Hematoma...

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I<3myboy

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Hi All,

My horse currently has a hematoma behind the stifle, it of sufficient size, about a large grapefruit.

The vet has today said we can turn him out after two weeks rest, the hematoma hasn't got any bigger but hasn't got any smaller either. I am hoping it will disperse now he can move around in the field now.

Will this leave any scaring once dispersed? Has anyone else experience a similar problem, has it resulted in draining??

The vet didn't say whether I can start riding again now, (I will check this) how long before he comes back into work? should I wait to until the hematoma disperses?

Any information is helpful!

thanks in advance
:)
 
I can't really help from the horse point of view but can tell you my own experience of haematoma and see if it helps you make a decision for your horse! I was bitten really badly on the bottom of my buttock a year ago, I still have a lump and if I press it then it still hurts, In the weeks, and even months, following the bite the pain caused by any pressure or movement (making the fluid move around) was awful, as the fluid moved out and put pressure on the surrounding tissue. Running made the pain unbearable.

I would imagine that one the size your horse has will be very painful, because of where it is movement especially above a walk will hurt a lot as the weight of the fluid will drag as it bounces around. If you have the chance to have it drained for him, and it is safe to do so (don't really know a lot about that) then I would. Had I known just how much I was going to suffer from mine I would have gone and had it done, I would also never have believed that it could be so painful.

I don't really know if that will help you or not but I figured a human experience cannot be much different to a horse one in this case.
 
Oh wow, just this has helped thank you!

He was turned out yesterday and the hematoma has moved slightly and formed another little bubble just on his belly just near the hip where is joins the tummy so not far from the actual hematoma.... does this mean it is dispersing???
 
Again, only have own previous experience. I had a two yr old a few years ago which had a large hematoma on his hock, he was on anti inflammatories for a couple of weeks I think then went back out in the field, I don't remember it affecting him as he was always a loon in the field but it did take probably 3-4 months to completely go down. He obviously wasn't in work at the time so I don't know how this would have been affected.
 
One of my girls had a haematoma following a kick last year. It was on her left side, level with the last rib/spleen area. She was very painful with it at the time, colicked for the following few days. Vet came out several times, once for the initial kick & gave bute & antibiotics in case skin has been split (we couldnt see anything but i wanted to be safe) then again the following day, and day after for the colic. It was an impacted type, which we put down to it being painful to use the muscles around where she'd been kicked to go to the toilet. (if that makes sense?) Vet also scanned it on the 3rd day to make sure she hadn't fractured a rib, or ruptured her spleen which thank God she hadn't. She was only box rested for 4 days as i felt being kept in was making the colic worse (she'd hardly ever been stabled at that ponit and hated it) Once allowed out she got better rapidly! It took about 4 weeks for the haematoma to go right down and she stopped being sore on it at that point too. I think she was out of work for about 7-8 weeks, but i wanted to be very sure she was ok as it was right where your leg goes and she'd only been backed a few days so didn't want her to associate using my leg with pain. There was no scarring- almost 6 months on you'd bever know :) Hope your lad is better soon.
 
I think it depends where they are on the body as to how well they disperse or whether they need some help. Had 4 on nags over the years. One had one between her front legs - just at the bottom of chest...that dispersed very quickly. The other got one fairly high up on his bum. Didn't cause much of a problem but didn't ever fully return to normal either. He still has a lump there. With two others we had one on an elbow which kept getting knocked again and that had req. draining 2/3 times at least over the years and another had one on his rib cage which got drained initially but few years later must have got knocked again and swelled up and needed draining a 2nd time.
The advice I got was to leave alone whist still dispersing...also given bute which I supplemented with arnica and a bit of ice/cold hosing. Don't know if it helped much but made me feel better!!
 
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