Kick to knee... hematoma?

A

anuvb

Well-Known Member
Joined
23 July 2009
Messages
241
Visit site
Hi has anyone got any experience of a hematoma on the knee? My horse got kicked yesterday and came in with a swollen knee but no wound. Got the vet out straight away and she was given bute and a compression bandage. The hematoma got worse as the day went on but she was still weight bearing and moving ok so we have been cold hosing three times a day for 20 minutes.

This morning it had gone down a bit and the heat has gone out of it todat but the vet is being cautious because of the location and wants me to box rest, in case there are any bone chips etc. The mare is completely weight bearing and happily turning on the leg and kicking her stable door with it but she is a bit short in walk on that leg (haven't trotted her since yesterday when she was obviously lame) but my feeling is that this may be due to the amount of swelling.

I will follow my vets advice obviously but I was wondering if anyone had any tips for getting the hematoma down? She will let me prod it and is only on 2 x sachets bute a day so I am hopeful this is soft tissue damage only but I don't want the hematoma to settle given I can't walk her out unless it is to the tap. Vet not out until Wednesday and I will keep going with the cold hosing etc until then.

Thanks in advance
 
My old mare had one on the underside of her neck. We believe she got kicked.
It got bigger very quickly (within about 24 hours) but seemed to cause no other issue.
I ended up getting the vet out the next day as the mare was very old and vet drained it. Tonnes of blood came out of it!
That was it all done with tho and horse suffered no after affects.
There didn't seem to be any wound or opening under it.
Did your vet suggest draining it?
 
Draining is rarely the first course of action, especially when it involves a joint, there is a risk of infection being introduced, they usually get bigger before they start to go down and normally walking or turnout would help it disperse, if he is concerned about a bone chip I would expect xrays to be done on the next visit so a treatment plan can be made which is suited to whatever the diagnosis is, I have used Compragel on a nasty hematoma in the past, it was on the stifle and took a few months to totally go so as you are only on day 2 I would be patient, keep on with the hosing and see what happens on Weds.
 
No experience of one on horse but had one myself from horse bite, took months and months to totally go down, no treatment just movement to help it disperse. Hurt like hell when bitten but within hour no pain at all (side of knee, size of half a tennis ball - also had one on side of upper thigh, again huge again not painful after initial bite) doctors said don't massage it as risk of clots breaking away.
 
Thanks everyone that's useful to know.

be positive that's kind of what I was expecting so we will shall see on Wednesday. Day 3 and it had gone down quite a lot over night - but there is localised heat on the very upper outside part of the knee so I don't know if we have something else going on but i gave it a jolly good prod today and there was no obvious signs of pain. We will keep plugging on...
 
One of my horses was kicked on the side of the knee by her field mate. It was pretty swollen and hot, but she was not lame on it.

I only realised that it had been a kick when the vet came out and clipped it up and you could see the hoof shaped bruise.

She was x rayed clear and turned out for a few weeks in the hope the swelling would go down, the vet also injected steroid into it and withdrew a quantity of bloody fluid. He did say it would probably return, which it did, but not as much.

I don't think her joint was actually affected, more just the tissue surrounding the joint.

So now she has a slightly big knee, but she is 100% on it.
 
AnShanDan said:
One of my horses was kicked on the side of the knee by her field mate. It was pretty swollen and hot, but she was not lame on it.

I only realised that it had been a kick when the vet came out and clipped it up and you could see the hoof shaped bruise.

She was x rayed clear and turned out for a few weeks in the hope the swelling would go down, the vet also injected steroid into it and withdrew a quantity of bloody fluid. He did say it would probably return, which it did, but not as much.

I don't think her joint was actually affected, more just the tissue surrounding the joint.

So now she has a slightly big knee, but she is 100% on it.
Click to expand...



How long ago was the original injury? I'm hoping that we don't end up with an enlarged knee and have read it can take 2 years to go down!
 
Well, it must be 3 summers ago now I think. I actually examined it closely yesterday, and it is still slightly enlarged, but really not that noticable. The original kick was square on the side of the knee but the swelling (if you can even call it that) is more towards the bottom of the front, I presume because gravity makes a small amount of fluid collect there.

You'd be better to x ray it now and then at least you will know if walking is appropriate. As I said, my mare wasn't lame, and so I was able to get her out 24/7 for a few weeks, and it did help.
 
Thanks.... vet out again tomorrow and we will.see what they say.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts. Much appreciated ☺
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top