Hi all. My 10 year old sport horse had a bloody nose after a ride one day. Only left nostril, and only ever occurs while riding, and very minimal. Vet scoped her and found no evidence of active bleed or source. Has anyone ever experienced this??
Hopefully it’s nothing. But if reappears, you really want to rule out guttural pouch mycosis, which is fatal and presents as slight nose bleeds.
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It isn’t always fatal. A horse at our barn underwent two surgeries at UW veterinary hospital for this and did really well. Another clinic said there was nothing they could do. I’d definitely have the nosebleeds checked out, and note that a 2nd opinion is worthwhile. It saved Della’s life.
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Right, I should have said “fatal if untreated.”
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My horse had occasional slight nose bleeds. I had him scoped–vet didn’t find anything and said it was just idiopathic (cause unknown) mucosal bleeding. That was a couple of years ago and he’s still fine.
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As noted nose bleeds range from completely benign to life threatening depending on the cause. If it is a one off I may or may not ignore it depending on the situation but more than once is a 911
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Might look for a 2nd opinion for sure. Odd that it keeps occurring during riding (although small amount)
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Ethmoid hematoma is also something to consider.
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Yes happened to one of mine, nothing on scope. Turns out it was allergies and when she was coughing/blowing her nose she was bursting vessels. After her treatment she was fine and hasn’t happened since.
As spacehorse mentioned, ethmoid hematoma can present as a small trickle of blood from one nostril.
My gelding had this occur last year - winter time and only on colder mornings as it was warming up. Very minor, nothing else blatantly wrong. It was a blessing in disguise that his sinusitis returned (from a previous abscessed tooth in 2023) in March 2024. Follow up CT scans for the sinusitis showed the hematoma growing rapidly. It was fortunately operable and he had a successful flap surgery to remove it in July.
Not trying to panic you, there could be a much simpler explanation. But if it’s happening repeatedly it’s probably worth getting checked out.
So the vet returned yesterday as she started to have a foul odour from her nose. Another scope revealed an inflamed and infected sinus. Thankfully gutteral pouch not involved. Images and blood work completed as well but began antibiotics while we wait!
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