Hole in head!!

[JoLane]

I have a 17year old ex racer/broodmare companion horse who has a metal plate in her head from a kick. The stud i got her from said that a screw had always been sticking out of her head (!) and the vet had said it must have come lose as if the plate had moved she would be in a bad way. Vet said if doesn;t cause probs leave it alone. anyway, I noticed something oozing from screw hole and found lots of pus and the large lump that had been pressumed as bone/scar tissue turned out to be pus! (poor horse!) so i guess she had a very long term infection as lump had been there for years. anyway, I have polticed it and pus is pouring out. also the screw seems to have disappeared (!) Think I may have polticed it out ?! I just wondered if you would put the horse through x-rays and lot's of poking and prodding to diagnose what is going on, or see how it goes and keep fingers crossed that it will heal up and all will be fine. I am not keen to have her poked about unecessarily as she has had a very hard llife and was very thin and miserable when I got her, she is now a totally different horse, and despite the arthiritis she is getting younger all the time! She was also due to be shot as no longer needed so I think that each day is a bonus and she should just have a chance to relax and be happy. Oh also I know it's impossible to say but she doesn't appear to be in pain, I'm sure she was when I got her but I think since I've started polticing she is getting relief. anyway would be grateful for your opinions. oh sorry finally - would you carry on polticing or get antibiotics? Vet said see how polticing goes.

 

[alison247]

oh poor mare. She is very lucky to have you in her life now.
I did recently post about symptoms of pain as horses are very good at hiding it . My vet told me that they hide it due to being picked off in the herd.
It does sound if antibiotics may be a good idea but your vet would insist if deemed necessary.
Good luck with her.

 

[JoLane]

thankyou for your advice. Very interesting about the pain thing, will def bear that in mind. The main thing that makes me think she's not in pain now is that she has improved in everyway so dramatically in such a short time. she had such a dead look before - huge beautiful eyes with absolutely nothing in them, no life or sparkle - she certainly has that now! although I think that may partly be due to a bit of tlc - as a brood mare she had very little attention - muddy field with a pile of hay all year round - and any human contact was farrrier, vet or a routine hand up her to see how the foal is etc! she really did used to try and pretend she hadn;t seen you enter the paddock in the hope that you'd ignore her for the forst week or so, no running away or nastiness but a pathetic walk off and oh no please don;t pick me look oin her face. anyway enough ranting about horse welfare, could go on all night! You're right though, she could be in pain so I guess I should try to be very aware of any changes in her or signs of discomfort. I think I'll try poltice for another week and then revise! Oh by the way using Kaolin poltice - genius stuff! Lot's of people use it for aches etc, tired legs but anyone of a certain age will tell you that when they had a boil (something we don't get these days?!!) they used to use it and woud have a huge pus explosion! lovely ! A good one to remember if you don't use it already - recommended for aches but brilliant for cuts/wounds!

 

[Happy Horse]

I'd go with the vets advice to see how she goes as long as nothing changes in her temperament to suggest she is unhappy. I would want it xraying if it does not heal in a couple of weeks as it can cause the bone to weaken.

 

[JoLane]

ok thanks for advice! Oh that's if they haven't blown away in the night that is!!

 

[kellyeaton]

i would get the vet out all you need his for it to get infected!

 

[JoLane]

Hi everyone keep your fingers crossed but head is looking really good! no screw and hopefully no more pus!

 

[Tia]

Here you go Jo, as promised

.

Horses came galloping into corral from field. They bumped into this horse who smashed into gate post and shattered her skull. No infections, no problems actually. Horse was kept outside 24/7 as per normal but I did put her in a paddock on her own till the skin sealed over. Plugged the hole with gauze for a few days and then left open with antiseptic cream smeared all around the opening. The only reason there are flies in the photos is because the area was being prepped for vets arrival, otherwise there was never any flies around it. I cleaned area many times a day and smeared cream on numerous times per day, and it all paid off. She was on antibiotics for a couple of weeks and then all was well. Bit odd immediately before the hole sealed as it whistled every time she breathed in and out!

It was an absolutely fascinating experience for me as I have never seen inside a horses head before.

I hope you aren't squeemish

.

The day it happened where it is plugged with gauze, August 30th.

Sept 4th

Sept 4th again, different angle.

November 11th; hole sealed over.

I have further photos more recently, but I can't find them right now, must have put them in a different folder.

 

[JoLane]

oh my god that's terrible! i have no idea what squiggle's head looked like, thankfully I didn;t have to deal with the initial injury! I guess it's good horses don;t have huge brains really (only joking!) How come she didn;t need a metal plate? not enough skull left to attach?

 

[Tia]

Lol! Yes vet did say the same about this mare when he was scrubbing around inside the hole - she had a distinct lack of brains!

The skull crushed like safety glass, in that it was all still attached but in many shattered pieces. Once all that was removed there were many jagged edges left on the undamaged skull, so those bits were sawn off, cheese-wired off and some were snipped off with pliers. Once there was a roundish hole with smooth edges, he did not want to plate it as he believed that a lot of the skull bone would grow back, which it did. Not all the way obviously but there was significant skull bone growth. The skin was cut and tapered around the hole so that it was clean edges and it just grew and grew until it eventually sealed back together again. Quite remarkable really though and I was very impressed with the speed of growth. The area is very taught there now and resembled the supra-orbital fossa next to it. She's fine and made a great recovery.

 

[JoLane]

I am absolutely amazed, really am! I realise they can do extensive work on humans but never had any idea they could do this with horses! I was astonished to see the tiny in comparison hole where infection had come out of my girls head and the screw sticking out but this really puts that into perspective! Also makes me realise even more what squiggle has been through, prob very similar to yours.
I guess you have one very head shy horse now?

 

[Tia]

No, she's not head shy in the slightest. I was always very patient and careful with her when dealing with her wound, however as she is a highly aggressive horse with people, I always was aware of making her stand in a well behaved fashion whilst I cleaned up and performed non-painful care etc. For any invasive cleaning out of the hole, I always twitched her prior to starting as was much better for her to take the edge of any discomfort. I did make a point of always scratching her ears and poll and wiping her eyes though once I had finished with each times cleaning/care, as I was aware that if not managed properly then yes she could become headshy. Even though she is only a livery here, I have far more dealings with all the horses here than their owners, so I need to keep a perspective on any repercussions of (for example) allowing them to get away with bad manners, so I just treat them like my own horses and make the same demands on them.

Is Squiggle head shy then?

 

[JoLane]

She was head shy but I've tried my best to do as much as possible to her head without actually touching the wound, stroking over eyes ears etc. she is very good bless her, first few times I tried polticing or purple spraying etc she did threaten to go up a bit but nothing major and I think sh'es got used to it now to be honest and realises that not everything is painful that involves her head! she always tried to avoid human contact in the politest way poss as I guess she'd got used to the bad kind of contact! She's very affectionate now and a real sweety and trusting but I do feel guilty if i do have to do something unpleasant as she looks at me as if to say 'see I knew that you humans were bad' .
Sounds like you've spent a lot of time and energy with her and I hope that your liveries are very appreciative!