Horse falls on concrete - any experience?

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PooJay

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Hi, should post this in vetinary but being as there are a lot of eventers that post on here i thought that maybe someone would have some experience of dealing with a horrible fall?

On sunday evening me and my mare went for a quiet pootle round the lane for 30 mins. She spooked like she quite often does (and her spooks consist of back end coming right under and trying to shoot off) but she slipped on the horrible slippery concrete on the lane and basically did what a person would do slipping on ice, back end came underneath and she fell almost backwards and sideways. Luckily with the backward action she chucked me free of the saddle and didn't land on me but with the momentum she fell at she did hit the floor with some force and skidded about a foot or so.

Vet came out that night, no obvious lameness but she has cuts and bruises all over her left side and was swollen around the shoulder area (that has now gone) and has badly cut and scraped on the inside of her back leg (i think this is where stifle made contact with the concrete)

I've spoken with physio, she said week off completely and she will visit next Wed to try to see any obvious issues with a follow up visit on the 25th for a full treatment.

The physio has said that it could take 4-5 weeks for any signs to show up of sacroilliac or pelvis issues (which is frightening the bejeezus out of me obviously) :(

Anyway, my question is, does anyone have any advice please? Has anyone been in a similar situation and can tell me what to look out for to give me any indication that further damage has been done? I'm an over worrier at the best of times with my girl and i'm petrified she's done some serious and lasting damage (not because there's any evidence of this, just because i always think the worst with horses!)

any advice would be appreciated....thanks :( xx
 
Friends old horse did it twice before being retirered.
First time got up and was fine, just sore for a while.
Second time got up lame, vet diagonosed (with x-rays I think) hairline fracture of the pelvis. Not bad but box rest for 4 weeks, then 2 weeks limited turn out.

Thinking from when I have stacked it...
I think if she is not obvioulsy lame you can probably rule our major damage to bones and key joints. But she will probably be more ouchy in a day or two before getting better. Also the deep bruising will be sore for a long time and take a good few weeks to 'come out'.

I hope that is reassuring! Lots of healing <<vibes>> for you mare!
 
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Im affraid I have no advice on looking at injuries that haven't came out yet- but my horse got hit by a car when he was younger and luckily wasn't badly hurt but mentally it had done some huge damage. When you have both made a full recovery please be very very careful when taking her back out again try and have some company and maybe walk in hand or also have someone on foot. I'm sure you will be doing this but remebering how he was after he was hit makes me feel physically sick. Thankfully he is happy to poodle round the lanes close to home but the minute hes out of hes comfort zone of cars come up loudly behind us it all gets to much.
 
I can't be of much help, my sisters horse fell in a ditch when younger and damaged his sacroilliac - it wasn't apparent to us immediately but showed up as a resistance to take a contact and work from behind, obviously. I'm afraid I can't remember how the details on how long it took before we called a vet/physio.

I rode a little horse in NZ who bolted on a road. I pulled at the wrong time and his feet went right out from under him and he slammed down sideways on the road, skidded along with me trapped under him. He didn't suffer any ill effects that I am aware of (but they weren't big into physios) other than being very sore for a few days.

It sounds like you are doing all the right things, just listen to her and note any subtle changes in movement or behaviour.
 
Felicity_09 said:
Friends old horse did it twice before being retirered.
First time got up and was fine, just sore for a while.
Second time got up lame, vet diagonosed (with x-rays I think) hairline fracture of the pelvis. Not bad but box rest for 4 weeks, then 2 weeks limited turn out.

Thinking from when I have stacked it...
I think if she is not obvioulsy lame you can probably rule our major damage to bones and key joints. But she will probably be more ouchy in a day or two before getting better. Also the deep bruising will be sore for a long time and take a good few weeks to 'come out'.

