Animagus
New User
One of my young horses was brought in by staff at the weekend whilst I was at Tweseldown with a few cuts and scrapes. One cut was a little deep and to be on the safe side they got the onsite vet to have a look, I agreed to let them treat her whichever way they thought necessary (thinking along the antibiotics route) as I was about to go XC and couldn't get hold of the owner to check. As it happens they decided to inject her with Penicillin.
I got a phone call half an hour later saying she'd had "the most horrific reaction" and had thrown herself repeatedly onto the concrete floor of the yard and lost control of her limbs, got her legs stuck under the vets car and then jumped onto the bonnet, galloped off down the road headfirst into a tree and then jumped a 6ft metal gate off a steep concrete hill onto the main road. I don't know what made that horse in such a state of panic who's brain was clearly not functioning normally stop and turn back around but someone was watching over when she did, she jumped back over the gate from a standstill but got caught on the top and opened her stifles, the skin on her stomach and must have fallen over after. She proceeded through a post and rail fence and was eventually caught once she came to a halt in the middle of a field.
I got a lift from a friend back in the car as we still had more horses to run that day so left early and turned up to find her in a real mess. The vets were stitching the skin joining her stomach and stifle back together and fitting it with a drain, she had skinned the other stifle completely, the vets said they'd never seen such a vast collection of wounds in one incident. She has no skin on her knees, hocks, cuts on her back, sides, two swollen black eyes, split lip....it would be quicker to list the places she hasn't hurt!
The witnesses said about 15 seconds after the injection she began to look startled as if she was staring at something in the distance. Then her legs buckled and she turned herself inside out. Why she was not injected in a stable I do not know, why she wasn't put on a course of Norodine fails me. I was told it was an "allergic" reaction which of course doesn't sit right, the classic allergic reaction is hives and irritation or in extreme cases anaphylactic shock in which case they stop breathing. This was neither. I think the procaine in the penicillin must have hit the bloodstream and gone to her brain which would produce a reaction similar to giving a horse a hit of cocaine or so I'm told.
The vet performed the injection and would have checked for blood in the needle but even if he saw none is it still possible he could have nicked a vein? What else would produce a reaction like this? It is a miracle nobody was killed or seriously injured and more amazing still that she is alive. It is going to be a long slow recovery for her and we X ray tomorrow to check for anything sinister under the massive swellings, she's being spa'd daily as luckily for her the yard has one 5 meters outside her stable and despite the pain she is in is showing incredible guts and enjoying the attention from everyone!
If anyone has experienced this or has any knowledge or advice do let me know, I had no idea this could even happen until it happened to me!
I got a phone call half an hour later saying she'd had "the most horrific reaction" and had thrown herself repeatedly onto the concrete floor of the yard and lost control of her limbs, got her legs stuck under the vets car and then jumped onto the bonnet, galloped off down the road headfirst into a tree and then jumped a 6ft metal gate off a steep concrete hill onto the main road. I don't know what made that horse in such a state of panic who's brain was clearly not functioning normally stop and turn back around but someone was watching over when she did, she jumped back over the gate from a standstill but got caught on the top and opened her stifles, the skin on her stomach and must have fallen over after. She proceeded through a post and rail fence and was eventually caught once she came to a halt in the middle of a field.
I got a lift from a friend back in the car as we still had more horses to run that day so left early and turned up to find her in a real mess. The vets were stitching the skin joining her stomach and stifle back together and fitting it with a drain, she had skinned the other stifle completely, the vets said they'd never seen such a vast collection of wounds in one incident. She has no skin on her knees, hocks, cuts on her back, sides, two swollen black eyes, split lip....it would be quicker to list the places she hasn't hurt!
The witnesses said about 15 seconds after the injection she began to look startled as if she was staring at something in the distance. Then her legs buckled and she turned herself inside out. Why she was not injected in a stable I do not know, why she wasn't put on a course of Norodine fails me. I was told it was an "allergic" reaction which of course doesn't sit right, the classic allergic reaction is hives and irritation or in extreme cases anaphylactic shock in which case they stop breathing. This was neither. I think the procaine in the penicillin must have hit the bloodstream and gone to her brain which would produce a reaction similar to giving a horse a hit of cocaine or so I'm told.
The vet performed the injection and would have checked for blood in the needle but even if he saw none is it still possible he could have nicked a vein? What else would produce a reaction like this? It is a miracle nobody was killed or seriously injured and more amazing still that she is alive. It is going to be a long slow recovery for her and we X ray tomorrow to check for anything sinister under the massive swellings, she's being spa'd daily as luckily for her the yard has one 5 meters outside her stable and despite the pain she is in is showing incredible guts and enjoying the attention from everyone!
If anyone has experienced this or has any knowledge or advice do let me know, I had no idea this could even happen until it happened to me!
Thankfully he escaped without any major injury. 
, and so the vet gave her a penicillin shot in her bum. Now Doodle is an angel with the vet, stands for injections and is a darling to do. But when given the penicillin injection she then leapt in the air and bombed off (luckily we were in the stable but were lucky not to get caught by her), she calmed down almost instantly but I have always wondered about what caused (for her) such a big reaction?
