SAVE A HORSE !: September 2010

How she got hurt, the story...and her today !

It was 6:15 am one dark morning when I was awakened by the loudest horse squeal I had ever heard in my life, followed by the close sound of a shotgun going off once. Then silence.I jumped up out of bed with tears in my eyes knowing it was one of my horses since the pasture was close to my bedroom window and that’s where the sounds came from. My husband worked night shift so I didn’tknow if he was even home yet or not, nor did I have any idea what to expect as I ran out the back door barefooted, in the dark. About the time I got to the entrance to the barn, my husband was coming out to get on the 4 wheeler and we were both talking at the same time. Me, trying to find out what happened, and him trying to tell me. As I ran through the barn, I saw my beautiful bay overo mare in her stall, unusual, as we didn’t stall any of the 12 up at night. I turned the lights on and fell to the ground crying. I couldn’t believe my eyes. There she was standing in her stall on the weight of only 3 legs as her right back leg had a huge piece missing right above her hock with blood going everywhere. Something happened to her Achilles tendon, it was completely cut in two and I didn’t know if the gunshot did it or what ? We always called her the guard horse because she ran any critter out of the pasture that wasn’t supposed to be there so I wondered what kind of critter she had been after. I was so confused,knowing that mare was the one my husband rode because she was spookproof and wouldn’t throw him or buck. My husband has Scoliosis and she was the very horse we could count on not to ever hurt him.I ran out to the pasture where I could hear the 4 wheeler running and then saw what all had happened. A huge wild boar was in the pasture and I’m sure Candy Doll, my mare, was trying to get him out. He must have went after her and cut her tendon with his long tusks which my husband later confirmed. When my husband came home to check the herd before coming in the house, he saw what was going on, (thank goodness for security lights), and he got the gun and shot the boar dead. He was hooking a rope to him in the pasture to drag him out so he could dispose of him. After he drug the boar out, I ran after the pain meds in the refrigerator to give Candy Doll a pain shot, then started cleaning the wound . She stood there like she knew she was hurt and we were trying to help her.I packed the hole with furacin and gauze and placed a cotton roll around it followed by vet wrap. I ran in the house, called my vet of 10 years and after he recommended I put the horse down, no way I was going to, he called the surgeon 60 miles away for me to take her there which I did. There, Doc said he was going to make her a cast for the whole leg with a hinge door in the back of the leg part for me to clean her wound everyday. Doc calls me the next day and tells me to come get her, he’s done all he could do , just to take her home and see what happens. She hopped right in the trailer just like she did on the way that early morning. She hopped out at the barn and hopped to her stall where she remained confined for the next 4 months. The cast didn’t work and had to come off very soon after that due to a huge pressure sore on her fetlock. The vets said she would not heal right, would walk crooked, would not be able to be bred from the weight of the stallion,etc and he thought it best to put her down. He was speaking from history and his own experiences in his practice. I doctored her and gave her her shots everyday and cleaned her wound after work when I would feed her. My husband came in after work in the mornings and cleaned her stall, gave her fresh hay & water and just talked to her. I’m VERY proud to say, she healed up perfectly fine,walks,trots & runs wide open with no limp. Her foot is not turned out as they said it would be, it’s straight ! She also has a filly on the ground now as I write this. And since she made it, now my vet teaches the new graduating vets at the university that there is an alternative to an Achilles tendon laceration, other than putting them down. He came & got pictures of her and videos and shares them with other horse owners encountering the same problem. I am so happy that she is now helping to save other horses.So please don’t ever think that just because they have a bad injury, it’s automatic that they be put down. If you love your horse and are willing to spend the time it takes, you have a great chance at helping save your own horse. Miracles DO happen, I know, I have 2 in my pasture.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Tendon Laceration ? Don't kill the horse !