Help with horse please people :)

Question

okayy,

my 14.2hh traditional cob was kicked and took a good few blows to the chest area in field by a horse just over a week ago,

initially he was slighty lame on his near front side, but within a couple of days he was sound, just put it down to being a bit sore.

Just over a week on he trots up sound but seems as if his muscles seize up after minimum exercise on the lunge in just walk and trot and its as if he cannot move his leg easily.Bute makes absolutely no difference to his performance. i gave it too him to help with the swelling and pain for the first few days.

I have had the vet up and she didn't really know what to do as she and has taken bloods to count the muscle enzymes? whatever that is?

has anybody else experienced this with their horse/pony?

or has anybody got any suggestions how to help his recovery?

Answer 1

You horse has normal muscle bruising. Imagine if you were "frogged" a couple good times by a stronger older brother. The first couple days you'll feel only slight pain. Then after that you will feel the soreness and see the bruising. Those horses may have kicked and hit the muscle's near and surrounding tendons and perhaps even did slight damage to the ligaments.

I'd give him a week or so of stall rest and lay off the bute. Bute has been causing some adversity in the equine world by causing more harm than good. Instead inquire about using a small dose of ACE on your horse daily. Be careful with injection pain medication however as infection can ensue. Other alternative pain relief is BlueStop-E, Aspirin Powder or paste, AspirEase and devils Claw.

Answer 2

I would give him some more time off. He may need more than one week to recover. My horse got beat up one day and it took her more than a week to feel better. I would also try stretching his front legs. Have someone hold his lead rope or just let it hang (Don't tie him up to do this or he won't be able to stretch properly). Pick up one of his front legs like you were going to pick it out and then pull his leg forward and hold it there. THe more he relaxes the more you will be able to pull. He will probalby stretch his head out towards his leg one her relaxes into the stretch adn this lets him strech even more so make sure he can strech his head

Answer 3

When muscle tissue dies after injury, enzymes are released into blood which can be measured in a blood test....so the results will tell the vet if there is extensive muscle tissue damage.  I would assume the vet examined him and found nothing definitive.

It's the kind of thing that can take time to find answers to, and sometimes you never do.  I have had an experience with one horse where it took sending x rays to a specialist in another state to finally get a fracture diagnosed....after two months of searching for answers. It was in an odd location and hard to see on the x rays.

I wonder if there could be a fracture of the sternum that is causing muscle spasm when the horse exercises?  That's just a huge guess, though.

Answer 4

hmm, well you could try to find an equine sports massage therapist in your area and have him/her work with your horse. I was riding a pony that had pulled her lumbar and even after 2 weeks of just light walking, and the vet found nothing wrong with her, she was still having trouble trotting/cantering. After Thea(the EMT at our barn) worked with her a little bit, she started to improve.It does take a few sessions though. Good luck, hope you get this worked out soon.