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Purple finger after hosing

Or just hose them off, like she did. Not sure why this is even being discussed?

My horses don’t get huge ones but I can definitely understand why a lesson horse shouldn’t be asked to work with jangling ice anywhere on its body. And tails might not thaw quickly when riding in the winter, so letting them just melt away isn’t an option when you have morning lessons scheduled.

OP - how’s your finger?

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I have had something similar happen some times, only not half as bad, still do, just rarely.
I always assumed it was some capillaries breaking from the curved fingers and stress in the bent spots working with stiff wires building/repairing fences or holding a rope with something bouncing on the other end of it, like an un happy critter.

It could be similar, brought on worse by the cold, but just in case I would have your Dr look at that.
Maybe you need something to keep blood vessels more flexible/stronger?
I don’t worry, but mine is not that wild and at times I feel it like a sting when doing something that will cause that bruising.
I also have that reaction where at times the whole inside of hands and fingers turn very bright red, like they have a light inside and in a few minutes it goes away.
I think it indicates good blood flow.

Pretty good! Bruise is fading, and it does not hurt. It’s maybe a little colder than my other fingers, but at least it is warming up this week. I will mention it the next time I see my PCP. IN general, I do not have great circulation.

This happens to me frequently when I’m holding something, especially something heavy and narrow. Usually I feel it as it happens.
It’s very annoying cause it hurts, but I’m trying to always wear gloves to try to prevent it.

Because the act of hosing them off causes issues to her fingers??

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I’d be thinking more along the lines of modifying the hose than not hosing off the horses. Maybe a different hose/different nozzle, or loosening the tension of the nozzle? Maybe wrapping the nozzle in a towel? Maybe using some other device to hold the nozzle open rather than squeeze it with your hand?

What sort of nozzle do you have on the hose?

If it’s one of those that you have to squeeze to maintain the flow of water, I’d really highly recommend swapping out to one with a thumb trigger on the back. You slide the trigger into place and water flows until you move the trigger again. You don’t have to keep pressure on it.

Here’s an example:

https://a.co/d/0ub2FeA

I’m not sure what this is, but I’ve had something similar happen a few times to my ring finger after carrying heavy water buckets. It gets extremely purple/bruised looked and pretty swollen, but doesn’t really hurt. Seems to go away in a few days, as I remember. Not sure if it matters, but this was also in cold, but not brutal, weather. I just try to wear gloves and keep the bucket handle out of the crook of my finger.