorry, I hope you know where I mean) and even though the 'cut' is not particular deep or big, the swelling is pretty big around it
frown.gif


I have cold hosed it for 20 minutes and will do it again tomorrow morning before deciding whether to turn her out or not.

She does not look lame on it, but it is difficult to tell as she pulled a shoe off yesterday
frown.gif
I am so fed up, it is nothing but bad news with her
frown.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Poor you, why do you suspect a bone chip or are you just feeling paranoid?
frown.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

It is because of how swollen it is
frown.gif
It is a reasonably fleshy bit that she has been kicked on, but the lump was rock hard and hot even after I had cold hosed it.

Plus I am just ready for bad news all of the time with this horse now
mad.gif
 
Ok, it is very unlikely to be a bone chip. It is on a very fleshy part. The swelling will be severe brusing and possibly oedema.

Keep a close eye, cold hose, use some cooling gels on the area, give her some bute and try not to worry too much.

Knowing Grace, it is hard not to think the worst, but bone chips on fleshy areas are very, very rare.

xx
 
Rare and Grace go hand in hand
blush.gif
blush.gif
blush.gif


It is well above the hock (thank God). On your last picture on your signature, looking at the left hind iy is about the heigh of the first fence line
blush.gif
 
Sorry to hear about Grace, you certainly been through the mill with her.
My horse got kicked fractured his radius and had multiple bone fragments floating arround and a big bone chip. Yes he was initially lame but that was the fracture. When that settled down, he was sound with the bone chip/fragments still in place. Leahurst said to leave the chip in place as it was in a risky place and said that the fragments would dissolve. They did but the chip eventually abcessed and my vet took it out under heavy sedation about 2 months later.
Im sure its just a very sore belt and that the swelling will be down in a couple of days. Fingers crossed shes ok.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Was Axle lame with it initially?

[/ QUOTE ]

He was only about 2-3/10 lame when he first did it, which the vet was really suprised about he thought he would have been a lot lamer than that!
 
What Halfstep said!
Please try to be more positive about her, I know its hard but its very important to help break any 'negative' cycles that perpetuate themselves around her. If you think brilliant positive thoughts about her she is more likely to become a brilliant trouble free horse!
 
My new horse got kicked on his hind cannon bone and just above the front of his hock. It was fairly nasty with a lot of damage to the flesh. He went lame, got the vet out who said he might have a bone chip and to see how he is after a week. He was fine. If he had had a bone chip the vet was just going to dig it out under sedation. Its not a massive deal.

However, regarding the swelling... me and my horse had an absolute purler of a fall out hunting before Christmas where she brushed through a hedge which just happened to ahve a telegraph pole hidden in it...!! And I fell and landed on an enormous flint just above the knee on the fleshy part of my thigh and had a huge, very hard lump there for quite a while. I think it finally went about February and was incredibly sore. I'm sure that's exactly how Grace is feeling and its just a big bruise.

Chin up!!
 
Thanks everyone... this morning the swelling was not localised as it was last night (was like a huge egg last night) but had spread and was flatter. It was still incredibly sore to touch, so I expected her to be lame
frown.gif


I can't trot her up properly because there is only me on the yard, but did a quick one and couldn't see anything obvious. So I tacked her up and took her into the arena with the intention of walking her around, doing some lateral work and then putting her in the field. Grace had other ideas and went from a laid back lady to a fiery red head the moment my bottom touched the saddle (I think I have an electric bottom).

She was so spooky and naughty that I ended up doing quite a bit of trot work with her, but ever concious of the right hind... I have become so preoccupied with what the hinds are doing now that it is second nature. After her initial paddy and squeals in the trot (we are still having these) I let her out to the buckle and just trotted her along the straight to assess how she felt (with me stood up in the stirrups). There was nothing at all, no matter how hard I tried to feel something. So it looks as though the kick is not making her lame
smile.gif
 
The criteria for something worse than a cut is the degree of swelling and the fact it doesn't seem to get any better.
Most minor injuries quickly respond to treatment and antibiotics, if they don't always suspect something else is going on inside.
 
My horse had a kick in what sounds like the same place. He had no real heat, swelling, lameness and I was still riding him (with vets agreement) wasnt until i tried to jump him he couldnt land on that leg so he was taken straight in and xrayed and they found the chip. That was at xmas and he is now pretty much fully recovered.

From experience if it is a chip try and not keep her on box rest as odd as it sounds, I built my horse a 20ft x 20ft woodchip pen which he went out in in the day then back into his box at night. Really helped him mentally and also kept the bone density higher than if he has been just in his box (obv thats not practical for everyone)

Fingers x'ed for her
 
I am just going to carry on as if it is just bruising and see how it goes... She does have a slight over reaction when she has a cut/kick etc etc as she is pretty thin skinned.

There is still some heat in it this morning, so I cold hosed it before riding her, but there really is no lameness at all which I would expect with something more serious. However, nothing is ever straight forwards with this mare so I am keeping a VERY open mind about it at the moment.

I don't know why I thought 'bone chip', perhaps because I have read quite a bit about them on this website. Hopefully, it will just be a bad bruise because it is sore for me to prod (obviously) and that in a few days the swelling will have reduced.

I have not put her on any bute because I wanted to see how it was and how she was this morning... I do have some though, so if it is no better this evening after she has been out on it all day the I may put a sachet in her evening feed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top