I hope that is reassuring! Lots of healing <<vibes>> for you mare!
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Thank you....my physio did say it would take a long time for any muscular internal bleeding to "come out" and be treatable and visible as well as the bone stuff. She got back up straight away and trotted up pretty much sound the same night, next morning and evening just slightly lame on her shoulder and she seemed pretty sound this morning and very happy to trot out. I am expecting stiffness though so it's difficult to tell what to be extra worried about! :(

BeckyCandy....yes that is definitely something i've got to take into consideration, she did really shock herself, i'm just totally lucky that it was only 200 yards away from the yard and no cars came up the lane so she got home safe....well, firstly she missed the turning into the yard and hid in the bushes for a while, then decided she remembered the way home and some people from the yard saved her whilst i hobbled home after her! My poor girl, she's a real sweetie too....i really feel for her! :(
 
My boy came down on the road years ago - was sore and stiff as hell for a few days but within a couple of weeks was completely back to normal, hope yours heals just as well :)
 
My sisters horse did this in walk, just slipped not even a spook involved. My sister managed to break her collarbone, but the horse was fine. I can't remember if we had the vet out (he had no cuts etc) but we would have had the chiro out I think to give him the once over before doing anything else. Hopefully it will be the same for yours :)

Trouble is with horses they can have crashing falls and be fine, and the tiniest trip and they can do something irreparable :(
 
Not quite the same but when my mare went over a 5 bar gate and got caught in the fencing beside it I though she had broken her back/pelvis as she couldn't stand up. Luckily she just had severe bruising and muscle spasms and was back in work after about 8 weeks field rest.
 
And if its any reassurance at all, my horse falls over all the time in the field, doing the wall of death gallop round the field when it is hard or slippy...and barring one fall where he reared constantly for the next ride i took him on (vet came out next day and of course he was fine!!), he has always been fine. Like someone says, they can be remarkably resilient!
 
thanks guys, your experiences have definitely made me feel a lot better! :)I'm hoping Madam Jay will be as resiliant as your horses....if she's sound now i'll hope with everything in me that we've got a good chance that we'll just have the superficial wounds, swellings, muscle spasms etc to deal with...!

A week or 2 of wound cleaning and massive amounts of pampering and then we'll start to look at where to go next :)

Thanks again everyone xx
Cat :)
 
Did your vet put her on NSAIDs? It might even be worth considering a steroid, if you can keep her quiet and avoid her stressing anything that's not obvious now. Inflammation is the bodies defense but it also causes damage in its own right - NSAIDs aren't just about pain relief, they're about short circuiting that inflammatory response. It might also be worth loading her up with some MSM as some studies have shown it has use as a "free radical scavenger" to mop up the chemical effects of injury. It might be overkill but better safe than sorry.

Otherwise, I think all you can do is wait and rest, with gentle exercise (i.e turn out) if she's sound. If anything looks not right light a fire under your vet/physio and get them back to look. The sooner you catch something, the more likely you are to be able to solve it without compensatory issues cropping up.

As above, sometimes the most crashing falls have little or no long term effect. I'd say try not to worry but I don't think you'll be able to take my advice. ;)
 
abitodd said:
http://www.crossgatesbioenergetics.com/animal-health/equine.xhtml

These people do a remedy called RRA,it contains Arnica for bruising and something for muscles strain. It speeds recovery from nasty falls etc.
In the meantime if you have any human Arnica give that and take some yourself!
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yeah i'm arnica'd up, i fell on my already bad left shoulder but i seem to be ok - I have some homeopathic 30c arnica - would that be enough? How do i feed it? I don't think she'd let it dissolve under her tongue :D

TarrSteps - the vet didn't put her on anything at all - he even said that antibiotics, if i wanted to save money weren't essential but to me it's not worth risking not giving them to her with the amount of cuts and grazes on her. He didn't want to put her on any painkillers incase it masked any lameness which may become apparent at a later date once the shock wore off. What are NSAIDs? Something like bute?

When you say feeding as MSM - would that be a joint supplement? Would it need to be blended with Glucosamine to be effective (i'm speaking with little experience of this btw!)

