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Need to save my horse (very long)

19K views 121 replies 42 participants last post by  iridehorses 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
This past weekend a snobby little girl who takes lessons at our stables decided that her lesson horse, my beautiful Andalusian mare, Raincloud, wasn't good enough for her. So, she went strolling through the stables and decided to tack up my skittish new three-year-old Thoroughbred stallion, Matsumoto Takanori (we call him Taka-kun). She KNEW he was skittish. She KNEW he was only three. But, she decided to be stupid and ride him anyway.

I am the only one who can ride that horse without him bucking or rearing. This girl came out on my horse, and I flipped. I told her firmly to get off him or she will be kicked out of the stables. Her snotty mother was sitting off, watching, not doing anything.

She sped past me at a trot, went around the arena, pulling on his soft mouth, kicking his ribs, and smacking him with her crop to show off to the younger riders and parents. I told her to get off multple times before Taka-kun snapped.

He reared and bucked and twisted as hard as he could. He fell on his rear when he slipped once. She only pulled and kicked harder. Then, my poor horse crashed through the arena fence and galloped off. He was really scared, still rearing and bucking while the little monster pulled an kicked. Then, he ran right into the wire fence of the cow pasture.

She jumped off and ran back as my horse was rolling around on his sides and back, getting cut up by the sharp wire. I borrowed another girl's horse and went to him.


We eventually got him untangled, but not before he had several deep gauges in his back, chest, legs, and hips.
I screamed at the girl and her mother to leave and never come back. They DID come back later because the mother thought that they should recieve money for having Taka-kun scare her daughter (we actually threatened to call the police and they never came back).

My horse is absoluty traumatized now. We can't get near him in his stall (it's larger than the rest and has a special soft bedding in it, made for pregnant mares and injured horses) and he spazzes if we try to. We can't medicate his cuts. The vet says if we can't get him to calm down, she might have to put him down in risk of him hurting someone.

Please, I don't want my horse to die. He is so sweet normally but that little retch has ruined him. I need some help on how to calm him down and help him!
 
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#3 ·
I don't know about you but I would be seeking legal action against this person. What she did was completely and totally wrong. She caused the horse to be physically and mentally traumatized. She should be sued and forced to pay for the medical treatment.

That is ridiculious. I would probably have launched myself at her and taken her off by force.

There are supplements that are meant to calm spazzy horses. Uh...calm and cool, smartcalm, ex stress, and B-1. Go to your local tack store and try and find some supplements that you can just stick in his feed.

Can you even get him out of the stall? Is he crazy in the stall or in hand as well? Is he food motivated? Does he have a favorite treat? Just start little and take baby steps. Don't give up yet.
 
#4 ·
I am so sorry that happen to you and your horse. That is just awful. I don't know if this will help, but I just read an article about using essential oils to help horses deal with stress. If you would like to try it, angelica root helps to calm hysteria and clears early trauma.
 
#5 ·
He is a beautiful horse and it's terrible that she abused him so. No horse should not be subjected to that kind of a rider and I think it is very right that you kicked them out of the barn. She should have obeyed your request to get off the horse and shouldn't have taken him in the first place without permission.

However, I don't understand why you would be unable to tranq him, unable to get near him in the stall. If he is that unsettled I see lots of potential problems down the road. How long have you had him? Maybe its not just the terrifying ride he had, but also that he is not yet secure in the barn? I think there must be more to this story if he is such a wonderful horse. I do see some fire in his eye for sure.
 
#9 ·
We've had him for less than a year, but he was very calm in the stall and in the pasture. Although I was the only one who could ride him or even lead him.
We have tried to tranquilize him, but he dodges everything; he was trained to avoid things like that when he was training to be a racer (but he wasn't fast enough). We don't want to corner him because he spazzes if I even stick my hand in to put a treat in his stall.
 
#14 ·
Oh my, i would of soooooooo kicked that girls butt. I have a horse like that, and i would defiantly call a lawyer and have a civil suit against her and her mother, to pay for trauma to you, and your horse.

For calming, if you have truly tried everything, and he will not/can not respond, i think euthanasia might be the end result. Please please try tranq-ing him again. If you get him under control, then maybe you can tend to him, if not he might die of infection or mentally go insane to the point he kills himself, if its that severve.

Good luck and you two are in my prayers, God Bless.
 
#15 ·
I am so terribly sorry for what you and your poor horse are gong through.
If you have a chair you can sit close to his stall where he can see you but that's it try sitting quietly, read a book but don't pay any attention to him. Be consistent, same time every day if you can't do it have someone else do it. If you have a radio or something play very soft classical music or something soothing turned down low but where he can still hear it. I know with his injuries needing treated you don't have a lot of time to work with but if you stop trying to approach him and go about your business as quietly and calmly like he isn't there he might start to come around.

It will take time and a lot of it to get him to overcome that fear and trauma, I would definitely speak with an attorney about what happened at the very least get the vet costs covered for your boy.
He can come out of this if he can calm down enough to have his injuries treated but it's going to take a ton of patience and you or anyone else that is in close contact with him is going to have to stay very very calm.
I would truly hate to see such a gorgeous horse euthanized over some kids stupidity, it's senseless and uncalled for.
I don't know if my suggestion will work or not but like I said at this point anything is worth a shot to save him and help him recover.
 
