Punctured joint (graphic pics)

The other day my cousins and I went riding and my oldest younger cousin and his horse (Wildman) flipped (literally) down a bank. My cousin (who is about 15) wasn’t injured, though he was pretty sore, considering his horse flipped over on him and they rolled down the bank before landing in the creek on a lot of jagged rocks)... but his horse, on the other hand, was injured.

It wasn’t too bad of an injury. Wildman appeared to have just ripped through his skin and some muscle on the side of his leg on the joint. He wasn’t limping or anything (though it bled pretty badly). We took him home (which was about 2 miles away) and put some medication on the leg before letting him go.

I checked his leg yesterday, and it was fine... he was moving soundly and wasn’t favoring the leg.

But... today, my cousins friends came to get a horse (my cousins dad gave them one of their horses) and I checked Wildman’s leg while they were catching their new horse. It was running this liquid that looked like infection-pus, but it was really slick and not smelly... and shiny-looking. His leg was also swollen pretty badly and he was favoring it quite a bit.

One of the women who came with the new horse owners was a nurse. She went with me to help catch and look at Wildman’s leg. (Wildman was very hard to catch, he didn’t want us to get near him). She said that it was joint fluid and not infection, and that his joint thing was popped.

Since Wildman’s owners don’t have the money for a vet, we’re trusting her judgment and she’s bringing Banamine and Genimician (I probably misspelled that) over later to give to him. She’s got the shots because one of her own horses is suffering from a busted knee, and she’s letting us have some of her horses medicine since she can get more from her vet fairly easily. Too bad I let my cousin borrow my Furazone and Purple Lotion Spray... she never gave it back after her horse healed... I wish I had the money to buy more because it worked wonders when my mare tore a chunk of muscle out of her leg...

I think that he’s been kicked overnight, because his leg didn’t look this bad yesterday or when he did it two days ago.

Hello. I am kind of new here, but I work at a vet and I thought that maybe I could give an opinion...

I am really sorry about his injury, looks like it hurts but it is better that fluid is running out of his leg instead of staying trapped inside and then abscessing....I am not a vet to any means but from my 3 or 4 years experience I would just want to watch and make sure that the wound does not develop proud flesh when his leg starts healing up...it can sometimes be hard to manage/get rid of, so to speak, after it starts to develop.

Like I said, I am no vet but I thought that maybe I could give an opinion....I hope he gets better!!

OMG, OUCH!!!!
Poor thing... I hope he gets better soon and heals up nicely.

I also hope that he heals up nicely... it would suck if he didn't, considering how much my cousin loves him.

Lsucajun8, thanks for the information. I hope that proud flesh doesn't set it as it heals... I don't have anything to keep the proud flesh out, if it does... I may need to scrounge up the money to buy something soner than I thought. I guess we'll see how it heals.

My goodness, poor guy! I hope he heals quickly!

He got himself pretty good, didn't he?

Personally, it looks like the liquidy stuff is the ointment or whatever you put on it has just started running because of the heat in his leg. I would cold hose it as long and as often as possible, as well as keeping it clean. As it's on his knee, it looks like wrapping it would be hard, but you can always give it a shot. Also, just try and keep him alone in a small area or with calm horses that won't get him worked up.

In the pictures, we'd already hosed it out and put vaseline on it to keep the flies from getting to it. I just got back from hosing his leg down again.

The only place we have to keep him in is 15 acres with 7 other horses.

As I don't know how to wrap, I'm not even going to try because I don't want to accidentally mess it up even more...

He did get himself pretty good... which, he and his rider fell (rolled) down a fairly steep bank and landed in a shallow creek with lots of rocks... (4-wheeler trail)

It's probably too late now, but I think it should have been stitched. On a joint like that, it's going to heal very slowly as it will keep re-opening.

A better thing to rinse it out with is saline solution, not hose water.

I'd have your vet look at that. There could be debris buried deep inside it.

Get a vet out. If they don't have emergancy money for a vet they should most likely not own a horse. What if the horse had fractured his leg or something? Would you just leave it to limp around in pain?

When you get a chance, learn how to wrap. It's very simple, and it will only take a minute for someone to show you. Maybe the next time your vet or farrier comes out? I think all horse owners should know simple first aid for their horses, and I think wrapping is on that simple list. I'm not being rude, I'm just suggesting you ask someone to teach you. =]