A few nights ago I got a text from the stable hand who works at the barn where I board my horses. Her boyfriend saw my horse limping in the pasture. Nobody was home so I should go have a look. I was sunburned very badly at work a couple days prior, despite multiple applications of 50 SPF sunscreen, thought I might get sun poisoning, so being in pain and figuring it was just going to be a simple swollen leg I drove to the farm in my PJ's, flip flops, and didn't even put in my contacts.
Get to the farm and can instantly tell, from a distance and without my contacts, that it was bad. He was holding the afflicted leg up, not putting weight on it. Went out in the pasture and saw the leg was a bloody mess. Thought I saw a bone sticking out, my heart dropped. He was very skittish, tried to run away as I approached. He had blood splashed up on his belly and forelegs. Got my hands on him and as I was leading him from the pasture, another horse shoved past him and got out. The gate is near a very busy road and here I was by myself with a loose horse and a badly injured horse!
Tied my horse to the side of the indoor arena and went to catch the loose horse. Called the barn owner, the stable hand, nobody answered. Called the barn owner's boyfriend, he came right away. A few minutes later the barn owner returned. She helped me hose his leg. Once the coagulated blood was off it looked a lot less scary, but was still very serious. Thankfully, what I saw wasn't a bone. The bone, tendon, and tendon sheath were all intact! Just a very deep laceration laid wide open as if cut with a very sharp knife. Cleaned it, wrapped it, gave him painkillers and antibiotics. He had one capillary gushing and rather than dig around in the wound trying to find it we opted to do a pressure wrap since he bled through the original one. Once wrapped he started putting weight on the leg.
Appetite is excellent. Drinking. Good spirits. Standing very quietly to be cared for and accepting tons of needles. I just moved to this state, don't know the area or the stores. Decided to get a tetanus booster to be on the safe side. Go to the nearest store, tell the guy what I want, he says they don't have a plain old tetanus but they have a 4-way. So he gives it to me and I get home and give it to the horse. Afterwards I'm updating my record book and notice on the label that the vaccine wasn't what he told me!!! My heart sank. Fluvac Innovator EHV 4/1.... NOT Fluvac Innovator 4. Good grief. Luckily my horse had a tetanus shot in 2011 so technically doesn't need a booster.
I'm heartbroken. This is my heart horse. When I bought him I had given up jumping after ten years of grueling professional lessons because I lost my nerve. If it wasn't for him, I would have given up riding entirely. As a 3-year-old fresh from the trainer's, he had a better mind than any horse I had ever ridden and he helped me regain my confidence. He was to be my companion for many, many years. And I'm sure he will be. But it is just one thing after another... he survived EPM. He was in a freak accident while I was at college where he must have rolled in his stall and got his leg caught in the bars of the window. The people told me he was fine but I get there a month later to find the leg swollen, permanently scarred, and his eye damaged. He hadn't seen a vet!!! The eye injury caused permanent vision damage and led to recurring uveitis for months. Luckily, x-rays revealed the leg was ok, just ugly. Now this.
Looks like I will have to tell the lady that I may have to put my miniature horse purchase off, again. Depends on the vet bills from this injury. So far so good, but this first week is the most critical, then this first month we still have to be very vigilant. I'm thinking AT LEAST six months of healing, possibly longer. Injury is in a bad spot... on the pastern...
Get to the farm and can instantly tell, from a distance and without my contacts, that it was bad. He was holding the afflicted leg up, not putting weight on it. Went out in the pasture and saw the leg was a bloody mess. Thought I saw a bone sticking out, my heart dropped. He was very skittish, tried to run away as I approached. He had blood splashed up on his belly and forelegs. Got my hands on him and as I was leading him from the pasture, another horse shoved past him and got out. The gate is near a very busy road and here I was by myself with a loose horse and a badly injured horse!
Tied my horse to the side of the indoor arena and went to catch the loose horse. Called the barn owner, the stable hand, nobody answered. Called the barn owner's boyfriend, he came right away. A few minutes later the barn owner returned. She helped me hose his leg. Once the coagulated blood was off it looked a lot less scary, but was still very serious. Thankfully, what I saw wasn't a bone. The bone, tendon, and tendon sheath were all intact! Just a very deep laceration laid wide open as if cut with a very sharp knife. Cleaned it, wrapped it, gave him painkillers and antibiotics. He had one capillary gushing and rather than dig around in the wound trying to find it we opted to do a pressure wrap since he bled through the original one. Once wrapped he started putting weight on the leg.
Appetite is excellent. Drinking. Good spirits. Standing very quietly to be cared for and accepting tons of needles. I just moved to this state, don't know the area or the stores. Decided to get a tetanus booster to be on the safe side. Go to the nearest store, tell the guy what I want, he says they don't have a plain old tetanus but they have a 4-way. So he gives it to me and I get home and give it to the horse. Afterwards I'm updating my record book and notice on the label that the vaccine wasn't what he told me!!! My heart sank. Fluvac Innovator EHV 4/1.... NOT Fluvac Innovator 4. Good grief. Luckily my horse had a tetanus shot in 2011 so technically doesn't need a booster.
I'm heartbroken. This is my heart horse. When I bought him I had given up jumping after ten years of grueling professional lessons because I lost my nerve. If it wasn't for him, I would have given up riding entirely. As a 3-year-old fresh from the trainer's, he had a better mind than any horse I had ever ridden and he helped me regain my confidence. He was to be my companion for many, many years. And I'm sure he will be. But it is just one thing after another... he survived EPM. He was in a freak accident while I was at college where he must have rolled in his stall and got his leg caught in the bars of the window. The people told me he was fine but I get there a month later to find the leg swollen, permanently scarred, and his eye damaged. He hadn't seen a vet!!! The eye injury caused permanent vision damage and led to recurring uveitis for months. Luckily, x-rays revealed the leg was ok, just ugly. Now this.
Looks like I will have to tell the lady that I may have to put my miniature horse purchase off, again. Depends on the vet bills from this injury. So far so good, but this first week is the most critical, then this first month we still have to be very vigilant. I'm thinking AT LEAST six months of healing, possibly longer. Injury is in a bad spot... on the pastern...