Kick Fight!

[Bunnylady]

Two 14-hand quarter ponies at the barn where I work just had a big kick fight. One of them left the scene on 3 legs (oh, boy!) He was back to using the leg (left rear, near hind, whichever floats your boat!) when he was caught, but still limping badly. There were a couple of fresh grazes to show where the most telling kicks had landed, and pretty quickly, some swelling. It appears to be nothing worse than bruising (thank goodness!) but he's going to be sore and probably unusable for several days. What would you do to minimize swelling and speed recovery after one of these battles?

BTW, this fracas occurred as they were waiting to be brought in to be fed. They manage to "play nice" during turnout the rest of the day, it's just at feeding time that things get ugly like this.

 

[patandchickens]

Best thing I know of is to leave the horse outside in a paddock (assuming sufficient shelter from cold winds and hot sun, of course, and assuming he does not get all bonkers about it if he's unaccustomed to being left out), rather than stalling him. If you stall a bruised-up horse, things 'settle' and swell more than if he's able to move around constantly. The ideal is a small grassy paddock, or dirt (not sand) paddock that you can spread hay thinly across a large area, so he is encouraged to wander slowly all the time.

Cold hosing for 10 min or so at a time can help too, however often you get around to it; bute can minimize swelling but you don't want to make the horse feel good enough to do stupid things so I would be real cautious about that, especially if you are not 100% positive that there is no more serious injury.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[lupinfarm]

Agree with Pat, leave him out and let him move around. Cold hosing or you could put a water boot on him OR ice pack it. Cold hosing is probably easier though Also, as I found out kind of by accident, don't bute him if he's going to be out. He's probably better off with some cold hosing and being left out to sort of... "walk it off" but you'd want to make sure he isn't going to get all silly and run about because that'll just aggravate it more.


Stephanie... whose little 1/4 pony cross just hurt her leg too -_-