jleonard
Well-Known Member
Well, I know how effective the prayers of this forum have been for others, so I'm hoping they will work for me!
I had a show scheduled for the first weekend in November, and was headed to my jumping lesson tonight. We had my TB mare, Connie, and my dad's pony, Reba, in the trailer. A few weeks ago when we trailered these to together, Connie somehow broke the butt bar of the trailer and cut herself up pretty bad, but all of the cuts were superficial and she went out and schooled cross country as planned. Well, today we felt them start struggling in the trailer again, just like before. We were less than a minute from our destination, so we hurriedly pulled into the driveway and got them unloaded. I saw that Connie had a gash, about 4" on the outside of her right hind cannon. I did not look very close to start with, I wanted to see if she was lame on it. Surprisingly, she was only mildly lame, it obviously smarted, but did not seem too bad. There was very little blood to begin with. However, once I looked at it, I realized that a large flap of flesh had been torn away and it clearly needed stitches. We called the vet, put a wrap over it to keep it clean and to stem the blood flow which had picked up slightly, and put her in a small paddock to wait. When the vet arrived and we were able to really look at it, we realized that the bone was exposed , about 2" x 1/2", and when the vet examined it, he found that there was a small crack on the cannon. I was able to feel it, so I knew what he was talking about. He went ahead and sewed her up. She had another mild cut further up that he put a stitch or two in as well. We took x-ray, so we should know the severity of the crack by tomorrow, I'm hoping that it is not as bad as it seems, but there is just something about hearing that your horse had broken their leg, regardless of the severity, that just makes you fear the worse. She was really very lucky, the cut was right next to arteries and veins, and you could see the tendon sheath exposed. It is in a pretty delicate place, and the vet said that she could look sound at a walk and trot, but a canter could possibly cause the bone to snap. She is supposed to be on stall rest for at least the next four days, but she is awful in the stall, paces and weaves, and we've decided that it will be best to put her out with her friends in a small field and just try to keep her activity to a minimum. Right now I am just afraid that she will do something silly in the stall and injure herself further.
Anyway, sorry for the long, rambling description, but please pray that she does not do herself more damage and makes a completely recovery. She is a very talented horse, and it would be a shame if this ends up being career ending. I'm in shock right now, I cannot believe that this happened! It is just starting to settle in. Thank you guys for your thoughts.
Jessica
I had a show scheduled for the first weekend in November, and was headed to my jumping lesson tonight. We had my TB mare, Connie, and my dad's pony, Reba, in the trailer. A few weeks ago when we trailered these to together, Connie somehow broke the butt bar of the trailer and cut herself up pretty bad, but all of the cuts were superficial and she went out and schooled cross country as planned. Well, today we felt them start struggling in the trailer again, just like before. We were less than a minute from our destination, so we hurriedly pulled into the driveway and got them unloaded. I saw that Connie had a gash, about 4" on the outside of her right hind cannon. I did not look very close to start with, I wanted to see if she was lame on it. Surprisingly, she was only mildly lame, it obviously smarted, but did not seem too bad. There was very little blood to begin with. However, once I looked at it, I realized that a large flap of flesh had been torn away and it clearly needed stitches. We called the vet, put a wrap over it to keep it clean and to stem the blood flow which had picked up slightly, and put her in a small paddock to wait. When the vet arrived and we were able to really look at it, we realized that the bone was exposed , about 2" x 1/2", and when the vet examined it, he found that there was a small crack on the cannon. I was able to feel it, so I knew what he was talking about. He went ahead and sewed her up. She had another mild cut further up that he put a stitch or two in as well. We took x-ray, so we should know the severity of the crack by tomorrow, I'm hoping that it is not as bad as it seems, but there is just something about hearing that your horse had broken their leg, regardless of the severity, that just makes you fear the worse. She was really very lucky, the cut was right next to arteries and veins, and you could see the tendon sheath exposed. It is in a pretty delicate place, and the vet said that she could look sound at a walk and trot, but a canter could possibly cause the bone to snap. She is supposed to be on stall rest for at least the next four days, but she is awful in the stall, paces and weaves, and we've decided that it will be best to put her out with her friends in a small field and just try to keep her activity to a minimum. Right now I am just afraid that she will do something silly in the stall and injure herself further.
Anyway, sorry for the long, rambling description, but please pray that she does not do herself more damage and makes a completely recovery. She is a very talented horse, and it would be a shame if this ends up being career ending. I'm in shock right now, I cannot believe that this happened! It is just starting to settle in. Thank you guys for your thoughts.
Jessica
