Horse falls on concrete - any experience?

Hi Cat, this is Caitlin from your yard, you'll probably tell from the photos ;):)

Breeze fell over at full gallop on concrete, we both skidded for ages, and she, other than a few cuts, was fine and never lame. The bandage on her cut on her fetlock caused more damage than the cut itself, and you probably know what she's like on box rest ;) Consider Breeze's build to Jay's, Jay is a much more sturdier lady, and Breeze was hardly hurt. And she's a very clever girl for making her way back home, we where all worried sick.

Don't worry about it too much, Jaybo will be fine, I'm sure :)

Glad other people have reassured you :)

xxx
 
Please keep a very close eye on your mare, and give her all the time in the world to recover.

At Easter, my oldest livery horse (24) came flying down the hill in our field. He tried to take a hard left into the stable yard but as he executed the turn onto the conrete track his back legs went from under him and he went down like a sack of potatoes on his near side.

I rang the owner and told her what had happened. She checked him very carefully. He was a little stiff next day but that was all. He was ridden once, very quietly, a day or two later, but then lost a shoe and the farrier was ill so he had basically 2 weeks off.

At the end of that two weeks I checked the horses very late one night, wondered why he didn't come over to me for his midnight apple. Then realised he couldn't. Then followed the nightmare of ringing the owner and the vet, and telling them I was certain he had broken his leg. He had, and was PTS. The break was right high up in his femur, very close to his hip.

We are now sure that the damage actually occurred when he had the fall on the concrete - that there was probably a hairline fracture which then was exacerbated by some other folling aroun, slip, whatever.

That break was so high up that only one X-ray machine within 100 miles (so I was told) would have been powerful enough to take an image right through the flank. It's one that is normally used for elephants!!

That's why I'm saying give your mare plenty of time to recover. She may not have done herself any serious injury - but on the other hand you don't want to end uplike we did.
 
Stencilface, re the use of manuka honey. I was introduced to it by a vet when I had a mare with a nasty injury in a place that couldn't be stitched. It is honey made by bees that take their pollen from tea trees (as in tea tree oil). My mother who is a nurse says they use it in hospitals on burns victims as some burns cannot be dressed as dressings would stick to them and it helps new skin to grow rapidly and keeps infection away (you can actually buy medical grade sterile manuka but I just use the stuff from the supermarket, but you have to buy one with a high 'manuka rating'). I know someone that had cancer who was advised to eat a spoonful of it a day. I now use it on nearly all minor cuts and scrapes, it's brilliant, if it's a bad cut I try to put a dressing over it, but they heal far faster and it is known to discourage scar tissue/proud flesh.

As for eating it, I've only used it in horses living in so no problem with any fieldmates licking it off, but it doesn't taste nice and sweet like normal honey (it's quite disgusting) and I have never had one try to lick it off! The biggest problem is getting it to stick to the cuts as it sort of melts because of the warmth of the horse!
 
I had a horse fall heavily on a driveway after getting me off on XC. Definitely get a chiro/physio to have a look at, my boy ended up with pelvis and sacroilliac issues. After plenty of treatement he came good again!

Best of luck!
 
My old lad has fallen on concrete twice, although both times has had the small cushioning affect of me underneath him :rolleyes:
Both times he has been absolutely fine, but has had a quite couple of months because I wasn't fine after it!
 
Poojay, as with anything there will always be positive and negative outcomes. Concentrate on the positive for the moment :) having seen mrs Pooj I think you have been very lucky and have hopefully got away with the cuts and bruises. You have done all the right things we have a well respected vet and the very best physio and I know you would never rush her so please don't panic :) there is a hairy vieve that needs riding while Jay is resting up, we always said we were going to let them down for a couple of weeks anyway ;) it's just come a bit earlier.

Remember too Ellen heard Vieve get wiped out on a corner in the field, one minute grunting running like mad, next minute *thump* and pony doing the running horse whilst skidding along sideways on the ground, she was fine and her pelvis is made of fine bone china according to Newmarket ;) so chin up babe let's think positive!!!!
 
caitlineloise said:
Hi Cat, this is Caitlin from your yard, you'll probably tell from the photos ;):)

Breeze fell over at full gallop on concrete, we both skidded for ages, and she, other than a few cuts, was fine and never lame. The bandage on her cut on her fetlock caused more damage than the cut itself, and you probably know what she's like on box rest ;) Consider Breeze's build to Jay's, Jay is a much more sturdier lady, and Breeze was hardly hurt. And she's a very clever girl for making her way back home, we where all worried sick.

