Saturday, August 3, 2013

Harv enjoys dining al fresco

A good day with Harv, grazing and walking.

You can barely see it, but Harv has a little divet in his neck, where I injected Pentosan and apparently did so incompetently. I have done IM injections for ten years, without incident, but something happened this time around. I slid the needle in, pulled back, no blood, so I started injecting. Harvey is great for injections but a sudden noise did startle him. When I pulled out the needle there was a steady trickle of blood. Without thinking I put a towel over it and pressed to stop the bleeding. Within moments it was the size of a pea, and within five minutes it was half a golf ball. I walked him around a bit, but the wash stall was in use -- I put him back in his stall, watched for a few minutes. Then I had to leave.

Bob and I had a "dinner date" and I kept thinking about that hematoma. What if it was the size of a grapefruit now? I asked Bob if we could go check him -- about a thirty-minute drive, at 10pm. He asked "If it IS the size of a grapefruit, what would you do?" Well, I suppose I would cold-hose, but how much difference would it really make? I didn't know. We went home, and I saw Harv the next day. To my relief, it had already mostly resorbed (see below).

Never a minute's trouble, this one.


4 comments:

  1. That's happened to me before. It might take weeks to be totally gone, but it'll happen. You could alternate hot/cold compresses and give him bute if you want.

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  2. Never had an issue with IM injections myself, but this story makes me pause to think. Harv is one of those good horses who just seems to take care of himself. He looks good from here.

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  3. My horse has one of those, and so do I from a crappy injection as a kid!

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