Hematoma, fence injuries, joint capsule advice please

[diesel1981]

My poor baby has been chased round and mounted by a gelding (possible rig) on the yard, She has gone through a barb wire fence and 5 bar gate to get away from him resulting in a puncture wound and 14" scrape on the knee and down the inside of her off fore, a 6"deep laceration to her near shoulder level with her chest and she also has 2 hematomas where the wrinkly skin is between her front legs under her chest as a result of the latet injury, loads of other small cuts n scratches. My vets main concern was obviously the knee injury, her knee is twice the size it should be and the swelling begins between knee and the top of her leg and goes right down to her fetlock, she isnt lame and is weight bearing. She is on strong anti biotics and pain killers and i've been told to keep a carefull eye on the knee for the next 24hrs, i'm cold hosing and keeping all effected areas clean, she's stabled now and im grazing her in hand, she's taking her meds fine and is eating, drinking normally, she has no temprature and appears to be happy, she isnt her usual sparky self but has just come out of season and from what i can make out from other liveries she's been covered by this rig 5 times over the last 3 days so i think she's worn out. Has anyone else had experience of knee injuries etc and have been told by one vet to leave the hematomas and to drain them by another...what would you do? xx jo

 

[Meowy Catkin]

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=525401

If you look on this link, there are some photos of my grey after she had been stapled back together having been through a barbed wire fence. There is also a video showing the recovery of another HHO member's horse following a barbed wire injury.

RE my grey, she had a big haemotoma between her front legs, under her chest (just visable in the photos) and it went away with time. It wasn't drained - just left alone.

Good luck with you horse's recovery.

 

[be positive]

I had one horse that had a haematoma on his chest as a result of a heavy xc fall, no other injuries, it did not disperse and needed draining but took a long while to heal fully.
More recently a horse got one one his stifle, arguing with a fence, he had anti-inflammatory drugs and a gel to rub on the area to help reduce the swelling, it took about two months to reduce to be almost unnoticable but the vet did not want to risk draining as it can allow it to become infected.

With your mare I would leave it for now she has enough to contend with, I am not sure that draining really speeded up the healing time in mine and the risk of further infection in an already weakened horse would make me wait until the other injuries are healing, once she can go out it will help although sometimes as it moves the area will get even more swollen before dispersing.

Just had to ask WHY was she left for 3 days in a field with a horse mounting her and stressing her so much that she ended up in this state, I would be furious with the YO, accidents happen but this was avoidable.