Absolutely distraught. Rubic is in horsepital *Update 11/7/13*

Rubic

Equine Karaoke Queen
Apr 15, 2012
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Glasgow
:cry:

This morning the horses escaped from the field (it looks like one of them has been itching themselves on the gate so much that the post that the gate bolt goes into has moved and the gate has bounced open). E who stays at the yard went out the help the farmer catch them and found Rubic with a small cut on her leg just above the coronet band on her right fore. She was sound but E said she was walking slow (that doesn't ring alarm bells with me tbh as Rubic is a very slow walker anyway). She had a look, thought is was just a small cut and sprayed it with some wound spray and put her back out.

A couple of hours later L came to get her horse in but saw Rubic was standing on 3 legs waving her right fore about. She couldn't put any weight on it. L phoned me, brought her in and I raced up. Took one look at her and phoned the vet. Vet came out an hour later.

Cut turns out to be a puncture wound. It has gone into her coffin joint and it is now badly infected. The accident most likely happened when they escaped as E said the blood was fresh. That was about 8:30, the vet got to the yard about 1. Vet said she'd need to be taken to their surgery. He nerve blocked her for travelling. I don't have transport but luckily a girl at my yard C and her mum had just come back from taking their horse out in their lorry and said they'd take her to the vets for me I followed in the car. They did tests to confirm the joint was definitely infected (going by the colour of the fluid that came out of the joint it was obvious), took X-rays which luckily show no visible debris (would have been much worse if there was any) and they said she'd need surgery to flush it out. They could either perform it there or I could take her to the vet school near-by.

I opted to go to the vet school. Purely a selfish reason... I work right beside it and my flat is a 5/10min drive away, my vets clinic is about 20min away over the motorway. Plus the vet school is huge and I think she'd have the best possible chance there. I'm most definitely NOT saying I don't think my vets would do a good job. Like I said I just want her as close by as possible.

We put her back in the lorry. By this point the nerve block was wearing off but vet was loathe to give her another one as he wanted to make sure she was seen ASAP by the vets at the vet school and not made to wait an hour or so until it wore off again. By the time we got there (15/20min) Rubic was dripping sweat. I've never seen a horse so soaked with sweat. It was just so upsetting to see her in such pain and distress. Vets set to work straight away and she went into surgery around 4:30-5pm to have her coffin joint flushed under GA. My vet told me that in 90% of cases where there's no debris visible in the wound/joint they only need it flushed once and they recover (not exactly sure to what extent they recover and I haven't asked yet, I don't want to think that far ahead). Some horses need it flushed a second time.

So she is now in Weipers Equine Hospital and I am waiting for the phone call to tell me she is ok and I can go see her.:cry: I just don't know what to do with myself.
 
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So sorry to hear this - you must be beside yourself. We had a mare who punctured her stifle joint and that got infected too. She was taken in to have it flushed and in time did make a full recovery. Hoping the same goes for Rubic and she'll pull through.
 
Sorry to read this, hugs. Hope she makes a good recovery as you caught it early.
 
Fingers crossed everything goes as well as possible and she's better asap xx
 
What awful news and such a shock for you. Hopefully the fact that the puncture wound was flushed relatively quickly will lead to a speedy and full recovery. Lots of vibes for Rubic and for you.
 
I am hoping that since it was a matter of hours she will be ok. I just can't think about anything else.

I'm trying to keep in mind that the vet said no news is good news and that they'd phone me if there were any major problems during surgery if all went smoothly then they'd call me when she'd come round and was eating again. She said it'd probably be around 7/7:30... It's now 8pm and I'm starting to stress more and worrying that something has happened that's held things up or she isn't coming round etc.

Must. Stop. Panicking.
 
My chap took a while to come round after surgery. He sat for quite a while I was told.

Thoughts are with you.
 
I'm welling up reading this, she is in the best place possible, it was caught quite early, I have everything crossed she's ok mrs.
Lots of hugs, we're all rooting for her x
 
Everything crossed for both of you, thank goodness L noticed & called you when she did!

As Newforest said, some of them do take a while to get up & be steady enough to move after a GA so try not to panic. I'm sure they'd have called if there was a problem x
 
Update: Just off the phone with the vet. She is really happy with how the surgery went. There was a little hair in the wound tract but nothing further in or in the joint from what they could see. It looks whatever it was didn't go deeply into the joint. They have flushed it out. Rubic is in recovery now and she is standing on all 4 legs so vet is confident she is much more comfortable. She has and will be pumped full of antibiotics to help her fight the infection. Vet said she'll be moved to a stable soon and checked hourly. I can go and visit tomorrow. That's that bit over with, I'm just keeping my fingers crossed she continues improving.
 
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