I would be negligent in my bloggerly duty if I did not blog about what I saw today.
That poor OTTB that arrived at TP's place 2 weeks ago is recovering from Subcutaneus Emphysema caused by a puncture wound due to landing on a piece of rebar that they use as corner posts.
I'd never experienced Crepitus before, but did learn about it in my medic course. It's the sound broken bones make when they contact each other. It's also the sound the skin makes from emphysema, and it's as awful as you can imagine. Don't google images if you don't absolutely have to.
I met this gorgeous bay OTTB and he was just as sweet as a horse can be, cuddling with me sweetly and nibbling my purse. He knows who he belongs to, because Charly has been nursing his wounds every day, and now the horse is allowed out to move around a little. Silencioso is his name (IIRC) and he rested his elegant head on Charly's head as we talked.
TP, his wife, wanted me to touch the horse. Never in my life have I not wanted to put my hand on a horse but this was it. I couldn't handle it. I thought I'd hurt the poor thing with the gentlest touch.
His entire body was puffy and he has a thick layer of air trapped under his skin.
When you touch him, it crackles like Rice Crispies and feels like those bags you put in the microwave that are full of seeds (?). It's absolutely disgusting, and even touching his face, the skin would crackle and give way under my fingers. He doesn't seem to be in pain anymore, but I did not want to touch him. His skin was like tissue paper.
TP said his face had swollen up like a Bulldog's. My googling showed me that this can happen from a puncture wound to a foreleg, and his is between his front legs. A tiny hole that blew him up like a crackly balloon.
The vet said he'd heard of this happening but had never experienced it himself.
I'm not easily disgusted - I can handle blood and guts but this was too much for me. And one of the treatments seems arcane - cut holes in the horse to let the air out. OK I'm done.
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8 comments:
It’s so weird, isn’t it! At an old barn had horse come in for care who’d impaled himself on a tree. Whole body was crunchy, wound draining. Once the wound healed up, it stopped sucking in air, and his skin returned to normal. But it took awhile! The things horses can do (though in your case, rebar is a bad thing to have exposed!)
Irish, You've seen it!? Amazing what horrors horses can survive, and what trivial things can kill them.
I'll let you know if they change out the rebar for something else. I check every time I drive/walk by.
how horrifying! We see this a lot in dogs & cats at our emergency clinic-usually from bite wounds or the trachea being punctured. Wouldn’t want to deal with it in a Horse!
Am busy for the last year attempting to get dangerous things off our property including rebar and barbed wire. Also rolls of old wire-horses can get into that. Concerned owner + semi-valuable or well-loved Horse = greater risk of injury or disaster. Unconcerned owner + worthless horse=can live in barbed wire pen containing scrap metal junkyard - not a scratch! lol
Horse flies getting bad here. Want to try the permethrin fly sheets plus Horse fly traps. If anyone has ideas that work, reply here!
Sidesaddle, So, does Crepitus manifest on cats and dogs as it does on people and horses? Does it spread around the body from a leg wound?
I think you asked how my new fly sheet from Horseware works. I have just started using it regularly, and I have the feeling the horse asks me to put it on in the afternoon until evening when I remove it. He's got red spots scattered about his white coat, blood. *sigh* But if I'm not mistaken, it is helping him.
I had to remove 5 strand barb wire from our 5 acres when we bought it, and quickly learned how that goes! (It snaps back on itself, so I was never badly cut.) I found FIVE bathtubs.
oh that sounds so awful. Poor horse!
That sounds so odd! I hope he recovers well and that his owners are wise enough to get rid of the unsafe rebar. I won't even have T posts around horses. If there is a way to get hurt they will find it!
Shirley, Mag rolled next to a Tpost and has a permanent zigzagging scar on his left hind cannon bone: (
I could have happily gone my whole life not knowing about that lol!!! I will absolutely not Google pictures. That sounds awful!!! I wouldn't have been able to touch him either... I'm glad he's getting better.
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