Sudden Bloody Nose - 11/21 UPDATE: Bleeding again :(

[Freebird!]

So, yesterday AM, like always I brought in all the horses to eat. Like always, they are all ready to come in, so I always wait to do a really good look at then when I go to turn them back out. However, I don't see anything amiss, so I go about my chores as they all eat. I go to turn out one of my lesson horses, only to find his nose is a bloody mess. I hose it off, and clean it all, up, looking for any cuts etc. I don't find any, and the nose is still slowly dripping blood, so I call teh vet, who says to leave him in, and see how he is tomorrow (Friday) The vet came out this afternoon for another horse, and went ahead and scoped my guy. Said he thought the blood was coming from one of his sinuses, but not the Gutteral Pouch. Right now we are going to wait and see how he is Monday.

Has anyone had this happen?

Maverick has a normal Temp. is eating and drinking fine, and the blood is only in one nostril. he DOES however have a history of COPD, though he has been symptom free for over a year - when he was moved from his old dusty barn to his current one.

[deltawave]

Yup, it turned out to be an ethmoid hematoma, which is on the list of differential diagnoses for a non-traumatic bloody nose. Also on the list (and potentially more serious) is a guttural pouch infection. Glad you got him scoped--if the bleeding continues sometimes X-rays or a CT scan can be helpful.

[Chall]

Yes, and my guy has slight COPD too (he was stabled at that time - he's now on pasture board). He was scoped at the barn, then went to the hospital for a fuller scope (with anesthesia). They didn't see anything. It was just one nose.
This was a year ago, and I came to the conclusion that he hit the metal bar over his door trying to avoid the groom. He did that with me (threw his head up to avoid my hand to his face) and knocked his head on the bar.
But my understanding is that it's a medical emergency that should be seen by a vet (and usually scoped).

[Freebird!]

Yeah, the Gutteral pouch is what scares me. I have known one horse to have a Gutteral Pouch infection, and a few days after bleeding all over creation, he walked out of his stall, had a seizure and died. it was horrible.

[Noctis]

One of our mares did that, BIG bloody mess when I went to bring her in. Thankfully the vet was still at the farm from doing routine work with some others, so he scoped her. NOTHING. Best guess was seasonal allergies? It stopped in about 20min and hasn't reappeared.

[Meredith Clark]

I had a horse that had a nose bleed. By no means "gushing" but a steady drip.

I posted here and got the snot scared out of me with people saying it was guttural pouch infection (that's what it's called right :confused: )

Turns out it was a sinus infection and cleared up with antibiotics. No issues since

[chai]

Yes, Freebird. Our w/b mare experienced a similar situation when we had her at a boarding barn. Out of the blue, one nostril developed a slight trickle of blood that did not resolve on its own. She had no allergies, no evident injury/sting/object lodged in her nostril and she was very well cared for at the boarding barn.
We had it scoped twice, and the vets found nothing amiss, except for a tiny circular area in the mucosa just inside the top of the nostril where blood seemed to be seeping through like a sponge. There was no bruise, tearing of the tissue or obvious injury, and no gutteral pouch infection which was what the vet was worried about. When it didn't resolve in a week, we sent her to an equine hospital where they scoped her once again. My fear was that it was a sinus tumor, but they didn't find anything like that. It was a fascinating process and I still can't get over seeing the main artery running through the gutteral pouch and the dexterity with which the vets manipulated the scope in such a dangerous area, but other than finding the same small circular area about this size (000)
where blood was seeping through, there was nothing wrong. They were stumped.
I was worried that her nostril was irritated by either the dust kicked up by the leaf blower because they used it when the horses were in, or more likely from a piece of pelleted daily feed-through fly control that she breathed into her nostril and it got stuck in the mucosa tissue, irritating it. I researched the feed through fly control and discovered an obscure warning about its potential to produce a contact burn on the skin...in small print on the company website on the page about potential adverse reactions.
When she first developed the bloody nose, I asked the barn to take her off the feed through fly control as i was trying the process of elimination to figure out what was wrong with her. I don't know if that made the difference, but the bloody nose resolved on its own after a total of 12 days. We moved her home shortly afterward and fortunately we have not seen that problem again, thank goodness.

[eponacelt]

I know the bloody nose fear! It could be nothing particularly serious, or it could be something deadly serious. Glad that you had him scoped!

In my case, my horse had evidence of old trauma (and probably old nasal surgery) from many, many years ago. The vet surmised that just a mild trauma to that area, like bumping his head on the hay feeder, could trigger a nosebleed. When we scoped, he didn't see anything dangerous, and told us to just turn him out and call him back if it didn't resolve within a week. Fortunately, the bleed resolved completely within 10 days. But it was very unnerving for a while! Good luck and may it be nothing serious!

[Thomas_1]

Sadly yes and just a few weeks ago.

Turned out the horse had a massive tumour inside his facial cavity and so he was euthanased.

[Meadow36]

We have a horse in the clinic right now that just had an ethmoid hematoma removed. It's a very bloody and painful surgery. This is his third occurence. They tend to come back even after successful surgeries.

[Freebird!]

Update: I haven't been out to the barn yet today, but his owner called me this morning and said he was no longer bleeding, which is great news. I still wonder what caused it to bleed in the irst pace though.

