Hi guys! On Saturday I found a big grapefruit sized fluid mass on my horses girth line, just behind the right front leg. Almost sure she got kicked and it’s a hematoma. No experience with these so I just rubbed it with DMSO and gave her some bute. Over the past few days it’s gone down a lot but is still quite a large lump. She now lets me massage it (was sensitive at first) and I’ve just been riding bareback and lunging. Heard these things can take months to resorb fully so wondering when it might be safe to put a girth and saddle on and actually ride/jump. Hoping to show on the 4th. Any advice?
I would wait till it is totally healed and lump is gone. Might make it worse by girthing her up to soon.
@blackdimond88 I agree. Repeated trauma and friction can often cause hematomas to swell up again so I’d wait till it has completely resolved. Take the time for it to heal so you don’t have to start over again and cause her more discomfort. Time spent lunging and riding bareback is an excellent way to refresh some basics and develop your own core and stability. Use the time with no saddle to your advantage! I hope your mare heals well!
Going to third keeping a girth off of the area until its fully healed, plus a few extra days to be safe. Even once its visually fully gone down, there may still be bruising that isn’t swollen any more (like those last few days of a bad bruise, where it doesn’t hurt any more but its still greenish yellow and obviously not fully healed.
Work on groundwork and lunging and riding bareback. Its good for both of you!
Yep - I rode bareback for about three weeks when I had a similar situation. Everything was fully resolved after that.
