Cut tongue

C

cazzaroogie

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 December 2006
Messages
164
Location
hampshire
Visit site
Been having trouble with my 5year old rearing when lunging, he ok when ridden. Today he reared and blood came out of mouth called vet and he came out. His tongue has been cut in half vet say we were lucky tongue hadnt come off. think he must have somehow done it in field as vet reckon he did it week or so and no sign of blood in stable. Feel so bad for not knowing, instructor had said he was rearing as young etc, trying it on. now realise he was in pain. he now on antibiotics and bute and vet hope it heal itself and wont need stitching up. My poor little man
frown.gif
frown.gif
 
Has he been eating normally all that time as well? You'd think he'd not eat with an injury like that.

Wonder how a horse can do that type of damage in the field. I thought you were going to say it was from a Chifney when I read the start of your post.

Poor horse. Hope he gets better soon. If only they could talk eh?
 
Yep he been eating ok and normal in himself poor little man. Always said how great a horse he was before now I really think it, poor lad putting up with that. His bit only a happy mouth snaffle so wouldnt have caused it. He is very accident prone god know how he does it. He got 1 month of no bit or anything in then hopefully he be ok again.
 
My horse nearly lost his tongue this year after another horse managed to grab hold of it. Mine pulled back and the horse bit half way through in depth and the force of the pull tore all the muscles underneath the tongue (the bit that attaches the tongue to the bottom of the mouth). He was also missing pieces of his tongue all around the edge leaving quite a "jagged" look (should have taken photos tbh).

His was stitched together, but they only stayed in a couple of days. There were debates about sending him for microsurgery but they opted not to.

The thing you have to be careful of is that there are numerous tiny tiny bones in the mouth. Below the tongue is apparently a small bone thats a bit like a wish bone and very delicate... then further back are some other tiny delicate bones. Has the vet had a good look to make sure these are all intact?

Aside from that, my horse kept eating even with a mouth full of stitches and while it made me cringe, it didnt bother him too much. We had to wash his mouth 3 times a day with salt water (in a syringe and squirt). I dont know if your vet has advised anything in regards to cleaning it but I'd definitly consider this.

Few months later and he's healed fine. It's not affected his performance in any way but he does have a tiny scar on is tongue where some of the damage was. Its quite a horrific area to injure as it bleeds like hell and tbh, watching your horse have its mouth stitched together is sickening. However! They heal very very quickly so im sure your boy will be ok
laugh.gif
 
Thanks for your story. The vet had good look and rest of tongue intacy just basically got a cut on half of it. He quite happy to eat still- loves his food. I have to hose his mouth out twice a day and check it clean and healing. He back in 10days to check on him if all ok till then. Hoping it ok. He did say sometimes the half of tongue can fall off- not a nice thought:(
 
Eeek, what an awful thought! Im sure it will heal fine, honestly. My horse looked like frakensteins monster in his mouth with all the blue stitches and he's 100% now.

The vet couldnt guarentee me at the time that he'd be ok (he's a dressage horse) but its not affected him one bit.
 
Not particularly true. Tongues are very resilient and generally heal 100% fine. The only issue tends to occur if there is damage to the bones in the mouth.

Mine is exactly the way he was prior to the accident and i honestly thought at the time it would be the end of his dressage career. There was never any question of him going in a hackamore.
 
I went down to the yard a few weeks ago and I don't know what made me notice but Ellie had a really serious cut across the front of her tongue and a smaller one to the side. (She has a front tooth missing so I am presuming it was the pattern made by her biting down on it). It looked like it had been very deep maybe almost full thickness.
shocked.gif
crazy.gif
frown.gif
Unfortunately/fortunately it was healed up almost and looked like it was quite a few days old.

At the time she was living out so it must have happened in the field.
confused.gif
She had no blood on her rugs and had been eating perfectly normally so I had no idea she had done it.
crazy.gif


I felt really bad about it but of course it is not a place that you check that regularly. She has never shown any discomfort etc from it and it healed perfectly.
 
Well 1st day since treatment began and already looking a lot better. Nice and clean and healing nicely. He is also beter eating so fingers crossed he recover ok. Silly boy been charging around his field today as new horse next to him, lets hope he dont hurt anything else!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top