[Freebird!]

11/21 Update: So, Maverick has been OK, since my last post, but he also hasn't been ridden. SO, this past Thursday I rode him on a trail ride. It was very light - just walking and trotting - and he seemed fine during the ride, and then after. Yesterday I get a call from the PM feeder who said that she saw some old crusty looking blood on his nose. This afternoon when I went out to the barn his nose was bleeding even more the the first time, with darker blood. I called teh vet who said to keep an eye on it. If it stayed the same, then he would be out Monday to take an Xray. if it got worse, the obviously he would come out right away.

Though Maverick isn't mine, I have known ridden and cared for him for over 12 years. I love him like my own. If anything happened to him, it would be like loosing a family member. :(

[HorsesinHaiti]

Sadly yes and just a few weeks ago.

Turned out the horse had a massive tumour inside his facial cavity and so he was euthanased.

Darn. We feel for you, Thomas.

[Thomas_1]

Hi, I've just had a very nice PM from someone else offering kind thoughts following this posting and then when I replied alerting me to the latest response here.

I suppose I could just go for the sympathy vote but it's not my horse. It's one I'd been helping elderly owners with. A much loved that's been in the same home since a foal and for 18 years. Ridden by the owners till just 3 years ago and by a young man till last year when he went to university. They just were no longer able to manage him so I'd been helping with basics and had just succeeded in getting a new home for him. A perfect one with 2 vets whose other horse I have and he'd have stayed here.

So I went to collect him and found he'd just started a nose bleed because he'd bumped his head on the stable door and I could see a small cut just inside his nostril but the bleed was fairly bad. The owners are in their 80's and were struggling to walk or lead him let alone try to pack or put pressure on a haemorage. They didn't have anything to manage it with either. They had him in a paddock and stable about a mile from where they live. So I put him in my truck and brought him 6 miles back here and packed and applied pressure but the bleed was extensive. So got the vet to come and stitch the packing in and try to stem the flow of blood via pharmaceuticals. Just before she arrived I noticed a very slight facial swelling on the horse's cheek and there was a little blood that may have been coming down the other nostril and also into the throat. But by then there was so much blood to be honest I wasn't sure where it was from or if he'd maybe just caught his head awkwardly and say had a fracture somewhere. (Though no obvious external signs and no pain on pressure) A couple more hours though and no better so got the senior vet out with a scope and x ray machine. Couldn't get the scope in at all! x ray showed he's got quite a huge tumour inside the facial cavity and which has compressed one nostril and is past early stages. It's coincidental to him ripping his nostril and higher up and it's that which has produced the massive bleed.

Eventually I got the flow of blood stemmed and had him sedated and phoned his owners to let him know and they gave permission to have him put down the following morning. So it was sad and having spent so much time with him I knew he was a nice elderly gentleman of a horse and he put up politely with so much when he was with me having the huge bleed. Such a shame too that I'd just managed to find him what would have been a perfect forever home for his doteage and because he's the sort of horse that needs activity and that's what he was missing. But on the other hand I'm glad it happened when it did rather than when I'd started to spend time to bring him back into work etc and when we'd all got to know him a lot better.

After 16 hours when I checked him at 3am the bleed had virtually stopped. The horse was well in himself and eating and drinking and settled. The girls came in to work early and tidied things up and I brought his owners over to say good bye first thing and leave with their happy memories.

On the morning of 17th October I walked him down to our house drive behind the horse box and he saw the lush grass there and went "Wow".

Sedated, euthanased and died with a face full of grass a happy horse and a text book euthanasia. The knacker man arrived 15 minutes later with perfect timing and took him off to his final resting place.

So thanks for your thoughts and of course it was a sh** day but not my horse.

[sdlbredfan]

So sorry to read that, but so grand that he had that face full of grass as his last earthly memory.
Jeanie

[Gry2Yng]

It's coincidental to him ripping his nostril and higher up and it's that which has produced the massive bleed.

Funny how these little coincidences work. I sincerely hope the horse gods bless you with a little coincidence that brings joy to your heart for the kind end you gave this horse and his long time owners.

[Jumphigh83]

Cracked tooth or tooth remnant?

[Freebird!]

Cracked tooth or tooth remnant?


Ding, Ding, ding - we have a winner. He had a huge fractured molar, that took forever for the vet to yank out. It came out in two parts, with still some missing pieces, and the middle is BLACK. The vet still took Xrays to make sure that it was indeed the tooth causing all the blood. So, hopefully he will be good as new in no time. We are still wondering how it happened though, since the vet didn't feel it was from a kick. Weird...

[Gry2Yng]

Ding, Ding, ding - we have a winner. He had a huge fractured molar, that took forever for the vet to yank out. It came out in two parts, with still some missing pieces, and the middle is BLACK. The vet still tool Xrays to make sure that it was indeed the tooth causing all the blood. So, hopefully he will be good as new in no time. We are still let wondering how it happened though, since the vet didn't feel it was from a kick. Weird...

Yippee!

[tBHj]

At my old barn a horse got kicked in the head once and his nose bled for a few days. The vet told us to watch it and if it got worse to call him. It eventually stopped.

[Thomas_1]

Glad you got to the root cause (root....... giggles) :winkgrin: