Foal Knee Haematoma

[VAO26]

I wondered if anyone had experienced a large knee haematoma in a foal before?

He gained his new lump over a week ago and he is now 2 weeks old. We don't know how he did it - potentially falling on hard ground or running into a fence post.

We've had the vet out twice and they at first advised box rest with 1 hour of restricted turnout but that turned him nuts, at the second visit after a thorough examination he was granted release from foal prisopn so is back to living out now but the haematoma isn't going down.

He's perfectly sound and happy, but I wondered if anyone had experienced similar and could give reassurance.

Picture of the day he did it on the right and today on the left.

Thanks

 

[AmyMay]

Is it soft?

 

[VAO26]

Is it soft?

Yes

 

[angel7]

Did vet tap it to make sure its blood collection and not infection or joint fluid? Joint ill can cause swellings, think I'd want x ray to rule a fracture out...

 

[Red-1]

It looks to have reduced considerably already. If it is warm and the foal is amenable, I would be holding some ice on a few times a day for 20 minutes. I have only had one foal but he would have been delighted with the attention and the mother would have been delighted with the peace and quiet!

 

[VAO26]

Did vet tap it to make sure its blood collection and not infection or joint fluid? Joint ill can cause swellings, think I'd want x ray to rule a fracture out...

Thank you. They're coming back out Tuesday to check again so will ask again. I did question regarding joint ill on the first 2 visits but as he has no soreness or reduction in mobility and because it's soft and mobile they didn't think that was a concern. They didn't tap it when they came so will ask them to on Tuesday.

 

[VAO26]

It looks to have reduced considerably already. If it is warm and the foal is amenable, I would be holding some ice on a few times a day for 20 minutes. I have only had one foal but he would have been delighted with the attention and the mother would have been delighted with the peace and quiet!

Thank you. I will give this a go. He is my first (and last!) foal and is very amenable, mum is bored with him already so I'm sure she will appreciate the relief and he will appreciate the attention!

 

[Red-1]

Thank you. I will give this a go. He is my first (and last!) foal and is very amenable, mum is bored with him already so I'm sure she will appreciate the relief and he will appreciate the attention!

It needs wrapping in a cloth or something, or moving constantly, to prevent ice burn.

My first was my last too My mum reminded me of an old saying. "Fools breed horses for wise men to ride."

Didn't help that my mare was reluctant to feed so we had to milk her for several days and bottle feed the foal every 4 hours. Exhausting.

 

[ycbm]

As he's tiny, even if that doesn't reduce any further, it should look almost unnoticeable by the time his knee is full grown. I had a mare with a bursa on the knee, she passed a 5 stage vetting with it after eventing for a season.
.

 

[Goldenstar]

I think if you have any luck at all that will reduce and not be noticeable as an adult .
if you can I would hold wet towels on his knee and tickle water down it using a plastic cup from a handle tree soft bucket of some type .

 

[saturdaygirl]

I would be suspect that this is actually ruptured common digital extensor tendon - fairly common in foals particularly any born with flexural limb deformity (upright through front limbs) and causes a very classic swelling in that region on the carpus. It's not a major concern as not a very important tendon but often causes an odd gait initially until the foal has figured out how to use the limb. The soft swelling usually gradually reduced over a few weeks and at worst is a mild cosmetic blemish. [Stud Vet]

 

[Midlifecrisis]

Joint ill…infection enters umbilical cord at birth???