GreyDonkey goes to horsey hospital :(

I'm afraid I was one of those people whose horse was kicked on the hock and as it was only a small cut didn't get the vet until a few days later when he went lame, who made him go straight to horspital. 5 days and £2000 later he came home and has been fine since (4 years ago). One thing in the original post that concerned me was the use of Hibiscrub to clean the wound - at a RC vets talk the other day, we were told not to use it on new wounds as it kills cells.
 
I'm afraid I was one of those people whose horse was kicked on the hock and as it was only a small cut didn't get the vet until a few days later when he went lame, who made him go straight to horspital. 5 days and £2000 later he came home and has been fine since (4 years ago). One thing in the original post that concerned me was the use of Hibiscrub to clean the wound - at a RC vets talk the other day, we were told not to use it on new wounds as it kills cells.

Re hibiscrub that's interesting . . . I hadn't heard that. I never did get very near the wound though as the first time I touched it, the joint fluid gushed out and I left it alone while I called the vet.

Very glad your horse made a complete recovery.

P
 
Sorry to hear your bad news and hope he is home soon.

It wasn't in the field with the nasty people horses who were causing you grief ?

Yup - it was. And one of them, who was on the yard when I was ringing the vet and saw us load him and take him, etc., saw me and my 17-year-old daughter (who shares him with me) this morning when we stopped by the yard to pick up his treat ball and didn't even bother to ask how he is. She still isn't speaking to me and until Christmas day when I rescued her horse from the field with a scratch on his leg, was still deliberately leaving GreyDonkey out in the field by himself (by which I mean scurrying up to the field without letting the woman who brings him in for me know that she was going up and leaving him turning himself inside out while she brought the other two in - she's a piece of work).

GD will not be going back out into that field. Another livery showed me footage she shot on her phone of the other two horses trapping him by the gate and kicking the daylights out of him. I know horses will be horses, but yesterday he came in with five separate wounds.

Enough now.

P
 
Your you and your boy. One of my boys had very similar, my OH didn't notice anything when he came in, when I went out to feed an hour later my boy was stood in corner head on the floor clearly in real pain, searched all over and eventually found 5p sized cut on his hock - I knew pain was disporportionate to the apparent wound so called vet, he looked at it for 2 mins and said off to horspital. She drew a merky brown sample of joint fluid (even I knew it shouldn't be that colour!) Mine had emergancy surgery to flush it at midnight, they did remove a small piece of bone! He had IV anti biotics for 4/5 days then home on in feed anti biotics, bandaged for ages.
I'd assumed he'd be a field ornament and even got another ridden horse on loan!
5 months later totally sound a signed off to start work again, then that winter he won the local riding club league SJ, has been XC, hunting etc etc. no problem at all.

Caught early like yours he has a great chance and it'll heal amazingly quickly!

Ouchy! It's amazing how dangerous and damaging a small wound can be if it's deep enough and/or in the wrong place. Horses' legs really are a rubbish design ;).

Sounds like I need to learn how to bandage a hock . . .

P
 
Poor lad! Defo's get the vet to show you how to bandage the hock properly as you could end up doing your boy damage with it done wrong. Provided that nothing else occurs then you should just have a delayed start to your season rather than missing it out completely.

Good Luck and I hope Monday goes well for the pair of you!

Yes, need to get the hang of this bandaging a hock lark . . . and I'm not so concerned about him missing the season . . . as long as we can get him sound, he can do some low level SJing and stressage next winter. I just want him "right."

P
 
It's amazing . . . I didn't realize quite how pathetic and sore he was yesterday until I saw him this morning on pain meds . . . because he wasn't "lame" per se and was moving relatively well (although he looked slightly short/stiff on that leg) his quietness could have been attributed to tiredness, but he stood so very quietly on the yard while I called the vet and sorted transport and was unusually passive. I think I was too busy "sorting" to really register how low he was . . . but it really hit me this morning when I saw him looking SO chipper and he frisked me/rifled through my pockets for treats. Fantastic to see him looking so bright and "himself" . . . long may it continue.

I'm afraid I haven't been so chipper myself today. I coped really well yesterday . . . mostly due to two wonderful friends who ralled round and talked nonsense/kept me amused on the lorry journey . . . but today I've been a bit weepy, but then I hardly slept last night. Looking forward to some decent shut eye tonight . . . although I must confess that I won't really rest easy until the surgeon tells me he's happy with his progress on Monday.

Thanks so much for all your vibes/kind words.

P
 
Thank you Starzaan - hugs much appreciated. I'd LOVE to know how you bandage a hock? Perhaps I should get the vet to show me.

Very glad your boy is back and sound.

P

Ask your vet to order you a pressage. So much easier than bandaging.

Well done for getting him to the vets. My mare had something similar many years ago and was only off work three weeks. Good luck.
 
Ask your vet to order you a pressage. So much easier than bandaging.

Well done for getting him to the vets. My mare had something similar many years ago and was only off work three weeks. Good luck.

A pressage? Right, making a note . . . thank you . . .

P
 
Yup - it was. And one of them, who was on the yard when I was ringing the vet and saw us load him and take him, etc., saw me and my 17-year-old daughter (who shares him with me) this morning when we stopped by the yard to pick up his treat ball and didn't even bother to ask how he is. She still isn't speaking to me and until Christmas day when I rescued her horse from the field with a scratch on his leg, was still deliberately leaving GreyDonkey out in the field by himself (by which I mean scurrying up to the field without letting the woman who brings him in for me know that she was going up and leaving him turning himself inside out while she brought the other two in - she's a piece of work).

GD will not be going back out into that field. Another livery showed me footage she shot on her phone of the other two horses trapping him by the gate and kicking the daylights out of him. I know horses will be horses, but yesterday he came in with five separate wounds.

Enough now.

P

They sound like they have a screw lose and I wouldn't blame you at all. Hope he is home soon.
 
So apparently this is what I've got to learn how to do . . .

KaliBandage_zps98819c90.jpg


Eek!

P
 
My vet said no to a pressage, said they rarely fit properly and can cause more trouble than they are worth. We used soffban then tubigrips with elastoplast (wide stuff, expensive! Top and bottom.
Best of luck with him and hope he is soon better. Mine had a hock op (a kick, but chipped bones inside the joint) in November and has now been signed off and I have been told to 'Forget he ever did it' .He is only 2 though so over doing the riding is not a problem!
Good news to hear you are to move fields. (I think that was other post!)
 
My vet said no to a pressage, said they rarely fit properly and can cause more trouble than they are worth. We used soffban then tubigrips with elastoplast (wide stuff, expensive! Top and bottom.
Best of luck with him and hope he is soon better. Mine had a hock op (a kick, but chipped bones inside the joint) in November and has now been signed off and I have been told to 'Forget he ever did it' .He is only 2 though so over doing the riding is not a problem!
Good news to hear you are to move fields. (I think that was other post!)

Thanks for this . . . great advice . . . will talk to my vet about bandaging options. Hurrah that yours has come through his surgery :
 
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