Facial bone fractures are a relatively common injury.
They usually result from a horse hitting their head on a float, or a kick from another horse.
There are many bones of the face of the horse, but the most commonly injured would be the following:
Nasal bone
Maxillary bone
In these two areas of the skull, the skin covers the underlying bone with minimal soft tissues between. This leaves them without much protection from external forces.
When these bones are broken, then skin is often cut open aswell. Sometimes you might hear or feel air moving through the skin hole. This is because underneath the nasal bones are the nasal cavities, and underneath the maxillary bones are the maxillary sinuses which for interest only, are divided into compartments.
Within the maxillary sinus you will find the roots, or more correctly, the apices and reserve crown of the cheek teeth. These teeth erupt down into the mouth throughout the horses life, so in an old horse you would find minimal amount of tooth roots in the sinus compared to younger horses.
When an injury occurs to these areas of the skull, it is important to investigate the extent of the injury, and to ensure that air flow through the nasal cavity had not been compromised. The wound should be investigated for bone fragments or damage to the teeth. It is vital to prevent infection whenever there is bony involvement in a traumatic wound, and to ensure swelling doesn’t compromise air flow through the nostril.
Quite often, the wound itself is small, but the underlying damage can be more extensive.
Please see some photos of a horse I recently saw for a small wound on the face. The alert for my client, was when they could hear some air moving in and out of the wound.
The horse was put on preventative antibiotics, and under sedation, the bone fragments were removed and the wound was debrided and sutured. He recovered very Weill.
Have a look and let me know if you have any questions.
Have a fantastic weekend at omakau show everyone. I hope those that entered the class we sponsored enjoyable.