Don't worry about it too much, Jaybo will be fine, I'm sure :)

Glad other people have reassured you :)

xxx
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Thanks hun, i think your fall was a lot worse than mine! Jaybo just about managed to find her way home - via the bushes where i think she stopped for a snack, or to hide :o
 
robthecob said:
Poojay, as with anything there will always be positive and negative outcomes. Concentrate on the positive for the moment :) having seen mrs Pooj I think you have been very lucky and have hopefully got away with the cuts and bruises. You have done all the right things we have a well respected vet and the very best physio and I know you would never rush her so please don't panic :) there is a hairy vieve that needs riding while Jay is resting up, we always said we were going to let them down for a couple of weeks anyway ;) it's just come a bit earlier.

Remember too Ellen heard Vieve get wiped out on a corner in the field, one minute grunting running like mad, next minute *thump* and pony doing the running horse whilst skidding along sideways on the ground, she was fine and her pelvis is made of fine bone china according to Newmarket ;) so chin up babe let's think positive!!!!
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I am staying positive - turner her out this morning and although we still have the wierd swellings (which if they don't go down soon i'll get mr handsome vet out to have a look again) but she's not stiff even after a night in her stable and I can tell she's been lying down over night. Watched her walk away this morning and she's not swinging a leg out or struggling to lift any foot so i'm getting more positive by the day.

Thank you again for letting me ride your wonderful mare who looked after me whilst i quivered in my boots for the first 5 mins getting my confidence back...who then very kindly put in a handstand and a cartwheel when that confidence had come back! ;):D

To everyone else that's advised, thanks and...there is no way i'm cutting corners with this, it'll be physio on wed for a check over, maybe monday i may well put her on the soft surface of the indoor and ask her to move in hand in all directions to find out if we've got any sticky spots (she was very supple going sideways and backwards prior to the fall so this will be a good indicator) and maybe a small trot on the lunge so i can see if there's any difference in gait. Then a full physio treatment on the 25th to see if anything else has become apparent (and any compensatory issues) then probably some bowen along the lines followed probably by more physio in a months time after the 25th.

This horse is my dream horse, it's taken every ounce of money, emotion and time to get her going well and get her on side (she's been a little trickster at every opportunity - but that makes our achievements worth so much more) and i owe her the best treatment i can give....there's no way i'm letting anything slip now! :)
 
A horse at the yard went down on concrete when he bolted with his rider then tried to do a 90 degree turn to the yard. the main problem was his back foot went into the top of his left front leg. He was very stiff and sore for over a week afterwards and being a v senstive TB his wounds took a long time to properly heal over. He was put on box rest while his leg injury healed then had restricted turnout. The physio came out about 6 weeks later when the vet agreed he was ready for it and she didn't find any issues other than the ones he already had. He was ridden 8 weeks after the event at a walk and was fine - the owner was then chucked off the yard so not sure what happened to him afterwards.
 
I would keep an eye on her then maybe after a week or so, once the bruising has had a chance to go down and the muscles have sorted themselves out, get your phyiso to give her the once other to loosen any musckes that may have tightened up as a resilt of the incident.

As said, my horse slipped at walk on the road with me but also many years ago my pony had a crashing fall in a water fence at a HT. He was very shocked afterwards and had skinned himself down his neck and face as the water had a gravel bottom. He got over the shock but a week or so later he was about crippled. He had bone spavin anyway so i thought maybe that was the issue but we had our fab physio at the time out and she treated him twice over a 2 weeks period and said the problems had occurred as a resukt of the fall as he had wrenched the muscles and they had then 'settled' back down but not correctly so he was tight all over. After the 2 treatments he was sounder than he'd been for a few years!

Oh, you may want to get some road nails/road studs put in if your mare is prone to spook. I have to have them in my horse's shoes. The day he slipped over it turned out he'd lost one of his road studs and this was why he went down!
 
ladyt25 said:
I would keep an eye on her then maybe after a week or so, once the bruising has had a chance to go down and the muscles have sorted themselves out, get your phyiso to give her the once other to loosen any musckes that may have tightened up as a resilt of the incident.

As said, my horse slipped at walk on the road with me but also many years ago my pony had a crashing fall in a water fence at a HT. He was very shocked afterwards and had skinned himself down his neck and face as the water had a gravel bottom. He got over the shock but a week or so later he was about crippled. He had bone spavin anyway so i thought maybe that was the issue but we had our fab physio at the time out and she treated him twice over a 2 weeks period and said the problems had occurred as a resukt of the fall as he had wrenched the muscles and they had then 'settled' back down but not correctly so he was tight all over. After the 2 treatments he was sounder than he'd been for a few years!

Oh, you may want to get some road nails/road studs put in if your mare is prone to spook. I have to have them in my horse's shoes. The day he slipped over it turned out he'd lost one of his road studs and this was why he went down!
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I think that is what the physio means by it might take 4-5 weeks for anything to "come out" so it's just a waiting game i guess - Halina (physio) is coming wednesday to point out anything glaringly obvious but i'm then waiting a couple of weeks for the proper treatment - then likely another one in 6 or so weeks after that, with Bowen in between.

