Bumps and Bruises: Hematomas

"It looks like Ruby has a chesticle..."

I showed up at the barn on April 13th to Ride after being away for 10 days (Dallas, TX for business travel). At first I did not notice anything was wrong with Ruby- until I tacked her up and she made a face as I tightened the girth (which she never does). I hopped on, took her to the ring, Debi looked right at her...and she asked "are her boobs usually that big?"

The lesson went fine and it didn't seem to have bothered her. I do not know when the actual incident happened, but the fist-sized lump was mildly squishy, not warm to the touch, and did not bother Ruby unless I squeezed pretty hard. At this point we decided it was probably a hematoma.

As you can see, there is also some slight swelling on the right (her left) side. This felt like it was all just stretched skin. These pictures were taken after the lesson, so you can see the swelling in relation to where the girth sits.

Typically, you want to hose a hematoma with cold water right when it happens to encourage the bleeding to clot. Most vets recommend not riding until the form has hardened so that you don't inadvertently cause more bleeding/swelling. The interesting thing about hematomas is that they occur post trauma- but the location of the hematoma is not necessarily where the trauma occurred: Ruby could have been kicked higher up somewhere, but the swelling was pulled down (thanks gravity) to where it sits now. Hematomas on the chest and under the armpit are pretty common for this reason.

Since Ruby's lump had already hardened by the time we noticed it, I missed the early treatment phase. Now, we wait. Smaller hematomas usually resolve on their own, but it can take months for the body to reabsorb the mass.

Here is an article about Hematomas.

By April 22nd, there was already some improvement:

All of the swelling/lose skin is gone on her left side, and the main mass has reduced. The hematoma is still hard and it does not bother her when I mess with it.

I will continue to monitor her each time I come out to make sure nothing changes. If you, at any point, notice that there is more swelling/heat/discomfort- call your vet.

Since Ruby's hematoma is pretty small (most vets consider 'tennis ball' sized as small), I will probably not end up doing anything to hers. However, larger hematomas can be lanced to drain them. Although this can speed up the healing process, you do run the risk of introducing infection/bacteria to the wound. Again, if you think lancing is an option in your case, discuss with your vet the risks of doing so.



It is ugly, but hey. I am hoping the judges won't notice in our next show.


Update (May 15th):

MUCH better-the lump is about the size of a small egg; it is hard to see at this angle because it has migrated a little farther back towards her belly. Still no signs of heat or swelling so everything looks good so far. I am hoping that in another couple weeks it will be gone completely. We have been continuing our weekly lessons with a few rides between (I would say about 3 rides per week) and she has been doing fine. Some people told me not to ride while the hematoma was healing, but it has not caused any negative effects and may actually be helping.

I will continue to monitor her 'chesticle' and update on here when it does finally go away.

Trying Cross Country

"Meet me at the top of the hill."

I have been at my current facility for over a year and have never made it out to the xc field...until now!

Other friends have mentioned that they thought Ruby would do well in xc, but it really isn't something I have seriously considered- you know, since people/horses die doing that shiz all the time. However, I have slowly been moving away from the hunter scene since xc/dressage events don't see to care that I am an adult and Ruby is a pony.

Debi had us warm up in the riding arena just to see what mood Ruby was in that day. We worked our way up to 2'7" (we did measure it), then headed out to the field.

Warming up in the arena

First jump out there! Little bitty log

Worked our way up to jumping small elements

                                                                                 
Since Ruby is a little mistrustful when I ask her to jump something 'new,' we took things nice and slow to give her plenty of time to look at the jumps before going over. By slow, I mean SLOW- we walked up to jumps and trotted a few strides away to give her PLENTY of time...no reason for her to go "oh wait wait?" like she usually does. This was a great idea for me as well, since it allowed me to just relax and let her do her thing. After the lesson, I thought maybe there was hope for us after all :)

thanks to my sister, Julia, for the photos.

First Alabama Show

"That's why you need a crop..."

I (by "I" I mean Debi) took Ruby to her first show/first offsite excursion last Saturday at Riverdale in Fayetteville, TN. We have not registered or joined the show association since we really just wanted to get out there and school, but these are MTHJA (certified?- not sure what exactly the lingo is these days).

My initial thought was to take Ruby just to hang out for a bit...maybe do a w/t flat class. Debi had other ideas, and she ended up convincing me to do put my big girl pants on and jump in (ha ha).

Our first class was a simple 6 jump 18" course (apparently, you were just supposed to trot the jumps, but we cantered because...well, we had no reason to trot those). Ruby went right over everything so we decided to scratch the others in the division and wait for the 2' division (the standard 2 trips+ flat class).

The course was the usual line, diagonal line, diagonal line, line. However, the first element was a 2 stride- usually there are a good 5-6  strides between jumps; at least, there are at other shows I've seen. We went over the first jump and Ruby went "wait what?!" and darted out at the second one. Brought her right back and went over and continued the course with no other issues. Second trip was 'clean' except for one lead change (or lack-thereof). Flat class was, well, the usual: one thing I know we are super good at!

The show got pretty far behind schedule, so I will have to find some other barn gals to go with to make it worth Debi's time (seriously we were there all friggin' day!)

Obviously we have a few things to work on, but I can't say I am disappointed for our first time out in over a year and our first time jumping at a show.

Thanks to Debi for trailering us out there and taking up an entire Saturday to pretty much sit around!