#17 ·
My parents called their lawyer and hopefully we can take this to court.

If we get to, then the good thing is I'll be fighting for him. I bought him with my own money, so even if he's at my family's ranch, he's still mine, right?

If we DO have to put him down, and I pray to god we don't, then it'll be easier knowing something was done about it and he didn't die without a fight.
 
#19 ·
I don't know where you live, but in most states the likelihood that anything will come out of legal action is slim. The rider would be more likely to sue your parents. Even though it is rider error that caused the injuries to the horse, most courts are going to side with the human injury. The only court you could file in would be small claims and thats really not worth the effort.
If your parents own the stables and have opened it up for lessons, I'm sure they have the liability insurance necessary for such a business. If not they need to get some. I know in the state of Kansas such places are legally obliged to post a warning about injuries and release of liability.
I honestly don't think you have a legal leg to stand on in taking action against her. She has more of a case against your parents sorry to say :-(
 
#20 ·
NO, do NOT put that horse down. You stated that YOU can ONLY ride him NO ONE else, if that is the case dont let anyone ride him exept for you its simple. SHE should pay to have his cuts fixed. That horse did nothing wrong; it was the girls fault NOT the horses. Caring for a horse with cuts is a breeze(to me anyway).

i had a horse that got cought up in barb wire when we rescued it. They did not try to get the wire off, they left is there for about 3 weeks, and left the horse unatended in a pasture. The legs, neck, back, and tummy was all wraped up in it. I wraped (in vet wrap) all around her tummy, back, neck and legs. before i applyed that i soaked the vet wrap in iodine, and put neosporen in the cuts. a few months of that and all better!
 
#22 ·
I'm so so sorry to hear this. I feel sick even reading it, so I can't imagine how it must be for you. I really, really hope that you can get through to your horse somehow. I agree with what close2prfct said, I think that's the best chance you have at this point if you've tried everything else. That consistancy could really help him, and maybe if he sees you in a non-confrontational position a lot he can start to re-establish that connection he had to you as a human that he could trust even when he didn't trust others.

And to morganshow11, you should really read the post more carefully before replying.
 
#23 ·
We are taking it to court to decide what will happen.

For the record, the girl didn't get hurt at all. She didn't cry either. She just said he was a stupid horse and stomped away he twisted in the wire. She can't do much.


There's more good news ^^

Something dawned to Taka-kun that I wasn't a threat, but also not a blessing. He isn't screaming, rearing, or bucking if I'm the only one in there with him. He just paces and sometimes stands and stares at me.

He is still not eating and is obviously getting thinner, but I hope he will soon. I have food and medicene near at all times so I can give it to him if I get the chance.
 
#26 ·
Oh. My. God. How did you not strangle that brat right then and there!??! Just wow.

I'm glad to read that he's calming slightly. I bet he'll come around in a day or so once he realizes that you are not there to hurt him. I can not believe this happened to your boy :(

I definitely agree the girl/girl's mom should be paying for his vet bills. It is unacceptable that she just took it upon herself to ride someone else's horse. That blows my mind. What is wrong with people!?

I hope to read more good news soon. I'll send good healing horsey vibes your way. Keep us posted and don't give up!!

p.s. morganshow11? Please pay attention to the thread before posting. It's infuriating (for an OP) to see someone nonchalantly giving advice that doesn't even remotely apply to the situation at hand.
 
#27 ·
Agreed, all around.

Has there been any contact from the mother of the child who caused all of this? I can only imagine how horrible this has been for you. I know that you would not consider euthanasia until/ unless it was apparent it was the only humane solution for your horse - sometimes that is the most loving thing we can do for them, but I am very glad to hear that he seems to be improving if only ever so slightly. Hopefully the next step in progress will be an interest in some food.
 
#30 ·
OH and be sure to take PLENTY of pictures of what this idiot did to your horse! So that you can show the judge and even a video of how he reacts in his stall. This girl/her parents are going to go down!
 
#33 ·
The whole entire accident was taped. My friend got it on her phone. I have tons of pics and videos, too. I haden't even planned of what I was going to present. Thanks for the reminder!
 
#34 ·
Morganshow, PLEASE read all the posts.
If you're not going to read all the information you're not helping.

To the OP, I really hope you get this all straightened out and that you're able to save your horse. I cannot even believe that mother and child, what she did is unthinkable. Just, absolutely CRAZY.
 
#35 ·
Thats good its on tape that will show them. I feel so bad for your horse he is so pretty and gets stuck with this trauma.

morganshow11: you can`t stick tubes down a horses troat when you cant even get by him or tranquilize him thats just imposable look into the thread before posting and try not to give bad info.
 
#39 ·
He was sick when we got him and we had to tube him...it made him freak so we don't want to try again.

I have some more good news :D

Taka-kun was just standing in his stall staring at me. I didn't want to stare back and seem threatening, so I slowly put my hand through the bars of his stall. He inched foreward cautiously, then, touched his muzzle to my fingers!

He tossed his head afterwards and gave a tiny buck, but he nickered!

He's warming up to me! He hasn't eaten yet, but I will throw a few treats in later to see if he will ^^
 
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