How likely is it that it's a fracure?

SNORKEY

SNORKEY

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my horse got kicked on the top of his front leg tonight, it swelled up a lot and he cant walk very well and its very sore to touch, the vet said she cant tell yet if its fractured due to the swelling and to keep him in for 3/4 days, has anyone's horses had very bad kicks that have been fractured or just turned out to be badly bruised?
 
It could be a splint fracture- oddly I was looking up this very thing myself earlier as think my horse may have caused himself a similar injury! Has he got bandages on? He really should have!
 
It could well be, Dont want to alarm you but I lost a horse a year ago with a fracture in that location - and he was able to run about and just 'look' slightly lame. There was swelling initially but this went down! Dont let him move until xrays.
 
No the vet said that the new thought is that they shouldn't wear bandages, it's not really in a easy to bandage place anyway, its at the top of his forearm, poor little man it's really hurting him.
 
Yes, my horse was kicked in the field on his Radius (front leg). He was none weight bearing, had a huge swelling at the side of his knee and was sweating when I found him. I thought his knee had been somehow knocked sideways and that it was a pts situation. The vet came and xrayed on the spot, it was dark but he suspected a fracture. He also found a wound neer his carpal joint, hence the massive knee and was concerned it would be infected. He made a splint with some drainpipe and bandaged it Robert Jones style and he was took to Leahurst immediately. It was wierd as when we got there I had to sign the consent forms first but when I went to him in the examination room he was stood on all 4 legs with no painkillers. He had a large fracture to his Radius but luckily got away with the infection so didnt need a GA and spent 2 weeks there, then was travelled home in a wooden splint and spent about 12 weeks, heavily bandaged and cross tied to the door as he wasnt allowed to lie down (he did though somehow), then box rest, then turnout etc. He is perfect now and apart from a couple of white hairs you wouldnt know what had happened.
I hope your horse is ok.
 
My horses was the same and his bandage covered all of his leg and was held up with thick elastaplast. Each bandage change cost about £120 due to the amount of padding, vets time etc. This was every 3 days! My horse could not put any weight on his leg at all though.
When is she coming back. If you think it could be a fracture, I think I would call again in the morning. They really did go to town on my horse which is why Im a bit suprised she seems so blaze about it.
 
Mine got kicked in the field on the top of his hind leg (just below the stifle) - vet saw at 1 and 10 days and wasn't worried. But it was an open wound and wouldn't heal. He was never really that lame. After two weeks we xrayed due the the ongoing infection and found a tibial crest fracture with bone fragments which required surgery after 4 weeks.
The fracture itself healed extremely well in a relatively short period of time (less than 4 months).
J
 
My pony was kicked in the field while on loan a few years ago, and the loaners vet said it was just bruised and to walk her out and hose it. 5 days later we get a phone call from loaner to say pony still not right, so we demanded vet come out again and xray, and they found a fracture of the tibia. If she had tried to lie down and then stand again by weight bearing on that leg, the bone would have splintered completely. We brought her home and our own vet put a Robert Jones on her, which covered her whole leg, and then plenty of support bandaging of her other legs. She was cross-tied in her box for a several weeks (on copious amounts of ACP as she's a headcase at the bets of times), then another few weeks of box rest, then led out in hand etc etc.

She is absolutely fine now, and in fact the only way you would know is because she has a scar on the opposite leg from weeks spent in a support bandage. She is also a little vet shy, quite understandably as she was jabbed and poked regularly for weeks on end!

Agree with others in that, if you think it could be fractured, I would ask for xrays.
 
It sounds like it could be fractured, but it might also be a chip of bone which has seperated from the main bone and is floating around. Depending on size this would be either resabsorbed by the body or need to be taken out. This is what happened to my boy, and I was told to turn him out by the vet as he thought it was bruised. Luckily he didn't run around on it and the vet revisted to scan and xray and it turned out it was a bone chip but the leg was fragile and he freely admitted it could have turned into a castrophic fracture. It was sorted in about 4 weeks of box rest, leading in hand and painting with DMSO.
 
another important thing to watch out for is radial nerve damage, keep an eye on the muscle at the top of the leg and make sure its not becoming atrophied over the next week or so.
 
Umm that's quite worrying, he would not stay in his stable this morning once the others had gone out, I put his door guard up but he just kept spinning around in his box and ramming the door, I took him out to graze in hand and he was putting his weight on it, also called the vet and explained he wouldn't stay in the stable, so she said to turn him out in our small sick paddock which he was much happier in and he just settled down, she's gonna come again in the morning and check him, but his swelling has gone right down, im just praying it's a bruise and not a fracture for his own sake, as he wont want to be stabled 24/7!
 
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