So I thought I'd be good to go on major injuries, since my old horse Beau has to be put down last year due to severe arthritis and since he almost cut his own foot off in a barbed wire fence when he was 5 yrs old (completely unrelated legs to the arthritis).
Well I guess not.
I go out to check on my two boys last night (Red a 2006 AQHA gelding, and Shotgun a 2011 AQHA gelding) only to find that Red has gashed open his hind left leg.
:-(
While he wasn't super expensive (I purchased him in May), he was by far the most expensive horse I myself have ever purchased. It's always the hopeful ones that hurt themselves, right?
And the timing is impeccable. I privately board with a retired couple who have 4 horses of their own and 40 acres. Since the retired couple happen to be gone this whole week, as they are helping their daughter move. They have a good friend house/dog sitting for them, who also checks on all the horses.
My boys are kept separate with their own pasture, own corral, and own shed. The keep their place absolutely immaculate. Only round metal pipes for the corral fencing, with wooden posts. A plastic heated water fountain. Plastic caps on every T post in the pasture, with smooth wire (electrified). Very, very safe place in perfect repair!
Red must have just done it that afternoon, because the house sitter said she checked them on Tuesday night and everyone was fine. A neighbor came over to give my boys a new round bale on Wednesday morning (they normally feed flakes, but while they've been gone, they switched to a round bale fed in a feeder). And then I came out Wednesday evening to find him like that. It was still dripping a spot of blood here and there, and looked fresh. So he must have done it after the neighbor changed the bale (as I know this neighbor would have noticed and would have called me, he has my number).
I do not want to mess around with things like this because I had no idea how deep it went, and Red wasn't putting ANY weight on that leg. (Thankfully he did when I was loading him on the trailer.) So off we went to an after-hours visit to the on-call vet.
I just happened to take this photo of Red on Saturday when I was out there.
This is before the vet started working on him.
A close-up after the vet worked on him. You can see that the tendon is exposed (the white vertical thing on the left of the wound). Thankfully, the vet said it wasn't really damaged so he should heal up fine. The vet could also feel that the joint capsule for the hock was intact (there was still fluid pressure in it, like there is supposed to be), so that didn't appear to be damaged. It also didn't seem to be a slice type of cut, so while the bone was basically right there, it was more of a superficial blunt injury, so hopefully the bone is fine.
And here was are in one of the stalls in the big barn for the night, as they have heated water buckets in there. My shed for them isn't equipped to have the cords hidden, so he can't stay in there.
I have NO idea what he cut himself on. The only thing that is about the right height and could have possibly hurt him was if he somehow got his back leg into the round bale feeder. There are no sharp edges on it (only squared edges) but I supposed if he yanked hard enough, it is metal, and would take off tissue and skin.
So he's on stall rest for at least the next week, with bandage changes every day. Plus antibiotics and painkillers.
The vet didn't say anything about cold hose therapy, but that would be a little unrealistic anyway since it is supposed to be -20 below over the weekend.
I will take a picture every day to watch his progress!! Will keep every one updated.
Pray for a full recovery!
Well I guess not.
I go out to check on my two boys last night (Red a 2006 AQHA gelding, and Shotgun a 2011 AQHA gelding) only to find that Red has gashed open his hind left leg.
:-(
While he wasn't super expensive (I purchased him in May), he was by far the most expensive horse I myself have ever purchased. It's always the hopeful ones that hurt themselves, right?
And the timing is impeccable. I privately board with a retired couple who have 4 horses of their own and 40 acres. Since the retired couple happen to be gone this whole week, as they are helping their daughter move. They have a good friend house/dog sitting for them, who also checks on all the horses.
My boys are kept separate with their own pasture, own corral, and own shed. The keep their place absolutely immaculate. Only round metal pipes for the corral fencing, with wooden posts. A plastic heated water fountain. Plastic caps on every T post in the pasture, with smooth wire (electrified). Very, very safe place in perfect repair!
Red must have just done it that afternoon, because the house sitter said she checked them on Tuesday night and everyone was fine. A neighbor came over to give my boys a new round bale on Wednesday morning (they normally feed flakes, but while they've been gone, they switched to a round bale fed in a feeder). And then I came out Wednesday evening to find him like that. It was still dripping a spot of blood here and there, and looked fresh. So he must have done it after the neighbor changed the bale (as I know this neighbor would have noticed and would have called me, he has my number).
I do not want to mess around with things like this because I had no idea how deep it went, and Red wasn't putting ANY weight on that leg. (Thankfully he did when I was loading him on the trailer.) So off we went to an after-hours visit to the on-call vet.
I just happened to take this photo of Red on Saturday when I was out there.
This is before the vet started working on him.
A close-up after the vet worked on him. You can see that the tendon is exposed (the white vertical thing on the left of the wound). Thankfully, the vet said it wasn't really damaged so he should heal up fine. The vet could also feel that the joint capsule for the hock was intact (there was still fluid pressure in it, like there is supposed to be), so that didn't appear to be damaged. It also didn't seem to be a slice type of cut, so while the bone was basically right there, it was more of a superficial blunt injury, so hopefully the bone is fine.
And here was are in one of the stalls in the big barn for the night, as they have heated water buckets in there. My shed for them isn't equipped to have the cords hidden, so he can't stay in there.
I have NO idea what he cut himself on. The only thing that is about the right height and could have possibly hurt him was if he somehow got his back leg into the round bale feeder. There are no sharp edges on it (only squared edges) but I supposed if he yanked hard enough, it is metal, and would take off tissue and skin.
So he's on stall rest for at least the next week, with bandage changes every day. Plus antibiotics and painkillers.
The vet didn't say anything about cold hose therapy, but that would be a little unrealistic anyway since it is supposed to be -20 below over the weekend.
I will take a picture every day to watch his progress!! Will keep every one updated.
Pray for a full recovery!