Thanks again, i am worried out of my skull and no amount of advice will stop me worrying. It's just blooming typical that we'd just started to make some amazingly good progress with work and getting her to use her left shoulder and left hind properly after a suspected injury before i bought her....and i'm sure you can guess which side she landed on....:rolleyes:
 
Yes, NSAIDs are bute and similar. It's two schools of thought, really. One says don't give it in case you're covering something up, the other says the horse IS going to be sore but you're trying to limit the inflammatory response to control the negative aspects of it, so give the meds and keep the horse contained to lessen the risk of reinjury. Something to be said for both so go with what your vet says, as he's the one who has seen her!

MSM is in joint supplements but you can also get it as a stand alone product. I'm not saying it's a magic cure all but, as I said, initial tests seem to suggest it works to limit the inflammatory process. It's not crazy money and it doesn't have side effects given at a reasonable dose, so I tend to give it to any of the animals when they're hurt. Even if it just make me feel better. :)
 
I have a horse that did this on a smooth tarmac road. Aside from the odd scrape and bruise he seemed to have come off unscathed .... until by chance someone came to the yard with a thermal imaging camera & we discovered that his shoulder, withers, stifle and sacroiliac area were on fire! Outwardly he was showing no signs of anything but he's a toughie and doesn't tend to let on until bits start dropping off. It only cost about £60 but it was the best money I've spent and it gave my vet and physio clear targets to work on.
 
My horse eats the little pills from a spoon,but he is very greedy.
The official way to administer is to crush between 2 spoons and then get the powder into the mouth without touching said powder. I have had success putting the powder or pill on a carrot. Do this as often as you can for the next day or 2..........If nothing else it'll give you something to do istead of worrying!
 
My (18 yo) boy did something very similar recently and managed to scuff his near side stifle, both fetlocks on the outside and both knees. My friend was riding him and she was a little trapped but managed to wriggle free. I think his injuries were more from getting up than the falling as it was on quite a steep hill. Good news, no problems at all. I cold hosed his knees, have him bute for a day or two and a couple of days off, but a month later we did a ODE and he's had regular jumping lessons since then too. The physio saw him about a month later as part of his regular checks and he had no issues at all with the fall.
 
Frank slipped up on concrete, spooked at a hound while hunting :rolleyes: flung me in a very wet, orange, muddy puddle :o. Apart from a few grazes he was fine, a little stiff the next day. Fwiw he is also one to get a bit off behind and needs the chiro/massage but was actually fine after this.
 
TarrSteps said:
Yes, NSAIDs are bute and similar. It's two schools of thought, really. One says don't give it in case you're covering something up, the other says the horse IS going to be sore but you're trying to limit the inflammatory response to control the negative aspects of it, so give the meds and keep the horse contained to lessen the risk of reinjury. Something to be said for both so go with what your vet says, as he's the one who has seen her!

MSM is in joint supplements but you can also get it as a stand alone product. I'm not saying it's a magic cure all but, as I said, initial tests seem to suggest it works to limit the inflammatory process. It's not crazy money and it doesn't have side effects given at a reasonable dose, so I tend to give it to any of the animals when they're hurt. Even if it just make me feel better. :)
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Great, thank you - I'll get some ordered in, will try anything at the moment!

Qaz - something i've always wanted to get done even without injury but i was quoted £300!!! :eek:
 
abitodd said:
My horse eats the little pills from a spoon,but he is very greedy.
The official way to administer is to crush between 2 spoons and then get the powder into the mouth without touching said powder. I have had success putting the powder or pill on a carrot. Do this as often as you can for the next day or 2..........If nothing else it'll give you something to do istead of worrying!
Click to expand...

Jay will eat anything once...and they taste sugary so i'm sure they'll go down a treat :D
 
I can't tell you how much better this is making me feel! It's such a relief to know that big dramatic falls don't always end up in awfulness!

