Several weeks ago, I went into our barn and found a 5 month old weanling that was down and had a foot stuck under the door. This was a hard trick to do, as the door has little room under the door. It took me quite a while to dig her foot out from under the door. The horse was collicing when I got her out. I am not sure which came first. Did she get sick first and go down or did she lay down to sleep and managed to get stuck under the door. She was in bad shape, and had a fever. Of course this was my favorite weanling. A very sweet palomino pinto filly, who was always the one that was attached to my leg when I went out with the "kids". She was very ill and we watched and nursed her along. She then appeared better, but developed a leathery coating on her muzzle. Vet said this was from fever. she could not eat so we took our pelleted feed and made mush that we fed through a syringe. She was beginning to look better when she began to limp on that leg that had got caught. The vet shaved it down and found it very badly bruised where it had been stuck. The leather stuff pealed off her nose and she looks normal again and she began to eat on her own again. The vet admitted he never expected us to pull her through. But now he was very concerned about the foot, as he was afraid the blood supply had been cut off from the hoof and that we may loose the foot if that was so. Well, we soaked the leg twice a day and treated her medically. We have now lost that battle and yesterday the hoof detached from the leg. We are now treating her leg so it will heal over.
So here we are....the vet suggested putting her down, which I let him know that it is not an option, but I know long term we can not care for her here. We have too many horses and she would never be able to fend for herself in a herd. We do not have the room to keep her separate forever. She is getting around well on three legs, but it is a slow go so far. So we are forced to look for a home for her from someone that could care for her and love her. She would make a great therapy horse, having her own handicap and her very loving personality. I can't help but think there is someone out there that could devise a prothesis for her to use too. So If anyone would be interested in helping this girl out and giving her a great home. Let me know. she is now 100% healthy except for the healing over of the leg. Not sure how much future medical attention it will need.
So here we are....the vet suggested putting her down, which I let him know that it is not an option, but I know long term we can not care for her here. We have too many horses and she would never be able to fend for herself in a herd. We do not have the room to keep her separate forever. She is getting around well on three legs, but it is a slow go so far. So we are forced to look for a home for her from someone that could care for her and love her. She would make a great therapy horse, having her own handicap and her very loving personality. I can't help but think there is someone out there that could devise a prothesis for her to use too. So If anyone would be interested in helping this girl out and giving her a great home. Let me know. she is now 100% healthy except for the healing over of the leg. Not sure how much future medical attention it will need.
