Horses windpipe hit? Crushed? Anyone experienced this??

[IfWishesWereHorses]

Has anyone seen or experienced this before? it looks like a half thumb sized dent in the windpipe, and I was told its as the result of someone whacking the horse across the throat?!!

Said horse is physically unaffected by it, but what I want to know is, is it physically possible to *break* the windpipe or is it likely to be something else??

[BuddyRoo]

The trachea is made up of smooth muscle and rings of cartilage...you can't really "break" it per se. However, the muscling around? If a horse got kicked hard enough, I would expect that you could kill some of the muscle tissue off resulting in total atrophy in that area and a dent.

Pics?

[arena run]

It would seeeeem that a crushed windpipe would, er... kill the horse? :)

Not so sure though.

I DO know that there are many horses with 'dents' in their necks and it's simply some sort of muscle deformity -- not a result of injury. Although --- that is also a possibility.

So, I reckon I helped you NONE! LOL sylvia

[IfWishesWereHorses]

Thanks guys...hmm...this guy apparantly may have been at the receiving end of two whacks to the throat by a (??) farriers tool at some stage from what I have been told.

Its definitley not crushed, but looks like one of those "prophets thumbprints" that horses get on their necks, only this one has two and the are both on the windpipe.

[Amoroso]

It could be that the horse simply just has two of the "Allahs Thumbprints" on his windpipe area. We have a horse with one on his windpipe that has definately never been whacked there.

[IfWishesWereHorses]

Thanks amorosa, you are the first person to say that to me so maybe thats the case.... I'll have a closer look at them tomorrow again.

[egontoast]

Why do you think he "may" "apparently" have been hit by "a (??)farrier's tool" at some point?

Sounds like someone is just guessing. A horse could certainly injure itself this way without help from a person such as by rearing up and coming down hard on a fence or by getting the head caught in a fence, for example.

[cloudyandcallie]

It could be that the horse simply just has two of the "Allahs Thumbprints" on his windpipe area. We have a horse with one on his windpipe that has definately never been whacked there.

Allah's? My mare had the "prophet's thumbprint" or "devil's thumbprint" on her rib cage--different horsepeople said different things. So it can be Allah's also?

I've seen horses with "dents" in their necks by their windpipes, but I don't think they were damaging the windpipes, just the tissue near the windpipe.
Didn't affect any of the horses, and their owners purchased the horses with the "dents".

Call it a thumbprint. It's supposed to be a lucky sign, whether prophet's, Allah's or devil's.

[IfWishesWereHorses]

Eggontoast... Its not important the whys etc, but suffice to say the horse has a dubious past which is now coming out of the woodwork, and I was curious to know if its likely to be an injury from a thump or if its possible that its just a thumbprint.
It seems that it could be either.

Its not that important to me to know for sure, but I was curious enough to ask ;-)

[Katy Watts]

Once a neighbors BIG billy goat jumped his fence and followed me home when I was riding. He then jumped in my corral and started a panic. I opened the kennel to let the dogs chase him home, but he stank so bad they didn't want to get too near him. Finally cornered him with my lunge whip and he jumped out and when back home. My then 2 YO hit a 2 inch steel pipe set in concrete with her neck and bent it significantly. She has had a dent in her windpipe ever since. Never had any breathing problems with the initial injury, or since. She's 22 now.

[IfWishesWereHorses]

Thanks katy, thats interesting to hear also. Effectively it seems that whether its an inflicted injury or a thumb print, either way it doesnt seem like its going to become an issue (hasn't thus far).

Thanks all ;-)

[dwblover]

My last horse was off the track, and as a youngster he got pinned up against the wall by another horse. My horse sort of half-reared up in defense and got about six or seven hard kicks to the windpipe area. He was under vet care for a few weeks, but was no worse for wear about a month later. However, until the day he passed away he had dents all up and down his neck. He was black so you really couldn't see them from far away, but people would always ask me what happened to him up close. The vet said it was just atrophied dead muscle and tissue. He never had any problems from it. His breathing was absolutely fine. Just a cosmetic blemish, and even that wasn't so bad.

[Sparky Boy]

I have one with a dent in the windpipe area. I heard the kick happen and turned around to see this very large horse cowering in the corner of the field. I thought immediately he'd been kicked in the head as it was very loud and he was holding his head down low to the ground.

Turns out it was a kick in the neck. I'm sure that hurt! This was many years ago. Dent is still there. Have never had any breathing problems from it.

[atr]

My horse has one of these. I'm told his Mama trod on him in his infancy.

[kookicat]

My horse has one of these. I'm told his Mama trod on him in his infancy.

Yep, I knew of a point-to-point horse who got stepped on as a baby and had a dent in his neck. Never caused him any problems.

[Cherry]

I know a gal that bought a horse from the New Holland horse auction and the vet who looked at the horse said it's windpipe had been "crushed". I have often wondered how one manages to do that to a horse. She said they put the horse down immediately.... :( No details were offered so if it had problems of some sort I'm not sure what they were. I can only assume it would have interfered with eating and/or drinking.

[FlashGordon]

My Project Pony came to me with a huge dent in his windpipe, about halfway down his neck. It was a BIG divot. He was passed around quite a bit and in a sorry state when I got him at age 6, I can only imagine what he'd gone through in his life.

Our best guess was he'd had some sort of traumatic injury, one that probably required a fair amount of vet treatment. He had a serious, unnatural phobia of vets, needles, and all things that involved medical treatment of any kind.... especially if someone went at him in an enclosed area.

He always roared a bit at the canter, sometimes more than others, I believe his new owner did have him scoped though I don't know the results...

[gottagrey]

we had a horse - always getting the most bizarre injuries - and he indeed fractured his trachea. It was very weird. I don't remember what it looked liked now, but do remember what it sounded like - it must have had a bit of swelling. Anyway when you touched it it may a weird noise - like if you were playing or messing w/ a bunch of those stryofoam packing peanuts. He wasn't my horse - another boarder's horse so I can'd recall what the vet said about it other than it pretty much healed on its own. I don't know if he was placed on any meds or what-