She's actually barefoot (it was the backs that slipped) and she had boots on infront. Normally she has twice as much grip as the shod horses, they're always slipping and sliding on that road and Jay normally has better grip than all...but i think due to the fact that her feet are rock hard ( and freshly trimmed) and the road being so hard and smooth with the hot weather and there's a particularly slippy point which she hit when she spooked....it was a proper freak accident!

She never looses her balance really, it's not even a silly spook it's more just of a jump forward with a few canter strides on the spot but obviously she hit the wrong spot on sunday. Poor girly....:(
 
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!

Yes my horse was a star on the road. He too scared himself big time and reared up over the other horse knocking that down then ran around like a headless chciken trying to figure out which way is home! I really do hope she is just a bit sore and nothing serious is going on and that she doesn't find it to stressful going back out and about. We got to the point where it was easier to just hack round the fields :(
 
BeckyCandy said:
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!

Yes my horse was a star on the road. He too scared himself big time and reared up over the other horse knocking that down then ran around like a headless chciken trying to figure out which way is home! I really do hope she is just a bit sore and nothing serious is going on and that she doesn't find it to stressful going back out and about. We got to the point where it was easier to just hack round the fields :(
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Thank you - I'm petrified but trying to stay positive. She is a solid mare but the heavier you are, the harder you fall....scary stuff :(

This is the lane that leads out of our yard, if she freaks out there then i'm stuck in the yard and i do not want that, i'll have to move if she gets a phobia of the lane....i'm hoping she will be brave little pooj and that she'll want to reconquer the floor and go out exploring again! :o
 
Hey, didnt really read other responses... sorry, just too many to read before writing my odd experience.
This happened to me (the fally-downy bit anyway) with my first pony, a mad hairy, and lets face it dangerous, and willful cob. Anyway we were out riding... all appeared to be well and Plum was enjoying herself, but then..... uh... ohh she then decided that she simply didnt want to go any further, i kicked her on she carried on a bit before taking advantage of her size and weight, she went down onto her knees in the middle of a busy country road with a car coming towards us, oh dear. I got off and got her up turned around and had to lead her all the way home, which she looked pretty pleased about. Looking back on it, it still seems odd. We thought she was ill, so thoroughly checked her over at home, but she was fine, turned out that she just didnt want to walk any further so rather than walk a bit more she sat in the middle of the road. I told you she was willful.
 
AbbeyandApache1 said:
Hey, didnt really read other responses... sorry, just too many to read before writing my odd experience.
This happened to me (the fally-downy bit anyway) with my first pony, a mad hairy, and lets face it dangerous, and willful cob. Anyway we were out riding... all appeared to be well and Plum was enjoying herself, but then..... uh... ohh she then decided that she simply didnt want to go any further, i kicked her on she carried on a bit before taking advantage of her size and weight, she went down onto her knees in the middle of a busy country road with a car coming towards us, oh dear. I got off and got her up turned around and had to lead her all the way home, which she looked pretty pleased about. Looking back on it, it still seems odd. We thought she was ill, so thoroughly checked her over at home, but she was fine, turned out that she just didnt want to walk any further so rather than walk a bit more she sat in the middle of the road. I told you she was willful.
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:eek::D stubborn little madam! :D
 
Breathe ;) I've just had my nit of a 2 year old whip around and go splat on a concrete yard. She hasn't visibly done herself much damage, but since the owner of the place once clipped her with his truck out in the field(!) I'm keeping a close eye on her. All you can do is what you're doing, wait, watch, make sure she's going out in the field if you can so that she doesn't get to stiffen up, and get the physio/chiro to work on her when you can. Hope she makes a full recovery - and maybe think about getting yourself to a chiro/physio too, as any bruising, muscle injuries to yourself will come out in a few weeks too. It won't help your girly much if you're stiff and sore anywhere when you start riding her again.
 
wyrdsister said:
Breathe ;) I've just had my nit of a 2 year old whip around and go splat on a concrete yard. She hasn't visibly done herself much damage, but since the owner of the place once clipped her with his truck out in the field(!) I'm keeping a close eye on her. All you can do is what you're doing, wait, watch, make sure she's going out in the field if you can so that she doesn't get to stiffen up, and get the physio/chiro to work on her when you can. Hope she makes a full recovery - and maybe think about getting yourself to a chiro/physio too, as any bruising, muscle injuries to yourself will come out in a few weeks too. It won't help your girly much if you're stiff and sore anywhere when you start riding her again.
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:) i've booked myself in for the 19th already, i go for regular bowen therapy myself as i've always had issues with my left shoulder being tight after a fall off a neddy (not this one) and of course i fell on my left shoulder again this time :rolleyes:

Thank you for your good vibes too :)
 
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