Thanks! :D
 
one of my mares ran off when her rug was 1/2 on last summer, it slipped round her front & she tripped & fell, twice. i thought she was going to break her neck...
i had thermal imaging pics taken a few months ago, not expensive & v worthwhile imho... the point of her shoulder on that side is still damaged, so she has specific exercises to do etc. worth it as an extra diagnostic tool perhaps?
 
Ive been in the exact same position - slipped on black ice, came over backward missed me by a whisker and skidded himself. This was many years ago and (to my guilty shame now) I never got a vet out, i just checked him over and gave him plenty turn out. Then hobbled off to the settee for a week! He was absolutely fine. He's 32 now and never had a day lame.
If it happened today, id do exactly what you have done - vet and physio. Try not to worry, get him checked by physio in a few weeks.
 
smiffyimp said:
Ive been in the exact same position - slipped on black ice, came over backward missed me by a whisker and skidded himself. This was many years ago and (to my guilty shame now) I never got a vet out, i just checked him over and gave him plenty turn out. Then hobbled off to the settee for a week! He was absolutely fine. He's 32 now and never had a day lame.
If it happened today, id do exactly what you have done - vet and physio. Try not to worry, get him checked by physio in a few weeks.
Click to expand...

Well to be fair there's not a lot the vet can do if the horse is sound at that point. The only reason i HAD to get the vet out was because i thought one of the cuts needed stitches, and she had a load more holes in her so it was worth it if only for the antibiotics point of view.

Kerilli - i'll definitely consider it once we've healed on the outside otherwise i'm guessing it would give us false readings anyway due to the fact we're a holy pony atm.

How much did it cost? I went to a stand at YHL last year and they gave me some bumpf - which of course has gone in the recycling now but i'm sure she said it was £250 - 300? :eek:
 
My mare panicked on the road with me and whipped round trying to run off, in the panic she slipped onto her side / back crushing me. I ended up in hospital. Her injuries were some grazing to hocks and hip bone , I never called vet but over next few days she became stiff behind on the side she fell. She had physo etc and it took around 3 months before I could get back on her, more muscle damage than anything else.
 
What you will have to watch out for is something that might appear to be unconnected, but is because the original injury causes the horse to compensate in another area.

Still, it sounds as though you are taking all the precautions, with vet and the physio looking after her. Problems occur when, for instance, a horse has a nasty fall, gets up and runs around and seems fine, but has hurt itself slightly and it doesn't become apparent for weeks afterwards when something else is not quite right.

Good luck, I hope she makes a full recovery.
 
Hi,

I didn't read all the other responses so I may be repeating what others have said. I have seen two similar accidents.

The first was to a friends horse and wasn't actually on concrete but in a field in the middle of summer and the ground was solid, it wasn't a slip but may be of relevance regarding pelvis injuries. One horse managed to run flat out into a second horse and knocked it to the ground. The horse that was knocked to the ground was extremely stiff and sore and box rested for about three weeks, the stiffness did not improve at all and so the horse was x-rayed and found to have a fractured pelvis, three months box rest and now back in full work with no problems. This horse was stiff to the point of barely being able to move around the box at all, so it was very obvious something was wrong.

A horse of mine was on box rest, but he escaped one day. He was very pleased with himself and went off at a fast trot across the yard, came to a corner on a slope, was not quick enough with the brakes and fell on his side and skidded for what seemed like forever. He had cuts, grazes, bruising and swelling on his knee, hock, stifle, both fetlocks, rib, elbow and hip. He was not nearly as stiff as I was expecting. I bathed all the cuts daily (none could really be bandaged easily) and put on manuka honey daily (pretty messy but amazing for making the cuts heal over quickly), also put arnica cooling gel on any area that was swollen but had no sores. He was fine within a week (as fine as a horse on six months box rest can be!) apart from some unsightly scabs which took a while to heal. He was on bute for about two or three days to help with the stiffness, but didn't need it after that.

I hope your horse recovers quickly!
 
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