Help needed - experience with blunt force trauma

[hillary_again]

Long story short, my horse got loose, panicked, and ran into the tubular steel hitching rail. No witnesses, but she hit it at a high rate of speed and bent it. Good news: she’s got a scratch on her chest, kind of a scrape, matching a rough spot that was on the rail, so I know right where she smashed into it. Been seen by the vet and is sound, eating, pooping, … Whew! Yes, very thankful!

My question: anyone had a similar experience? Like, a trailering accident where your horse hit the chest bar really hard (straight load chest bar would be exactly the same height as the hitching rail)? I’m wondering about general soreness in the chest area and how long to expect that will take to recover. Vet thought 10 days was plenty of time, but I’d love any actual experiences to compare to that advice. I am in no hurry here, just seeking additional experiences for comparison.

[NancyM]

Not a bad spot for a high impact collision. Expect some swelling and bruising to develop… maybe, maybe not. Hematoma sometimes. If that happens, they usually resolve, but sometimes need veterinary attention if it does not resolve as we would like. If the horse is looking OK now, that’s a good sign. Your vet’s opinion sounds pretty good to me.

Good luck!

[hillary_again]

Thanks NancyM! Yes, this was a week ago and she looks great now. Just sore on the chest where that scratch/scrape happened. Did have some hematoma between front legs, but that went away after two days.

[SBrentnall]

Perhaps some magnesium oil would help? It’s always my go-to when I get stepped on or have some other kind of blunt force trauma myself. It’s great at taking down inflammation and reducing pain.

[clanter]

we had a TB mare attempt to run through a steel pasture gate, she hit so hard that it bent double and was torn off the gate post. Destroyed the gate.

No harm to her. (She only had to gaits, walk or RUN FAST)

She was a rescue from a breeder who had not treated a pasture injury to her as foal which resulted in her left front knee fusing. We maintained her until age 14 when the leg’s angle deteriorate to the point we became afraid of her breaking it the field, we humanly euthanized her at that time.

She never attempted to run through any gates or fences after that first time

[GraceLikeRain]

@hillary_again

Vet thought 10 days was plenty of time, but I’d love any actual experiences to compare to that advice. I am in no hurry here, just seeking additional experiences for comparison.

Mine wiped out last summer. Icky scrape but superficial. In a week it looked pretty fine. However, my body worker found a lot of underlying tissue damage and even a year later you can feel scarring down underneath. It took probably two months to get true full ROM of the shoulder. With something that significant I’d be inclined to do two weeks of full rest with turnout, 2 weeks of gentle in hand work for range of motion, and then evaluate with a body worker before returning to work. If I slammed into something hard enough to bend metal I know for a fact I’d be too sore ten days later to go back to working out without bracing or developing compensatory muscle pain.

[hillary_again]

Really good advice! Thank you.