Horse fell on concrete-how likely is long term damage?

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kgj66

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Arrrg! My mare who has just come off 4months box rest(damaged sacroiliac ligaments) a couple of weeks ago decided yesterday that she would stop being angelic and act like the mental 5yr old i had been expecting!
She started messing about and whatever she leapt she slid on the concrete and fell right down on her left side. Unfortunately her left side was her previously injured side!
She was extremely sore yesterday near her hip and shoulder but with some bute isn't quite so tender today. However her back leg has swollen alot. I have just been hosing and giving bute.
My question I suppose is has anyone else had a horse that has fallen hard on concrete? Where they just sore for a couple of days, or was there serious injury. She seemed reluctant to move much in the stable yesterday, tho doesn't look to stiff when walking now the bute has kicked in. I'm just scared this has added another injury and set her back to square one!
 
Have a look for a recent thread on this subject. I was one of the contributors. Be very careful about how your mare now is, and give her all the time she needs to recover. Our horse broke his leg 2 weeks later, but the damage was almost certainly caused in the first place by his fall onto his hip on concrete.
 
yep happend my lad he was on box rest due to injury on front leg, he was let out and somehow slipped on the path which ran along side the small grassed area he was on, his back leg slipped as he tried to get up, it scared me to death, he scrambled to his feet and took the hair of his hind near fetlock, it swelled up quite badly, it took ages to go down especially as he had to spend miost of his time in the stable, it did eventually go down after a corse of antibiotics and touch wood never had a problem since.
Would be worth getting it checked out, good luck x
 
I would be stopping the bute and getting the vet out to examine asap. The bute could be masking pain and therefore could lead to further injuries. Sometimes a bit of pain can be a good thing and stop them doing anything stupid...
 
Have had two experiences of horses falling over on concrete the first time the horse was absolutely fine and got up none the worse for the experience. The second time the horse was totally crippled and literally couldnt trot and could barely walk. He has had the last 4 months off after spending time at liphook trying to reach a diagnosis. Luckily time and rest seems to have worked but if your horse was reluctant to move in the stable and still isnt right I would definately be calling the vet.
 
My TB bolted and ran through/tried to jump a metal fence and landed hard on the road outside her field, luckily she was well rugged up as it was winter, she had a couple of nasty scrapes over her eye (still has a small scar) and her hocks, was a bit stiff for a few days. After that she was fine, very lucky escape! a neighbour heard a massive crash and thought a there had been a car accident, but nope it was my pride and joy lying on the road struggling to get up! :eek: she got up and ran down the road, and someone caught her. Very lucky to live in a rural location and thankfully hardly any traffic......
 
My horse fell on concrete when she was tied up. I was watching and it felt like time stopped between when she went down and when her headcollar snapped and she managed to get up again. One of her hindlegs looked twisted under her and I thought that was going to be it. However when she got up we were both shaking like leaves but there was absolutely no harm done. She was very shocked but that was all.
 
Many years ago my old mare reared and came over on me, got up and galloped 2 miles back to her stable managing to go down hard again on a slippy concete corner.

She pretty much skinned one side as she was travelling at speed. The vet came and we cleaned her up, checked her out, and gave her a course of antibiotics. I can honestly say I said "it serves you right" every time I stuck a needle in her.

She could barely walk for a week and I honestly expected long term scarring and damage. At that time I was such a mess myself as she had landed on me when she went over I didn't panic the way I normally might have.

A week later she was sound and galloping round the field, a month later and her normal black hair was growing back. Following her next coat change there was not a mark on her.

That said I would always have the vet out
 
I remember another time on an ex-racer, reared up on the road on a hill and toppled over backward, just missed me, and he galloped across a main road back to the field, when we caught him he was shaking like a leaf, then he came down with colic probably due to the stress/shock of it- luckily he was fine just very sore and bruised. My hat split from the force of the blow and i hurt my back, could of been alot worse though!!
 
Earlier in the year my youngster slipped and went down on concrete and his hocks swelled up. I initially gave him a couple of days box rest, cold hosed the area and the swelling went down and I thought all was well there was just a small amount of swelling so I thought it would just go down and he wasnt lame.

However after a couple of weeks they had swollen up again, were warm and he didnt look too happy so I got the vet out. He ended up having x-rays and it showed he had 2 huge bone chips in his left hock and a few smaller chips in his right.

It was decided that he needed to have an operation to take the chips out as it was starting to affect him and he was showing lameness and wasnt comfortable at all and started to not let you touch his hindlegs which was totally out of character for him so he was in pain.

The operation its self went well and they had removed all the chips in quite a quik amount of time, however my youngster had a reaction to the anaesthetic when waking up and it paralysed him and there was no option but to put him to sleep. I was devastated and I still am.

I would personnaly get your vet to check it out just incase as you can never know whats going on inside sometimes.
 
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Last horse I knew to do it charged out of his stable while being mucked out, and slipped right over onto his side on the concrete. He had cuts on his hip and legs that needed disinfected, and was stiff for a few days. He was fine after a bit of rest though! Hope it's as simple for your horse.
 
Thanks for all the replies! Got the vet out and he said that if she looks ok with only 2bute per day then she probably hasn't done any bad damage. She was a bit tense through the muscle near her hip which he was worried about but it relaxed after a 2minute walk so he reckons she is ok. A week of bute for the swelling and short walks and she will hopefully be ok! Fingers crossed!
 
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